The 1^st Mediterranean Green Week: Towards a Greener and More Resilient Mediterranean, co- organised by the Union for the Mediterranean and the OECD took place in Istanbul, Turkey between 14-16 May 2024. Approximately 150 participants including country officials, representatives of the private sector and members of the academia gathered to discuss how to collaboratively tackle the region’s interlinked climate, energy, and environmental crises. 

On May 15 a session was dedicated to the WEFE Nexus approach and the key role it can play for sustainable development in the Region. During the deliberations, the joint efforts of the GEF UNEP/MAP MedProgramme in catalysing action for the adoption of the WEFE Nexus approach to solve land-based problems in the source-to-sea continuum in the Mediterranean were acknowledged. 

In the opening high-level segment, UNEP/MAP Coordinator Ms. Tatjana Hema noted the added value and prospects of the WEFE Nexus approach for supporting effective and synergistic management of natural resources, in the framework of the Barcelona Convention system and the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), as included in the recent COP23 Med Ministerial Declaration in Slovenia.

Mr.H.E. Dr. Walid Fayad- Minister of Energy and Water referred to the challenges that Lebanon is facing referred to the Ministry’s engagement “in the WEFE Nexus Policy Dialogue carried out in our country with the support of the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med) in the framework of GEF UNEP/MAP MedProgramme.” He then went on to stress that “One of the key achievements that we are proud of and that we count on is the creation of the WEFE Inter-Ministerial Group that is led by our Ministry and facilitated by GWP-Med, with one specific target to develop a WEFE Nexus Plan that will identify common priorities and outline joint actions.” Mr. Fayad emphasised the importance of collaboration and stated that “together with our partners from around the Mediterranean, the Ministry is looking forward to quickly implementing the next stages of a WEFE Nexus using the Source-to-Sea Management approaches in Lebanon, a very important approach to have a bigger impact.”

The key role of the WEFE Nexus approach was also highlighted in the welcoming remarks of Mr. Almotaz Abadi, UfM Deputy Secretary General in charge of Water, Environment and Blue Economy, and of Mr. Patrick Wegerdt, DG Environment of the European Commission.

The keynote speech was given by Prof. Michael Scoullos, GWP-Med Chairperson, who underlined that Systems thinking should be applied in policy development and management, as an appropriate means to seek solutions. Professor Scoullos mentioned the need for collaboration in governance, policy development and planning among basic, coastal and marine areas so as to promote integrated management of the Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystems sectors across the source-to-sea continuum to enhance security and resilience. 

In the panel discussion that followed, Mr. Tassos Krommydas, Senior Programme Officer at GWP-Med presented the draft WEFE Nexus Strategy for the Mediterranean currently being developed, and highlighted the key dimension of the WEFE Nexus approach (in line with the “no harm principle”) for ensuring that activities or subsidies under each of the WEFE sectors do not lead to harm to any of the other sectors.

During the panel discussion:

• Ms. Jamila El Mir, Senior advisor to H.E. Razan Al Mubarak presented “breakthrough initiatives” related to water, energy, land and ocean.
• Mr. Jauad El Kharraz, Executive Director of the Regional Center for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency, spoke from the energy perspective and outlined the role of the private sector.
• Ms. Yosra Albakkar, Senior Manager, South Asia and MENA, Pathfinder International, provided insights on the role of civil society, local stakeholders and the gender perspective 
• Mr. Sukru Esin, Mediterranean Youth for Water Network presented experiences and opportunities for the role of youth in water management with cross-sectoral benefits.
• Mr. Ali Rhouma, Project Officer, PRIMA Foundation, focused on the Food perspective and elaborated on the impact evaluation of WEFE Nexus.

Apart from the Nexus Session, the Med Green Week provided the platform for participants to discuss how to collectively tackle these major common challenges that the region is facing in order to build a resilient Mediterranean. During the deliberations, the need for the engagement of local society, youth and women was also discussed in an effort to ensure that the proposed solutions are realistic, implementable and customised to local needs.  

About the project

The Mediterranean Sea Programme (MedProgramme): Enhancing Environmental Security (GEF ID 9607) is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) regional Multi-Focal Area Programmatic Approach, implemented in Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) is the leading executing Agency; the GEF Implementing Agencies are UNEP and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the executing partners are UNESCO/IHP, European Investment Bank (EIB), IUCN Med, GWP Med, WWF Med, Plan Bleu, PAP/RAC, SCP/RAC and SPA/RAC. 

The Programme aims to accelerate the Implementation of agreed-upon priority actions to reduce the major transboundary environmental stresses affecting the Mediterranean Sea and its coastal areas while strengthening climate resilience and water security and improving the health and livelihoods of coastal populations.

For more information, please contact Maria Livanou, Senior Communications Officer, GWP-Med ( maria.livanou@gwpmed.org),  and visit the project page on iwlearn.net.