Today, on Wednesday, October 24th, the events are taking place all around the Mediterranean coast in support of the first "Coast Day". "Coast Day" is an awareness raising campaign that resulted from the partnership of the EU, UNEP and the World Bank. The campaign is launched by the Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with initially 20 and in a few months almost 50 partners from different Mediterranean countries. "Coast Day" aims to raise awareness of the value of the coast, as well as of the threats to it, and to call for a stronger and more efficient commitment of the governments to coastal management.
24th October is also a UN Day. MAP's contribution to this Day is "Coast Day". For the people living in the Mediterranean, coast is the most valuable, but, at the same time, the most vulnerable asset. Being the oldest and most successful UNEP's Regional Seas Programme, the Mediterranean is again taking the lead in this campaign to promote care for the coast internationally. MAP hopes that "Coast Day" will spread into other Regional Seas and other coastal countries, and that it will live on in the years to come.
Although relatively small, coastal areas are considered to be the most valuable part of national territories in most of Mediterranean countries and world-wide. If the current trend of building up the coast continues, in 2025 50% of the Mediterranean coast could be artificialised. Linear development along the coast is irreversibly destroying ecosystems and landscapes. Coastal erosion, marine pollution, overfishing - they are all calling for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). When accelerating climate change and related sea level rise come into this picture, it is clear that there is no more time to waste. The Mediterranean coasts are highly vulnerable to all potential impacts of the climate change. Increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation are already causing significant consequences in the region. Coastal countries should be among the first to undertake steps to mitigate climate change but also to adapt to the possible consequences.
"Coast Day" is also launched to support the adoption of the new Mediterranean ICZM Protocol. In order to provide assistance to the countries in dealing with such a comprehensive matter as coastal management is, MAP and PAP/RAC started to work on the Mediterranean ICZM Protocol 6 years ago. Support that has been constantly provided from all Mediterranean countries enabled that the Protocol today is in its final stage. This challenging piece of Mediterranean coastal legislation is providing a framework for more efficient ICZM and opens the way toward the promotion of better forms of governance.
Regional and national coastal management achievements, like, for example, in Sardinia and Algeria, testify that policy-makers together with the local population can find the options to reverse the negative trends and to make steps towards sustainable coastal development. Their leaders, together with other distinguished individuals meritorious for advocating sustainable development of the Mediterranean coasts, today are our "Ambassadors for the Coast".
The "Coast Day" campaign is launched to act on several levels; it calls for a political will for change and reminds of the necessity to change behaviour of all the actors in the coastal zone. Political will for a stronger commitment to ICZM together with the behaviour change are the essential prerequisites for the sustainable coastal development. "Coast Day" is promoting the coast of tomorrow - coast that is resilient, productive, diverse, distinctive, attractive, and healthy.
Today, conferences, workshops, meetings, panels, open doors in marine protected areas, clean-up events, sailing regattas and kayaking excursions, marathons, exhibitions, concerts, educational events for children, TV transmissions and interviews, are taking place all around the Mediterranean to call for a more sustainable coastal development. This wide partnership of international organisations, governmental bodies, NGOs, Research Centres, Universities, Media companies, schools and many others, actually represents building of a pledge for the future coast. Join us on the way towards sustainability! Visit www.coastday.org