Every year, the central event of the Mediterranean Coast Day is celebrated in one of the 21 Mediterranean countries, and this year, Morocco and its splendid town of Tangier were chosen to host this international event. Coast Day is an opportunity to solicit policy makers to join efforts and tackle the prevailing environmental challenges. Climate change is definitely one of them, since the accelerating rate of sea-level rise, growing CO2 emissions and catastrophic floods, forest fires and repeating heat waves are jeopardizing the densely urbanised coasts and already strained ecosystems of the Mediterranean.
Therefore, having in mind the increased disaster risks the Mediterranean is continuously facing, the theme of the Coast Day 2022 campaign was coastal resilience as a way forward, with coastal residents as key ambassadors for climate action.
The 2022 celebration was opened by Mr Benyahia, General Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Transition and Sustainable Development. He explained that the aim of this event was to raise awareness among all stakeholders at the national and local levels of the importance of the coast, and to publicize on the international level the actions undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco in this field. Mrs Tatjana Hema, UNEP/MAP coordinator, then took the floor and specified that the choice of Tangier to host the celebration of this day was linked to the extremely important role played by Morocco within the framework of the Barcelona Convention and the MAP. Finally, Mrs Zeljka Skaricic, PAP/RAC Director, reminded that Morocco was among the first countries to ratify the Protocol in 2012, and that the effort to implement it continues.
The opening speech was followed by two panels: the first dedicated to the issues, challenges and solutions for the sustainable development at the Mediterranean level and the second one on the local level.
The participants of the first panel discussion have emphasized the importance of development and implementation of adequate mitigation strategies, as well as raising awareness among all those who are living on the Mediterranean coast and benefit from it.
The second panel discussion was based on the particularities of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region which is currently developing the regional Coastal plan (Schéma régional du littoral) in the framework of the GEF MEDProgramme’s Child Projects 2.1. and SCCF. As highlighted by the panelists, the elaboration of such plan will enhance the sustainable development of the region and represent an important step in the Morocco’s implementation of the ICZM Protocol.
However, since our future rests on the younger generations, during the Coast Day 2022 celebration various awareness raising activities were organized by the Moroccan Association for Sustainable Environment - on the Malabata beach of Tangier. From educative card games to presentation of playful ways to reuse plastic waste, the schoolchildren of Tangier showed their knowledge and enthusiasm to keep our environment clean.
