For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020This initiative is funded by the European Commission through DG EuropeAid.
For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020Integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across all functions of Universities was the focus of the national training held in Morocco on 23-24 April 2013 within the framework of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme. The training contributed directly to the implementation of the principles of the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD, which is currently in the pipeline and expected to be adopted at a Ministerial Meeting in October 2013. The President of the Mohamed V Souissi University, Prof. Radouane Mrabet stated “I had attended the Horizon 2020 regional workshop on revisiting university curricula in 2010 in Athens, which was an eye-opening experience for me. Today I am truly delighted to be hosting such a workshop in Morocco, as I believe our universities still have a long way to go to achieve sustainability. This workshop is a unique opportunity to share our knowledge and exchange information on experiences and best practices from the region and beyond”.
A mid-term evaluation of the H2020 CB/MEP (2009-2014) has just been launched and is expected to be completed by mid-September 2013.
In Palestine, the second phase of the EU funded Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Program (CB/MEP) was launched with a national training which contributed to improved data collection in municipal solid waste management systems taking into account issues such as cost, cost recovery and financing. The Minister of Environment Affairs Dr. Yousef Abu Safieh honored the training with his presence, which took place in Ramallah on 9-11 April 2013. More effective indicators are foreseen to be applied in the future by the different Joint Services Councils (JSC).
Four national H2020 trainings, one study visit and a sub-regional workshop have taken place already, while another eight activities will be organised till June 2013. Trainees from the ten participating countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, [Syria] and Tunisia) are joined by colleagues from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Turkey in the sub-regional and regional events of this new phase.
To enhance access to information, data identified for the development of the selected Horizon 2020 indicators will be reported by the ENP-South partner countries via the EEA Reportnet tool. This tool is being used in order to assist countries in their data reporting tasks as well as for supporting and improving the environmental data and information flows.
Four country missions were organized by MeHSIP-PPIF to get first hand information on the state of play of the Horizon 2020 investment projects with secured financing. The missions took place in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia and are part of the validation exercise undertaken in close coordination with the European Commission, the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat, the European Investment Bank, UNEP/MAP and the SWIM project. Similar missions to Morocco, Israel and Palestine will be conducted during the next quarter.
ENPI-SEIS has completed the development of the indicators to measure progress and is now preparing the first assessment report of the Horizon 2020 Initiative.
The first quarter of 2013 has seen the completion of all four feasibility studies of the MeHSIP-PPIF priority projects. The way is now open for the EIB to move swiftly with the implementation of the appraisal procedures for the four projects. This next step is expected to be completed before the end of 2013.
