Nineteen trainees mainly from local and national authorities of the whole of Morocco gathered in Rabat at the end of May (29-31 May 2012) to take part in a Horizon 2020 national workshop on Integrated Solid Waste Management. The improvement of the decision making process at the local and national level through the adoption of an integrated approach in solid waste management was the overarching goal of the course.
The creation of green jobs to reduce sources of pollution in the Mediterranean was the focus of a Horizon 2020 regional workshop which attracted 43 professionals from 13 countries. Currently, the cost of environmental degradation for South-East Mediterranean countries has reached 3-6% of their GDP, constituting the shift towards a Green Economy pivotal, especially when considering the increased pressures from an ever growing population. The workshop, which took place on 3-5 April 2012, was organized by the Regional Activity Centre for Cleaner Production of the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP CP/RAC) with the support of the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) within the framework of the EU funded Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme.
Two weeks before the leaders of the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) where Green Economy in the context of sustainable development was a central theme, the Horizon H2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme organized a two-day workshop in Rabat (6-7 June 2012) in support of mainstreaming the concept of Green Economy in Morocco.
In the framework of the European Union (EU) funded project “Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) in the European Neighbourhood” (ENPI-SEIS project) implemented by the European Environment Agency (EEA), and the follow up on the implementation of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) project on building capacities in environment statistics, indicators and accounts (2007-2010), the EEA, UNSD and UN-ESCWA held a Workshop on Water Accounts and Statistics for Mediterranean Countries at the UN House in Beirut, Lebanon, 20-22 March 2012.