On 24 and 25 October 2023, a meeting was held in Athens to develop preliminary elements of new National Action Plans (NAPs) and to share best practises in the application of the Guide for the assessment of pollution pressures from the agriculture and aquaculture sector.

The meeting was organised by UNEP MAP MED POL (the United Nations Environment Programme and the Mediterranean Action Plan) in the framework of the Barcelona Convention Programme, co-funded through the ENI instrument – the EU project “Water and Environment Support to the Southern Neighbourhood”. The main objective of the meeting was to reach an agreement on the development of NAPs for the period 2025-2035 and to agree on best practises for assessing the pressures of agricultural and aquaculture pollution on the marine environment and coastal areas.

Given the content of the measures proposed in the already adopted regional plans developed under the commitments of the LBS Protocol, as well as the content of the draft regional plans currently being prepared (six in total), the meeting was also attended by representatives of the Republic of Croatia, whose expertise primarily includes the implementation of water protection policy as an environmental component.

The Croatian delegation at the meeting was led by Associate Professor Dr Mario Šiljeg, Director of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute, who was invited by the organisers to give a presentation on the Croatian experience in developing and implementing action programmes for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Strategy.

The main outcome of the meeting was a review of progress in the implementation of the existing NAPs (2015-2025) and the encouragement of the Parties to the Barcelona Convention to intensify their efforts in the application of the NAPs with the aim of integrating them into national sectoral policies.< Let us recall that 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union have gradually created a unique comprehensive institutional, legal and implementation framework that integrates essential building blocks for sustainability in the Mediterranean. “The Mediterranean needs you. If you put a shell to your ear, you will hear its call.”