SPAMI Day (15 April): an official observance dedicated to biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean Sea and coast is born.
Athens/Tunis, 14 April 2022 - Each year on 15 April the Mediterranean region will mark a new, official observance celebrating the Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs). The institution of SPAMI Day is an initiative of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) and SPA/RAC, the UNEP/MAP Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre, based in Tunisia. SPAMI Day was adopted by the Contracting Parties (21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union) to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) at COP 22 (Antalya, Turkey, 7-10 December 2021).
This year’s edition will start on 15 April with an online SPA/RAC-led campaign, which the public can follow on social media platforms through the hashtags #SPAMIday2022 and #ProtectMedDay. Celebrations will culminate with a special event to be held on 20 May 2022 in Monaco under the auspices and with the participation of H.S.H. Prince Albert II. The Monaco “SPAMI Day special event”, which SPA/RAC is organizing jointly with the Pelagos Agreement Permanent Secretariat and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, will be attended by Ministers of the Environment of Mediterranean countries hosting the 39 Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs) listed under the Barcelona Convention. The special event will also bring together the managers of the SPAMIs and representatives of institutions involved in SPAMI management and governance.
“The Mediterranean region now has an official day to cherish, celebrate and demand action for its magnificent, but vulnerable marine and coastal biodiversity. This shall be a day on which we come together to appreciate the SPAMIs as the embodiment of the conservation model that we want to see thrive and expand in the Mediterranean and beyond,“ said Tatjana Hema, the UNEP/MAP Coordinator. “I am deeply grateful to our partners in Monaco for hosting the special event that will make this first edition of SPAMI Day memorable,” she added.
Activities held to observe SPAMI Day will inform about conservation efforts undertaken within and beyond the SPAMIs. The observance will provide opportunities to amplify advocacy for safeguarding the health of marine and costal ecosystems through the effective implementation of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean, as well as related measures and action plans. The implementation of commitments by the Contracting Parties is crucial to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-14 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in the Mediterranean.
“The SPAMI Day 2022 will celebrate the marine and coastal protected areas included in the Barcelona Convention’s SPAMI List, and will promote their role as a driver of cooperation in the conservation of natural areas and the protection of threatened species and habitats. It will also mark the kickoff point of the UN decade of Ecosystem restoration,” said Khalil Attia, SPA/RAC Director.
SPAMIs constitute pilot sites where ecosystem-based approaches can be undertaken in fields including marine and coastal habitats mapping and assessment, and climate change monitoring and mitigation. The aim is to harness their demonstrative effect to expand solutions and best practices at scale and halt the impacts of the triple crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution in the Mediterranean.
SPA/RAC is working on the establishment of a regional network of SPAMIs that will serve as a framework for experience- and resource-sharing among SPAMIs and Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs), notably through the existing SPAMI Twinning Programme.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The List of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI List) has been established in 2001 under the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention), specifically under its Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean (SPA/BD Protocol).
The Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) included in the List are submitted by the concerned Contracting Parties, in recognition of their ecological, scientific, aesthetic, cultural or educational interest. SPAMIs are intended to be a showcase and a model for the protection of the region’s natural heritage. They are reviewed every 6 years, starting from the year of their inclusion in the List. The SPAMI provisions allow for the establishment of protected areas beyond national jurisdiction, and offer a framework of cooperation for the creation and management of transboundary MCPAs by neighboring countries.
For more information please contact:
Jihed Ghannem, Public Information Officer, UNEP/MAP
Dorra Maaoui, Communications Assistant, SPA/RAC