SPAMI DAY

Celebrating SPAMI Day 2024, Preserving Our Common Heritage.

The SPAMI Day, a regional celebration of Mediterranean marine conservation and protected areas, was set up by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention at their COP 22 (Antalya, Türkiye, 7-10 December 2021), and is officially celebrated on 15 April of each year. This is an event for every person and every entity that has at heart the protection of marine life in the Mediterranean.

The objective of SPAMI Day is to promote the List of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs), in other words, exceptional marine areas, managed in an exemplary manner, and more broadly, to raise awareness about ocean conservation.

The theme of SPAMI Day 2024 is the effective management of SPAMIs. By choosing this theme, the goal was to value and encourage all the initiatives within SPAMIs, which contribute to preserving and restoring ecosystems and living in harmony with nature.

For this year’s edition of the SPAMI Day, SPA/RAC will launch a digital campaign on 15 April, aimed at promoting the SPAMI List and marine conservation efforts. Our goal is to conclude this campaign with a face-to-face celebration on May 15th, 2024 in Tunis, Tunisia.

SPA/RAC is the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas and marine biodiversity, established in 1985 under the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean. The mission of SPA/RAC is to support the efforts of Mediterranean countries to conserve and sustainably manage threatened or endangered species as well as areas of particular natural or cultural value. SPA/RAC has been entrusted with the management of the SPAMI List, which was established since 2001 by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention as a framework for exchange, cooperation, and technical support, and currently benefits 39 Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs).