BUREAU OF BARCELONA CONVENTION MEETING IN MALTA

Progress made since the 11th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution and its protocols, which was held in Malta last October, is being reviewed at a two-day meeting of the Bureau of the Contracting Parties, which is being held at the Radisson SAS Hotel, St Julian's.

Dr Francis Zammit, Minister for the Environment, is chairing the two-day meeting having been appointed Chairman of the Bureau during last October's conference. Other members of the Bureau include representatives from Cyprus, France, Italy, Libya and Syria, which is represented by the Minister for State for the Environment Dr Farouk Adli.

Delays by the Contracting Parties to ratify the new and amended Barcelona Protocols will be considered by the Bureau for a view to find ways to urge the Contracting Parties to take immediate action. Although the process of ratification is ongoing in all countries, no ratification has been made since January 2000.

The Bureau Meeting will be examining the opportunity to convene a regional meeting to discuss the issue of the risk of pollution due to navigation in the Mediterranean in the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan, following the widespread concern over the environmental consequences of the "ERIKA" spill which occurred in the Atlantic.

Following the entry into force of the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean in December 1999, the Bureau Meeting is expected to approve the convening of a meeting of experts to elaborate a standard format of guidelines and to define procedure and tools for the implementation of certain provisions of the Protocol.

Other matter which will be considered by the Bureau include the nomination of the fifth member to sit on the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development for Socio-Economic issues and the opportunity for the Mediterranean Action Plan to be associated with the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement. It is also expected to adopt Standards Data Entry for national inventories of natural sites of conservation interest as approved by the Experts meeting held in Rome last March.

A new logo to improve MAP's visibility and which will feature alongside the UNEP one in official letters and documents will also be considered by the Bureau Meeting.