Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention gathered in Naples from 2 to 5 December for their twenty-first meeting. T
To recall, the Barcelona Convention was signed in 1975 under the UN Environment Programme to promote and ensure environmental protection in the Mediterranean region.
Ministers and Senior Officials representing all the Contracting Parties – 21 Mediterranean countries and the EU – agreed, among others, to work to eliminate marine plastic pollution by 2030. In the Naples Ministerial Declaration, the signatories recognised the urgency to tackle plastic leakage in the Mediterranean Sea. They pledged to reduce plastic consumption, to support eco-design and to improve waste management but also to put in place bans, incentives, taxes and EPR schemes.
They also agreed to strengthen the regulatory framework to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic items and set out more ambitious targets.
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