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IR-Meeting-UNEP-MAP

by | Jan 18, 2020

MEPIELAN CENTRE proposes the advancement of a MEPIELAN UNEP/MAP Joint Postgraduate Programme on Mediterranean Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development. (International Workshop, Athens, UNEP/MAP, 23 November 2017)

MEPIELAN Centre, as a UNEP/MAP Partner since 2013, has consistently supported Education as an implementing element of Sustainability Governance in the Mediterranean. The initiative for the development of a joint MEPIELAN Centre – UNEP/MAP international postgraduate programme on Mediterranean Environmental Governance and Sustainability was taken by MEPIELAN Centre and was repeatedly raised by its Director, Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos, during  the Meetings and Conferences of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention system (2015-2017), as well as during the 17th Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) Meeting (July 2017), and it has been reflected in the Reports  of all these Meetings.

In the light of this, UNEP/MAP Coordinating Unit in cooperation with MEPIELAN Centre organized a closed international workshop at its premises on 23 November 2017. At the workshop, the UNEP/MAP Secretariat to the Barcelona Convention, was represented by Mr. Gaetano Leone (UNEP/MAP Coordinator), Ms. Tatjana Hema (UNEP/MAP Deputy Coordinator), Dr. Ilias Mavroeidis (UNEP/MAP Governance Officer), Ms. Luisa Rodriguez Lucas (UNEP/MAP Legal Officer), and Ms. Gyorgyi Gurban (UNEP/MAP Project Manager (EcAp)). MEPIELAN Centre, was represented by Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos, Dr. Alexandros Kailis, and Dr. Socrates Zachos. 

The following collaborating institutions were invited and participated in this workshop: the University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy), represented by Professor Tullio Scovazzi; the Istanbul Bilgi University Law Faculty (Turkey), represented by Professor Nilufer Oral; the University of Valencia (Spain), represented by Professor José Juste-Ruiz; and, the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and National Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge (UK), represented by Dr. Maria Augusta Paim.

The International Workshop was welcomed by the Coordinator of UNEP/MAP, Mr. Gaetano Leone who set the tone of the workshop in his opening remarks, underlining the importance and the impact of this innovative Educational Programme on the promotion of the environmental governance and sustainability in the Mediterranean and beyond. The Director of MEPIELAN Centre, Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos, made a presentation of the basic proposal on the UNEP/MAP–MEPIELAN Centre Postgraduate Joint Educational Programme on Mediterranean Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development. In his presentation he defined the strategic and academic objectives of the Joint Postgraduate Programme and proposed, in detail, its content and organization (PUBLICATIONS – Reports)

After a thorough and constructive discussion of the Programme, coordinated by Dr. Ilias Mavroeidis, UNEP/MAP Governance Officer, the workshop meeting adopted the Programme proposal and agreed on an Action Plan as an outcome of the meeting. The Action Programme, entitled “Outcome of the Meeting between UNEPP/MAP and MEPIELAN Center and the Steering Committee on Educational Programme on “Sustainable Marine Governance in the Mediterranean (23 November 2017)”, set forth a series of actions (specification of modalities of cooperation, funding and resource mobilization strategy, scholarships, legal arrangements, selection criteria, and communication strategies), the responsible partners (UNEP/MAP Secretariat, MEPIELAN Centre, C-EENRG – Cooperating Universities) and the timeline for the effective and efficient organization and implementation of the Educational Programme.

Finally, the meeting set up the Steering Committee of the Programme as follows: UNEP/MAP representatives, Prof. Evangelos Raftopoulos MEPIELAN Director (MEPIELAN Centre/Panteion University of Athens),  Prof. Nilufer Oral (Istanbul Bilgi University), Prof. Tullio Scovazzi (University of Milan/Bicocca), Prof. Jose Juste Ruiz (University of Valencia), and Dr. Maria Augusta Paim (C-EENRG).

In a later development, this Programme was included in the the Voluntary National Review (VNR) of Greece on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as an Example and Good Practice of Research and Educational actions promoting the SDGs implementation, which was submitted to the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, in July 2018 (pp. 90-91).