See Global action.

Convention of the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes • UN ECE. ••>

UN Economic Commission for Europe. ••>

UNEP Regional Office for Europe. ••>

UNEP Regional Seas Programme.

UNEP Global programme of action for the protection of the marine environment from land-based activities (UNEP GPA).

Small Island Developing States Network (SIDSnet): Cyprus and Malta participate as island states in SIDSnet. ••>

Regional conventions, agreements, action plans, projects, and actors

Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) • MAP Coordinating Unit (MEDU). ••>

Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) • MEDU. ••>

MAP Regional Activity Centres. ••>

Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program. ••>

Short and Medium-term Priority Environmental Action Programme. ••>

Nile Basin Initiative. The Nile Transboundary Environmental Action (one component of the initiative) provides a strategic framework for environmentally sustainable development of the Nile River Basin and supports basin-wide environmental action linked to transboundary issues in the context of the Nile Basin Initiative strategic action program.

National action and actors

Cedre ( Centre de Documentation de Recherce et d'expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des Eaux): Rejets en mer. (Macro-déchets).

Clean Coast, Israel: "At present, the Ministry of the Environment in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, local government, NGOs and other bodies, is promoting a long-term project under the motto “Clean Coast.” Its objective: to solve the problem of litter on the country’s undeclared beaches using a variety of means: mechanical equipment, organized coastal cleanups, and adoption of coastal sections."

Report to the Johannesburg Summit 2002 on priority issues concerning sustainable development and environment in Cyprus: Monitoring of marine litter (Bathing water).

University of Patras, Greece: Marine debris in the Patras Gulf"... the average concentration of marine debris on the seafloor is 240 item/km2. Plastic material dominates the composition of seafloor debris with a mean abundance of 82 per cent."

Greece Now: The Big Blue: Pollution of Greeks Seas. Statistics from Coastal Cleanup Campaigns.

Clean up Greece. Arranged by Environment without Frontiers, a non-profit organization known in Greece as "Ellada Kathari" , based in Athens and active since 1993. Affiliated with Clean up the World!

Institute of Marine Biology of Crete: Persistent marine debris in the summer tourist season along the west coast of Evia, Greece. Twelve beaches located in the vicinity of Eritrea on the large Greek island of Evia, were investigated in 1995 for persistent marine debris.

Regional reports on the state of the marine and coastal environment

UNEP MAP State of the Coastal and Marine Environment of the Mediterranean Region. (MAP Technical Reorts no. 100, 1996).

State and pressures of the marine and coastal Mediterranean environment. Report 2000 by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its former European Topic Centre on the Marine and Coastal Environment, in co-operation with the Mediterranean Action Plan. Summary.

Marine and Coastal Environment. Annual topic update 2000. Report published in 2000 by the former EEA Topic Center.

UNEP GPA: Mediterranean Region (brief description of environmental state, priority issues, etc.).

EEA: State of the environment reporting system (SERIS) Mediterranean. See also country reports for Albania, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey.

UNEP: Global Environment Outlook 3 (GEO3). Coastal and marine areas.

University of Rhode Island: Large Marine Ecosystems (LME): Mediterranean LME.

Other publications on marine and coastal environment, including marine litter

Articles in Marine Pollution Bulletin on marine litter/marine debris in the Mediterranean: 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1995.

Cetacean Habitat Loss and Degradation in the Mediterranean Sea (see section 7.5 about marine litter). Report published by ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans In the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area).

The Occurrence of Beach Litter in Malta. A survey by University of Plymouth of four beaches in Malta showed very low densities of litter on three beaches, but a fairly high density on the fourth. Litter is composed predominantly of plastics, but there are significant amounts of metals and wood debris, and small amounts of offensive and potentially dangerous materials.

Private sector and NGOs actors and initiatives

Ocean Concervancy: International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). ••>

UNEP and Clean up Australia: Clean up the World! ••>

Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA). ••>

Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET): Small Garbage - the Deadly Illusion.

Marine Turtle Research Group. "A major threat to marine turtles in Cyprus is mortality of juveniles and adults as a result of interaction with fisheries. In addition, large amounts of marine litter in their environment, both at sea and on beaches, pose a risk for entanglement and ingestion."

European Union for Coastal Conservation. ••>

European Sea Ports Organization. ••>