The Global Environment Facility (GEF) says it is willing to release up to €20 million to conserve Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), restore marine ecosystems and implement new marine conservation projects in Tunisia.
This was made known during a meeting organised by the Global Alliance for Marine Protection, a newly created alliance to act as a global community of actors involved in the MPAs.
The Mediterranean fund (MedFund), created by France, Tunisia and Monaco, which is part of the global alliance, is in charge of implementing the programme in collaboration with MedPan.
GEF Management Unit Director, Claude Gascon, said the regional project, with the “Build back a blue and stronger Mediterranean” slogan, will help Tunisia benefit from the funding.
‘We are going to engage in a dialogue with the Tunisian authorities, primarily the Ministry of the Environment, to identify the government’s needs in terms of the funds required to conserve marine ecosystems and MPAs, define projects and then release funding for a maximum of five conservation projects’, TAP quoted Gascon as saying.
‘We want to make a real impact on marine-protected areas in Tunisia through this project, which will be effectively launched in July 2022′.
The project aims to enhance the efficiency of the management and financing of Mediterranean MPAs against global changes, offering long-term socio-ecological advantages in a post-Covid-19 recovery context.
In the long term, the programme seeks to secure the effective management of existing and new MPAs in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.
MedFund Executive Director, Romain Renoux, said that some projects were ongoing in Tunisia and a final report would be drawn up in three years’ time to evaluate the fund’s interventions.
Tunisia has already received €900,000 in funding from MedFund to implement marine biodiversity conservation projects on the islands of Kuriat (Monatir), Galite (off Tabarka), Kneiss (south of Sfax), Zembra and Zembretta (northeast of Tunis).
The Tunisian marine ecosystem is in bad shape despite the efforts exerted to protect it. This situation is due to pollution caused by maritime transport and uncontrolled intensive fishing in the country’s waters.
Source: TAP
Photo source: World Bank
