AECID - Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo

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The singularity of the Mediterranean climate, in which, broadly speaking, the period of lowest rainfall coincides with that of the highest temperatures, has, among other factors, led to adaptive processes that explain the enormous diversity of the area’s flora and fauna. This variety is also reproduced in the marine environment.

However, the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate also favour the outbreak and spread of forest fires, which have a severe impact on the Mediterranean landscape. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that forest fires mainly occur in areas where demographic pressure and the standard of living are higher. Indeed, most forest fires are due to human intervention and to the decline and gradual abandoning of traditional agricultural, forest and farming activities.

In contrast with this great biological diversity, the Mediterranean basin has borne intense human activity for centuries. Such activity, which has increased considerably in recent decades, has brought about a deep transformation of the Mediterranean landscape at all levels, leading to a rich mosaic of multifunctional landscapes, which have been modelled and maintained by humans for years, although these actions have had a greater impact in the developed countries of the northern shore.

It is necessary to increase efforts to ensure that the preservation of protected areas and natural spaces are compatible with their sustainable use to the benefit of the local population. Likewise, environmental impact studies and the implementation of Agendas 21 must be promoted. Extra measures must also be established for land and urban planning processes and for the concentration of the population in coastal areas, which is foreseen in the southern and eastern areas of the Mediterranean.

In this respect, note that the average urbanization rate, which is currently around 64%, is foreseen to rise to 72% by 2025. Nevertheless, this time this marked urbanization process will take place mostly in the countries on the southern and eastern rims of the Mediterranean.

It is necessary to step up efforts to make the conservation of protected areas and natural spaces compatible with their sustainable use to the benefit of the local population. Likewise, studies on environmental impact and the implementation of Agenda 21s should be promoted. In addition, it is necessary to establish accompanying measures for the processes of town and country planning, of urbanization and of population concentration that will take place in the coastal zones of the southern and eastern Mediterranean.

Activities carried out within the framework of the Azahar Programme must be geared towards the following areas:

• Support for protected areas that have been designated or regulated and managed with the purpose of meeting specific conservation goals
• Promotion of the conservation of natural ecosystems and habitats – terrestrial, aquatic and marine – and of the maintenance and recuperation of species in their natural environments.
• Development of diagnoses, policies, strategies and assessments concerning territorial planning and organization, regional integration, river basins and coastal management, among others.
• Carrying out of studies on landscape integration and on the assessment and prevention of the environmental impact resulting from human activities.
• Promotion of the design and implementation of Agenda 21s – rules aiming at achieving sustainable development from the social, economic and ecological points of view – and defining strategies for socio-economic development and urban planning.
• Support for the implementation of National Sustainable Development Strategies.