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#MyBlueMed campaign for the Mediterranean

Kas, Trukey. rel= © Paolo Guglielmi / WWF Mediterranean

On World Ocean Day (June 8) the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative launched a campaign (mybluemed.org) showcasing the beauty and importance of the Mediterranean marine environment. The campaign will run on WWF network social media until the end of August with the hashtag #MyBlueMed. Stories about the Mediterranean Sea are posted every week and people can share these on Instagram, using #MyBlueMed, to show how they see this incredible part of the world. WWF's intention is to demonstrate how connected people are to the sea and to highlight the wonderful wildlife of the Mediterranean, which now more than ever needs a call for action to shape a better future.

© WWF

Making tourism work for nature

Situated on a beautiful Mediterranean coastline with its back to pine forest and face to the turquoise sea, Kaş is a small town in southern Turkey where the pace of life is still much as it was 100 years ago. It is also a place where natural assets underpin the local economy, and a group of tour operators, hoteliers and fishermen is working with WWF to make tourism work for nature, and nature work for tourism. To coincide with the beginning of the tourist season the WWF Exposure platform recently posted its first Mediterranean Marine Initiative story featuring WWF's work in Kaş-Kekova MPA. Read more.


© WWF

Conserving the fragile island wetlands of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean island wetlands are of great importance for people and nature. Now there is hope that they may begin to be adequately protected.
Island wetlands.
© Thanos Giannakakis/WWF Greece

In June, in a major conservation victory for the Mediterranean, the plenary of the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Ramsar Convention adopted a resolution inviting countries to identify and safeguard Mediterranean island wetlands. This is the outcome of a decade of systematic work by WWF Greece, aimed at conserving these fragile hotspots and defending them from mounting human-induced pressure.
Read more.

WWF Greece has monitored and recorded hundreds of island wetlands. 
© Thanos Giannakakis/WWF Greece
WWF Greece has monitored and recorded hundreds of island wetlands.
© Thanos Giannakakis/WWF Greece
An appeal for the Pelagos Sanctuary
Mother sperm whale and her offspring.
© F.Bassemayousse / WWF France

The Mediterranean is home to about 20 different species of cetaceans and the Pelagos Sanctuary, in the northwest, is the first Mediterranean transboundary area created to protect marine mammals. Created by France, Italy and Monaco 16 years ago, Pelagos is still neither effective nor efficient. WWF has launched an appeal with 20 other organizations, calling on the three governments to develop common management solutions, making Pelagos an international example for the conservation of marine biodiversity. Read more.

Facts and figures: the Pelagos Sanctuary

Established: 1999
Area: coastal waters and pelagic environment from the peninsula of Giens to the Fosse Chiarone in South Tuscany, extending 87,500km2 with 2,022km of coastline.
Species present: fin whale, sperm whale, Cuvier’s beaked whale, long-finned pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, striped dolphin and the monk seal.
Currently less than 5% of the Mediterranean Sea is protected. Without the Pelagos Sanctuary less than 1% of the basin would be under protection.

Telašćica Nature Park, Croatia. rel= © WWF Mediterranean

More on the Med

“I am working with a group of people from across the region who are trying to protect these special places, so the sea will remain the heart of our shared Mediterranean culture, as it has been for thousands of years.” Featured on WWF's blog, ecological.panda.org is an interview with Giuseppe Dicarlo, Leader of the Mediterranean Marine Initiative, on the team he works with and what they have achieved.

Interview: the success of the MMI

Dr. G. Katsadorakis, biologist-ornithologist, management specialist and environmental interpretation expert of WWF Greece talks about working together for success.

The Mediterranean Marine Initiative is a collective endeavor aiming to bring transformative change in marine conservation in the region. From your outstanding experience in the field of conservation, what is the most important ingredient for its success?
Large and multifaceted initiatives like this, that address a wide spectrum of issues, need to draw the attention of the public and politicians and achieve change. The MMI is very well planned and its strongest advantage, and challenge at the same time, is that there is a simultaneous coordinated effort in many Mediterranean countries. One of the main tasks of the team is to create as many partnerships as possible with the organizations and entities working for the conservation of the benefits offered by this most famous closed sea on Earth.

What are the challenges and benefits in the effort to create an MPA at Gyaros, with the active participation of the communities of the adjacent islands Syros and Andros?
The benefits of a well operating MPA are widely known. It will be a haven for wildlife - the monk seal, birds, fish communities- and at the same time it will benefit human communities, primarily those of the immediately surrounding areas. This is exactly the challenge: making people realize this win-win situation, setting up mechanisms and institutions that will ensure sustainable management. Most important, communicating to local communities that this MPA is their own business and will ensure their well-being in terms of economy (tourism, fisheries, employment) and non-material wealth.
Dr. G. Katsadorakis 
© C.Papadas/WWF Greece
Dr. G. Katsadorakis
© C.Papadas/WWF Greece

What was unique about your recent field expedition to Gyaros?
My mission: to count, together with my colleagues from the Hellenic Ornithological Society, the Yelkouan shearwater that flies in when night has fallen to feed their chicks. How do we count them in the dark? By their cries. Constantly the parents call out to their young. The latter, in their turn, also call out so that their parents can locate them.
Listen here.

...

These mysterious seabirds, these invisible cries that sound like anything but a bird, they live among us. In the dark of the night, in Gyaros and other islands, the ancient tale is repeated just as Homer described it.

Dr. G. Katsadorakis, WWF Greece