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Overview

Threats

WWF's Involvement

WWF Achievements

Selected WWF Projects in the Mediterranean Region


It is estimated that by 2025 one out of every two countries in the Mediterranean will ber using freshwater resources in excess of their regeneration rates.

 
Threats header

Demographic trends and urbanization with all their implied side-effects pollution, population pressure, industries are a major cause for concern in the region. Today, 82 million people live in coastal cities; by 2025 there will be an estimated 150-170 million. Today the southern countries account for 32 per cent of the region's population; by 2025 that is expected to have reached 60 per cent. This pressure will come in an area with very little resources to tackle environmental problems, with a low average income (see statistics for GNP), a steadily increasing population, and an unstable political environment.

Seasonal population pressures are also expected. Over 100 million tourists flock to Mediterranean beaches every year and this number is expected to double by 2025. In order to cater for this booming business, natural habitats have been replaced by modern resorts; breeding and nesting sites notably of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle have been destroyed to accommodate tourist facilities; and the extra pollution generated is often dumped untreated into the sea, threatening the entire eco-equilibrium of the region.

An estimated 650,000 tonnes of crude oil are released annually from various sources into the sea about seventeen times the amount the Exxon Valdez spewed out in Alaska. Meanwhile, 70 per cent of the wastewater dumped into the Mediterranean is untreated. A 1988 survey of 150 beaches in France, Greece, Italy, and Spain showed that a good 25 per cent had levels of pollution likely to affect human health and yet humans are generally more resistant than marine life.

Pollution also reaches the Mediterranean through its major river systems: the Po, the Ebro, the Nile, and the Rhone which carry substantial amounts of agricultural and industrial wastes. As the Mediterranean is almost entirely landlocked, its waters have a very low renewal rate (80 to 90 years) making them excessively sensitive to pollution.

Unrealistic subsidies on energy have led to the excessive depletion of natural resources such as freshwater and oil. Social and political crises such as war, poverty, immigration, and political strife have also taken their toll on natural resources. The erstwhile famous cedar forests of Lebanon have been totally destroyed during the 15 years of civil war which ravaged the country.

Freshwater is a vital source of all life. In the Mediterranean, its scarcity together with the pollution of the existing resources, has reached alarming levels. It is estimated that by 2025 one out of every two countries in the Mediterranean will be using freshwater resources in excess of their regeneration rates. Malta and Cyprus already do so.

Groundwater is particularly important, but the quality of aquifers is difficult to maintain. Pollution sources include agricultural effluent, industrial toxins, and sewage. The population explosion, particularly in the southern and eastern basin, has caused all three to increase well beyond sustainable levels.

Establishing protected areas is essential to conserving a species and its habitat. But a legal declaration of protection is not enough: in North Africa, only 19 per cent of so-called protected areas conform to IUCN criteria. Throughout the region as a whole, less than five per cent of the coast is now protected, though a 10 per cent minimum is recommended to ensure a representative biodiversity sample. Significant investment needs to go into research, management, and monitoring of protected areas.

The Mediterranean is facing a turning point. The recognition of a developing crisis in the Mediterranean has produced an increased political will to tackle environmental problems and to ensure economic and social stability and sustainability. National Environmental Action Plans have already been undertaken in all the northern countries, as well as in Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan. Most countries have ratified the Barcelona Convention, proof of their goodwill to move forward. What is needed now is practical action.