MedCities and the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community (MBPC) are organizing an in-person workshop on "Transboundary governance in the South Adriatic Ionian Straight Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (SAIS-EBSA) and contiguous regions: from the identification of an area to biodiversity conservation"
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During the month of April, the Strategies for Coastal protection developed under two projects financed by EU DG Reform, with participation of MedCities, have been presented by the Spanish government to the concerned municipalities and local actors.
INCIRCLE, implemented by MedCities and the City Council, has installed 15 new water sources in tourist spots to encourage tap water consumption and the reduction of plastic bottles.
The project TangerAccueil concluded its implementation last 31st March with an overall balance of 300 people reached and 10 civil society organisations directly involved in a rich program of activities for training, awareness, and dialogue.
interview and meet all relevant actors in the city's water management field. A total of 26 interviews have been done with 22 stakeholders linked to the municipality; regional services of environment, infrastructure, agriculture, and coastal protection and management; as well as with some actors of the civil society, academy and private sector.
Following the launch of the “Strategic Framework elaboration phase” of the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS or SdVT for its French acronym) in 2021, April activities have focussed on consultation with territorial actors in order to enrich and adjust the document.
The 23 and 24 of March, MedCities participated in the MedCatDays 2022, an event co-organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Catalan Government and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), with the collaboration of the MedCoopAlliance.
The 23 and 24 of March, MedCities participated in the MedCatDays 2022, an event co-organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Catalan Government and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), with the collaboration of the MedCoopAlliance.
The Secretary General of MedCities, Josep Canals and their Director, Oriol Barba, travelled to Lebanon the 7th of March to visit the Lebanese municipalities and members of the organization, with the aim of determining their priorities and to provide the support needed by MedCities to municipalities.
MedCities secretariat traveled to M’Saken and Chefchaouen this month to finalise the diagnosis phase of the EMPLOIMed project, which seeks to establish a support service for employability and entrepreneurship in M’Saken and Chefchaouen, offering spaces for co-working, information, training opportunities and support for young people.
Following the launch of the “Strategic Framework elaboration phase” of the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS or SdVT for its French acronym) last December, this month activities have been centered on stakeholder consultations in order to review, enrich and adjust the Strategic Framework document.
MedCities organised an online workshop last 3rd of March where we invited the cities of Montpellier and Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona) to share their experiences in supporting youth employability and entrepreneurship. HIVE 12, an entrepreneurial hub and coworking space located in Sousse (Tunisia) also shared its experience.
On the 7th and 8th March, MedCities and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) visited Tunis in the first technical mission targeting the waste management component of A’SIMA Tunis project.
MedCities secretariat traveled to Sousse and Oujda this month to discuss the launching of the LASERMed project in both cities.
The InCircle project aims at supporting touristic insular and low density territories in their transition towards a more circular tourism. During the first phase of the project, partners developed a set of tools that were used to build the circular tourism strategies of the partner territories. These were a circular economy assessment tool; a tool to develop participatory processes, and a tool to evaluate the circularity of resulting strategies.
On the 4th of February, the team of MedCities met at the association’s headquarters, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, in order to participate in the team working day for the annual planning of the work.
The Development Agency of the Berguedà County, situated in Catalonia (ES), is one of the six replicators’ territories of the Interreg-Med project on Circular Tourism INCIRCLE.
The EMPLOIMed project, financed by the Catalan Agency for Cooperation to the Development, aims to establish a support service for employability and entrepreneurship in M’Saken and Chefchaouen, offering spaces for co-working, information, training opportunities and support for young people.
The city of Sfax is strongly committed to fight climate change with innovative and ambitious solutions in many fronts. With the support of MedCities and by participating in front-line internationally funded projects, the city is looking into active and smart mobility, together with its coast-line protection, as focus of two very new projects in the city.
On February 18 MedCities organised an online seminar on sustainable blue food in Catalonia to disseminate the objectives and activities of the BLUEfasma project and discuss the results and the preliminary policy recommendations with more than 30 stakeholders from the fisheries, aquaculture and food sector. This event was organised within the framework of the Barcelona’s World Capital of Sustainable Food 2021.
Following the official launch of the “Strategic Framework elaboration phase” of the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS or SdVT for its French acronym) last December, the A’SIMA Tunis project reaches cruising-speed this 2022 with multiple activities implemented in each of its working packages.
This week, the Geographical Information System (GIS) consultancy Nexus Geographic presented the first version of Tripoli’s City Guide web app to the IT Tripoli’s City Council department and MedCities technical staff. After the revision of the IT team, this online City Guide will include information on points of interest, tourism routes and activity Agenda for citizen’s use. In addition, the web app also consists of a version for internal use to provide the City Council with geolocated tools to manage the city.
This 27th January the kick off meeting of the LASERMed project took place online, marking the start of this Mediterranean socioeconomic recovery initiative. The partners could meet each other and share some first ideas about the sectors and objectives to be prioritised through the implementation of local economic pilot projects until may 2023.
MedCities participated in the signature of the annexes of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Permanent Secretariat of the Pelagos Agreement and the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community (MBPC), which has been developed with the objective of promoting and facilitating technical and scientific transboundary cooperation in the design and implementation of biodiversity protection and management actions.
The Municipality of Sfax, with the support of MedCities, has successfully submitted for funding the project “MAIS”: Active and Intelligent Mobility in Sfax through innovative actions and initiatives in energy saving and resilience to climate change” in the frame of the call Climate for Cities (C4C) in the Southern Neighbourhood.
On the 19th January, the partners of Med4Waste project met online with 5 projects funded by ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Bassin programme in a first presentation and exchange meeting.
MedCities has led the communication and stakeholders engagement activities, engaging among others the member city of Palma.
In the frame of the COHESIMED project, funded by the City Council of Barcelona, MedCities coordinated an online training on “Urban planning from a gender perspective in the Mediterranean”, which took place the 14, 16 and 21 of December 2021. The webinar sessions were facilitated by Sara Ortiz, expert of “Col.lectiu Punt 6”, a Barcelona-based cooperative specialised in urban planning from a feminist perspective.
The process of elaboration of the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS) –part of the A’SIMA Tunis project- evolved into a new phase in the last months of 2021: the team is now working on the Strategical Framework phase to define the vision, mission and the strategic objectives of the development plan for Tunis in its metropolitan context. The Municipality of Tunis hosted a public conference on December 14th in order to launch this new important phase of the CDS, and invite all city actors to participate in this collective thinking process.
The 9th of December, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, MedCities and Gabès City Council, partners of ValEUr Gabès project funded by the EU Delegation in Tunisia, met with the experts of Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE&B). This meeting reviewed and validated the methodological proposal and has subsequently launched a participatory process that will lead to a “Non-Conventional Water Resource Municipal Plan” for the city of Gabès in Tunisia. At the end of the project, Gabès will be the first city in Tunisia to implement a strategy and concrete actions to manage this scarce and valued resource.
The International Migrants Day was last Saturday 18 December and MedCities celebrated by promoting intercultural and sport activities in Tangier in the frame of the project TangerAccueil. This project is implemented by MedCities and Tangier City Council in collaboration with local civil society organisations. It is funded by the European Union, the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency and framed by the MC2CM program of the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
December had been a special month in the City of Saida. The city council and the Tourism Table have been launching one of the actions the strategic study on tourism promotion using the new branding image of the city in the framework of the second phase of the COHESIMED project funded by Barcelona Municipality. The strategic action had two main pillars: Some promotional events for Lebanese tourism stakeholders and the general public and a provisional municipal tourism office near Sea Castle, one of the main touristic attractions of the city.
The INCIRCLE Training School is over! Last 12th of January the INCIRCLE School organised its last online training session to clarify doubts about the assessment of tourism circularity and strategies development in the 6 replicating territories.
Read the last news of MedCities for this year! We will be back in January 2022 with much more news.
The 17th annual General Assembly of MedCities was held in the Maison of Rélations Internationales of Montpellier in a hybrid format and with the participation of their members, some of which were participating on-line.
MedCities supports the bilateral cooperation between its members by promoting technical and political exchanges in the frame of concrete projects or city-to-city diplomacy. In this context the mayor of Tunis, Mrs Souad Ben Abderrahim, visited the city of Barcelona and held several meetings aiming to move forward in two directions: the bilateral cooperation with the Municipality of Barcelona, following the cooperation agreement signed by the two cities in 2019 and the cooperation with the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona in the frame of the A’SIMA Tunis project.
As a part of the 22nd edition of the Barcelona Convention (COP22) held in Antalya from the 7th to the 11th of December, two MedCities members were awarded with the Istanbul awards for best sustainable policies: Malaga and Genoa. The Secretary General of MedCities, Josep Canals, participated in the meeting and stated, "This encourages to work even harder to better improve the capabilities of our members".
During the last month, the city of Valencia was the scenario for the 9th Mostra Viva del Mediterrani, in which the prizes “Pont del Mediterrani” were delivered to the associations, institutions and people committed to work for a better present and future for the Mediterranean.
From the 22nd to the 24th November, a Lebanese delegation of 2 council members and two technical staff of Saida and Zgharta-Edhen came to Barcelona for a study visit on tourism management and promotion in the frameworks of COHESIMED and TER BRAND projects both managed by MedCities and funded by Barcelona City Council. Unfortunately, the current COVID restrictions made it impossible to bring the full mission members composed of 8 people.
During the days 28th of November to 1st of December took place the 2020 Forum of the Marine Protected Areas in Monaco, co-organised by the network of Marine Protected Areas managers in the Mediterranean (MedPan), UN Environment Programme, the Mediterranean Action Plan, the Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas (SPA/RAC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Prince Albert II Monaco Foundation.
The project, launched in January 2021, aims to promote the valorisation of urban rainwater and non-conventional water resources by proposing innovative strategies and tools at municipal level. ValEUr Gabès is implemented by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), in partnership with MedCities and the Municipality of Gabès, with funding from the EU Delegation in Tunisia.
entrepreneurship in M’Saken and Chefchaouen, offering spaces for co-working, information, training opportunities and support for young people.
entrepreneurship in M’Saken and Chefchaouen, offering spaces for co-working, information, training opportunities and support for young people.
Since mid-November, over 30 migrants have received language training and 80 more have been informed about the civil society entities deploying targeted services for migrants in the city of Tanger.
MedCities organised as a side-event of its General Assembly this 1st and 2nd December a thematic seminar on sustainable mobility planning and innovation.
MedCities and the Municipality of Tunis, are elaborating the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS) in the frame of the A’SIMA Tunis project. Having finalised the diagnosis phase, the CDS of Tunis recently launched the strategic framework phase of the project, which is aimed at determining the cities’ vision on the long term, the mission of the CDS, as well as its strategic axes.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
MedCities guided the discussions around the transfer and replicating activities’ work plan. The city of Sfax and surrounding areas of ecological importance will be one of the partner territories fully engaged in these activities.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
After the summer break, our September newsletter is full of new content! Read all news here.
After the summer break, our September newsletter is full of new content! Read all news here.
The aim of the Temathic Working Groups is to bring the experience of testing and transferring activities to draw join recommendations and key messages on how to better integrate circular economy into fishing and aquaculture sector.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year 2021.
The Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance will be present the next 14th October in the workshop: "MedCoopAlliance: how multilevel governance fosters green transition" during the EU Regions Week in which it will present practical examples of multilevel governance & innovating approaches to foster green transition.
One of the priority actions identified in the "Sustainable Tourism Promotion Study" for Old Saida took place successfully during the month of July complemented with a development of a branding image in to products to promote Saida as a sustainable tourism destination.
MedCities organised a webinar series to discuss the challenges of the reception of migrants in Mediterranean cities and outline the future work of the network in the field.
The webinar "CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION THROUGH SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLANS (SUMPS)" took place the 15 september and gathered over 200 participants, including the works department representative of the city of Sfax, Tunisia.
In the frame of the A'SIMA Tunis project, in July 2021, the team of experts involved in the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDST), submitted their sectoral diagnostic reports as well as a transversal analysis of the major Facts and Challenges faced by the city of Tunis and its de facto metropolitan space.
Last 2nd of September INCIRCLE technical partners met online to evaluate the candidatures received and selected 6 replicating territories. InCircle will assist them in the creation of territorial strategies to increase circularity and sustainability of tourism and to support the relaunch of the sector in a post-covid time.
12 municipalities benefited from a set of one-to-one sessions with the experts of the training module between June and July. The mentoring finished and these are some of the main challenges addressed by Mediterranean participant cities.
As part of the Interreg-Med InCircle project, the Tourism Agency of the Balearc Island, hand to hand with the municipality of Palma (member of MedCities network), have organized a set of stakeholder working groups with relevant stakeholders of the Balearic touristic sector.
The InCircle project (Interreg Med Programme) supports territories in their transition towards a more circular tourism economy and relaunch their tourism sector in a post-covid time. Now, the project is looking for Mediterranean destinations interested in circular tourism and in developing or adapting their sustainable tourism strategies.
These mentoring processes have started during this month of June, and three municipalities per each one of the four topics are benefiting from it.
The Interreg Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community project, from which MedCities is partner leading the communication component, hosted the online workshop: "Mediterranean Pollution, Biodiversity and Health". MedCities also gave support together with UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Center Plan Bleu. Over 70 partners and experts from around the globe gathered for this event to find the best solutions to combat marine litter impacts across the Mediterranean.
MedCities has recently received the endorsement of the Ocean Decade of United Nations for the Ocean Cities (OC-NET) Programme, an international network coordinated by The Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) and Unitat de Tecnologia Marina (UTM), part of one of the largest research institutes of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
The catalogue of measures and their selection and prioritisation enters the process of stakeholders' consultation. MedCities is part of the technical team developing redacting the strategies where we lead the communication and participation activities.
The website, which is fully available both in French and in Arabic, introduces the role of the local Youth Council, its objectives, displays the councils' activities, publications, as well as the contact details of 24 youth organizations on the territory.
The A'SIMA Tunis project continues at good pace with important milestones met in this first phase: the participatory diagnosis of the City Development Strategy of Tunis (CDS).
The mentoring programs of the Urban Transports are entering a key phase: first assessments, field work and second round of peer to peer meetings between replicators and pioneers.
After defining the pilot area, the participatory diagnosis kicked off with a number of workshops and exploratory walks in the neighbourhood with over 40 women involved.
MedCities took part of the 19th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) organized by UNEP MAP, within 50 other members and obervers. The three-day meeting virtually hosted by Slovenia examined a report on sustainable development activities carried out from June 2019 - May 2021, and review progress in the implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development.
MedCities leads this component and has been in charge of developing the Capitalisation Plan.
MedCities, throught its Secretary General and as part of the Interreg Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community and its Working Group 1 on Biodiversity protection and transboundary challenges, has been involved in the second capacity building workshop on the topic of marine litter and marine protected areas, with a focus on Montenegro.
MedCities Secretary-General, Mr. Josep Canals Molina, contributed to the MIO-ECSDE issue 'Sustainable Mediterranean: climate change' with an article based on the role of Mediterranean cities.
The Strategic Plan about tourism promotion in Old Saida was presented in the Saida's tourism table, while a branding campaign and the pilot project to promote the sustainable tourism in the city have already started.
The mentoring expert has been supporting the municipality in the last months by providing advice on how to identify the key variables to calculate traffic congestion or pollution and how to collect data.
We had the opportunity to visit the city councils of Tetuan and Tanger and took part in the closing activities of the COHESIMED project on urbanism and gender. This mission has been very rich and useful to strengthen the links with our city members and make projects advance, and close, in a smooth way.
During the month of July, Rev'ACTE project, promoting a network of Tunisian cities allied for climate and energy transition, finalised its activities. The network mobilised 7 cities in activities of capacity building in order to promote energy transition in 4 different areas: sustainable urban mobility, diversification of energy sources, energy autoproduction and public lighting efficiency.
This July newsletter brings you news about tourism in Saida, about our first mission in Morocco -after all this pandemic time- where we had the opportunity to follow up our projects in Nakkata
During 2020 MedCities has continued supporting member cities in participating in multiple projects and initiatives. This is the sumary of all the work carried out during a complex, and also rich, 2020.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
MedCities will act as Bluefasma Living Lab initiator at the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and leads the Capitalisation (...)
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
MedCities will act as Bluefasma Living Lab initiator at the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and leads the Capitalisation (...)
The Urban Transports Community of the Interreg Med is preparing the activities of what will certainly be a very (...) autumn.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) one of the founder members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all projects that our Mediterranean network will start and follow during this year.
Secretary General, Josep Canals i Molina participated in the conference hosted by ALDA (Association of Local Democracy Agencies) on its 20th anniversary. Mr.Canals presented (...)
The Urban Transports Community of the Interreg Med is preparing the activities of what will certainly be a very (...) autumn.
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