New EU-SMAP website

The first thing you'll notice is the new graphic design. There's still the blue of the sea, but we've brought out other colours, themes and images of the Mediterranean too, and we've also brought Europe to the fore, to underline the spirit of partnership at the heart of SMAP.

You will find the news and information services you are used to: on the Home page, up-to-the-minute environmental news, and of course the SMAP Review, dozens of new environment-related articles every month selected for you from newspapers and websites across the Mediterranean region. SMAP project information has also been enriched, with more of a focus on our activities to promote Sustainable Development in policymaking. The site's content has been reorganized, so you will find what you're looking for more easily and with far fewer ‘clicks'.

Finally, a whole new section, the SMAP LEARNING CENTRE, is open 24/7 to anyone interested in learning more about the Mediterranean environment. Try out our Factsheets - ‘bite-sized' introductions to key issues, tools and approaches in Sustainable Development today, easy to understand, crammed with information and jargon-free. Here also you'll find out about the priority areas SMAP has addressed during the course of the programme. But by far the most important innovation is elearning, a series of specially-prepared elearning courses on topics that you have told us interest you. These in-depth courses normally take two to three weeks to complete, with self-test mechanisms at the end of each module. Students completing the courses satisfactorily can obtain a certificate to that effect. This first one is on Project Design and the Logical Framework Approach, and it is available in English and Arabic. In the coming months we will be publishing others on Environmental Economics and Indicators.