Indicators to monitor progress on depolluting the Mediterranean Sea

On 18 April 2012 at the UfM secretariat in Barcelona, prior to the H2020 steering committee meeting held on 19 April, the sub working group on indicators agreed on a 1st small set of indicators to monitor the progress of depolluting of the Mediterranean Sea. These indicators will be used to the preparation of the 1st regional assessment report to be issued in June 2013 and then updated every 5 years. The preparation of these indicators will also be supported by pilot data flows in the country supported by the ENPI-SEIS initiative. For each of the 3 priority areas, policy questions and supported indicators were agreed. For the 1st assessment, the focus was on already available indicators with some flexibility on the geographical areas covered, but it was recommended to cover river catchment areas discharging the Mediterranean Sea. Indicators are linked to DPSIR framework and streamlined with ongoing processes.

An overview of policy questions and related indicators is provided below for each priority area:

Priority area - Municipal waste

o Is the pollution by municipal waste going down?

• Total production of household waste in costal hydrological basins
• Collection rate of waste in coastal areas
• Type of treatment of waste (recycling, incineration, landfill, etc),
• Map of landfill

Priority area Water

o Is access to improved sanitation system increasing?

• Share of population with access to an improved sanitation system (total, urban, rural)

o Is the purification rate of collected wastewater increasing?

• Share and volume of waste water collected
• Volume of waste water treated by the public sanitation system
• Type of treatment

o Are elevated nutrient concentrations in coastal and marine waters decreasing?

• Nutrients concentrations in coastal waters linked to monitoring data already provided by countries to MedPol and to the EU Marine Framework Directive

Priority area -Industrial emissions

o Is pollution from industrial effluents decreasing?

• Release of toxic substances and nutrients to water and air from industrial sectors linked to data collected by MedPol on PRTR (Pollutant Released Transfer Register)

For further information and final decisions, please check: http://coordination.h2020.net/