At the 16th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD), held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 9 to 11 June 2015, the Steering Committee agreed that the new composition of the MCSD that will be proposed to the 19th Meeting of the Contacting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (19th MOP – 2016) will be composed as follows:

• 22 Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention

• Local Authorities (3):

- Local Agenda 21 Italy
- MEDCITIES
- UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) Mediterranean Commission

• Socio-Economic Actors (3):

- RAED (Arab Network for Environment & Development)
- UMCE (Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises)
- ANIMA

• NGOs (3):

- WWF MedPO
- ENDA-Maghreb (Environnement, D?veloppement et Action)
- MIO-ECSDE (Mediterranean Information Office – Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development)

• Scientific Institutions (3):

- FEMISE (Forum Eurom?diterran?en des Instituts de Sciences ?conomiques)
- UN SDSN (United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network)
- MEPIELAN Centre (Mediterranean Programme for International Environmental Law and Negotiation)

• IGOs (3):

- CEDARE (Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe)
- IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)
- UfMS (Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat)

MEPIELAN Centre, an accredited MAP Partner, participated as an observer to the Meeting of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) Focal Points, held in Athens from 19 to 21 May 2015, in accordance with the programme of work adopted by the 18th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (Istanbul in 2013). At the Meeting, seventeen Contracting Parties were represented (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, European Union, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey). Apart from MEPIELAN Centre*, the following NGOs and MAP Partners were also represented as observers: HELMEPA (Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association), INARE (Institute of Sustainable Development and Management of Natural Resources), MEDASSET (Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles) and MIO-ECSDE (Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development).

The Meeting discussed the Draft Strategic Framework of the UNEP/MAP Mid-Term Strategy 2016-2021 (UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG. 415/3) and its strategic themes referring to “Land- and Sea-Based Pollution”, “Biodiversity and Ecosystems”, “Climate Change”, “Natural Resources”, “Governance” and “Mediterranean Environment Under Review”. Each of these themes comprised one or more strategic objectives, a set of indicators, and strategic outcomes with their corresponding key outputs.