Regional Integration in the Union for the Mediterranean 2025

Annex C. The local dimension of regional integration in the UfM: Cooperation between coastal communities in the Mediterranean

This Annex presents an example of cooperation between local communities in the Mediterranean facilitated by an international organisation. The CIHEAM Bari is the Italian branch of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), founded in 1962 under the auspices of the OECD and the Council of Europe, engaged in higher education, research and international cooperation applied to rural and coastal development.

The Mediterranean integration through coastal communities’ dialogue

prepared by Ciheam Bari

The prosperity of the Mediterranean area hinges on the ability of its peoples to converge on a common goal, a shared interest. Interest, what resides in the middle, just like a sea that bizarrely divides to unite. A table that in separating them, is gathering all the diners close together. Letting them get acquainted with each other. This note chronicles the communities that, through the waters of the Mediterranean, have discovered an opportunity to get to know and come together, to become familiar with one another while searching for their own, integrating identity.

Dialogue of knowledge

Since 2006, CIHEAM Bari has been dialoguing from Tricase, at the entrance of the Otranto Channel in the heart of the Mediterranean, with coastal communities from the entire basin, nurturing discussion among them for the creation of new forms of integrated sustainable development through cooperation, research and training initiatives, thus restoring hope in a particularly economically and socially vulnerable area.

Continuous community meetings, both in-person and online, have led to a joint request for the activation of a specialised advanced training course aimed at officials and technicians from the Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries of Mediterranean and Indian Ocean countries, not neglecting the requests for participation coming from countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Based on this, a 10-week Advanced Training Course on Sustainable Development of Coastal Communities (now in its fourth Edition) has been launched, aiming at strengthening technical capacity, develop and implement integrated management policies, strategies and tools, offering a comprehensive view of Blue Transformation explored through a cross-sectoral approach, according to the “Tricase model”.

Dialogue of experiences

Long before the pandemic crisis made remote connections normal, WEBPORT was conceived by CIHEAM Bari as part of the NEMO programme, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

WEBPORT is a virtual landing and remote meeting platform that fosters dialogue, discussion and exchange of experiences and knowledge among coastal communities. They are the real protagonists of WEBPORT and contribute to making the Mediterranean a true sea of dialogue, a door that is always open to local-based political and social decisions.

Today, WEBPORT is lived and animated by the coastal communities of Tricase in Italy, Tyre in Lebanon, Marsa Matrouh in Egypt, Zarzis in Tunisia, Algiers in Algeria, Nador in Morocco, Porto Palermo in Albania, Lamu in Kenya and Herceg Novi in Montenegro.

This dense network of interactions has since served as the basis for the design and implementation of concrete initiatives for coastal development and Mediterranean regional integration, such as the Blue Land initiative aimed at defining, developing and implementing a participatory and ecosystem-based model for the protection and safeguard of marine and coastal resources, habitats, biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, with pilot initiatives were activated in the three pilot areas of Ada Bojana (Montenegro), Porto Palermo (Albania) and Tricase (Italy).