Turkey to host COP22 meeting on Med. Sea, coasts

Turkey's coastal city of Antalya will host COP22, an international convention on the protection of the Mediterranean marine environment and coastline in 2021, the country's minister of environment said on Wednesday.

The location was determined during the COP21 meetings in Naples, Italy on Dec. 2-5, in what Murat Kurum said was a "pleasing" situation for Turkey. Kurum added that projects and measures to protect the Mediterranean Sea and its coasts would be discussed in Antalya, which will be the 22nd meeting of contracting parties to the Barcelona Convention.

He stressed that Turkey saw climate change as a national security concern not only for itself, but also for people around the world. "Thus, every country must take a decisive position on the fight against climate change," he added.

Underlining that marine pollution affected all coastal countries, Kurum urged joint action in the face of rising carbon emissions in the atmosphere which he said would also impact the entire world.

In 1975, 16 Mediterranean countries and the European Community adopted the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), the first-ever regional seas Program under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)'s umbrella.

The Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean was adopted in 1995.