Regional Seas Programme

The Regional Seas Programme is the UNEP framework, launched in 1974, that organizes coastal states into regional conventions and action plans to protect shared marine environments. It now spans 18 regions and includes the Mediterranean Action Plan with the Barcelona Convention, the Cartagena Convention for the Wider Caribbean, the Kuwait Convention for the ROPME Sea Area, and the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP). Each programme combines a legal convention or action plan with protocols on pollution, dumping, emergencies, and specially protected areas. The model links neighbouring states to common monitoring, biodiversity, and pollution-control obligations across a single sea.