Ecosystem Approach to the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans

The UNEP Regional Seas Programme1, launched in 1974, is one of UNEP’s most significant achievements in the past 35 years. It aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world’s oceans and coastal areas through sustainable management and use of resources and by engaging littoral countries in specific actions to protect shared marine environments. It has accomplished this by stimulating the creation of regional seas programmes for sound environmental management coordinated and implemented by countries sharing a common body of water.