Izmir hosted the “Regional Cooperation Meeting for the Best Marine Litter Practices” organized by the countries participating to the United Nations Environment Program organized as a part of the Barcelona Convention.

In 2017, Izmir was the first winner of the award granted for recognizing the efforts of improving environment and life quality in the cities located at the Mediterranean shores and promoting their sustainable development under the scope of the United Nations Environment Program – Mediterranean Action Plan and it hosted this meeting organized by the Barcelona Convention – MAP Coordination Office.

Delegates from France, Italy, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Albania, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Slovenia, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey attended to the meeting held at the Historical Coal Gas Factory Culture Center.  

“Izmir, which we awarded last year, has the best practices in the field of environmental protection practices. Furthermore, I would like to congratulate the Metropolitan Municipality for the excellent restoration of this historical building” said the meeting’s moderator and the UN Environment Program Coordinator’s Deputy Tatjana Hema.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality’s General Secretary Dr. Buğra Gökçe gave a speech at the meeting held to share the best regional Marine Litter practices and to discuss regional cooperation and mentioned the floating waste collector, petroleum  pollution contamination equipment used in the Izmir Gulf and studies on monitoring the gulf water quality.