Editorial Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, UNEP Most Achieved George Souflias, Minister of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, Greece, assesses the progress of the Mediterranean countries in protecting their common sea Shipping Solutions Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organisation, describes decades of support for the Mediterraean Action Plan in maritime safety and pollution prevention Process of Partnership Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment, describes how, after thirty years of regional cooperation, the EU is more committed than ever to sustainable development in the Mediterranean region Acting in Concert Stjepan Keckes, first co-ordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan and served as the director of UNEP's Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme until his retirement in 1990, looks back thirty years to describe how the Mediterranean countries set about addressing the problems of their common sea, creating as precedent for the world to follow Monitering the Mediterreanean Joan Albaiges, Environmental Chemist at Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain and Eva Garnacho, Senior Scientist at the Environmental Quality Science Area of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, UK, assess what is known about the state of chemical pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and identify gaps in knowledge to be filled

Strengths and Weaknesses Michael Scoullos, Chairman of the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) and Chairman of the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med), assesses UNEP-MAP from an NGO perspective How it all Began Serge Antoine, the representative of France at the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development, describes the origins of the Barcelona convention and traces the 30 years of cooperation in the Mediterranean that have ensued New Era Evangelos Raftopoulous, Legal Adviser to the Mediterranean Action Plan, outlines the effects of the entry into force of the amended Barcelona Convention Saving the Sea Mostafa Tolba, Executive Director of UNEP from 1976 to 1992 and current President of the International Centre for Environment and Development, outlines the lessons learned from the successful negotiation of the Mediterranean Action Plan and calls for a huge multidisciplinary assessment of its effects