A sustainable coastal city is: “A coastal city in harmony with the sea, utilizing its resources efficiently, equitably and sustainably, reducing its impact on marine and coastal environment and climate change, and managing the environment for the benefit of current and future generations”

The 19th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols adopted decision IG 22/19: “to establish the Environment Friendly City Award to be conferred to Mediterranean Coastal cities, and name it the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award”.

An environment friendly city is a coastal city in which people enjoy a high quality of life and where sustainable development takes place within the carrying capacity of healthy ecosystems.

Our Mediterranean sea is our common cultural and natural heritage, a defining element of our identity.  The Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award aims to recognize and reward the efforts of local authorities to improve the environment and the quality of life and promote sustainable development in Mediterranean coastal towns and cities. It aims to encourage them to move towards a more environment friendly future and enable them to act as a role-model to inspire other towns and cities. The Award is also a tool to raise the awareness of the general public regarding the quality of environment and the importance of urban issues for sustainable development.

Both small towns and metropolitan cities are eligible to apply and it is highly recommended to develop partnerships with NGOs, scientific community, private sector or other stakeholders for the submission.

The Award will be conferred at the next meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention in December 2017 (COP20).

The call for application is open from 15 May to 15 June 2017.

For more information, please visit the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award page.

See also:

• The leaflet on the award
• The application form