As decided by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention during their 19th Ordinary Meeting (COP19, Athens, Greece, February 2016), the Simplified Peer Review Mechanism (the SIMPEER) is a framework for mutual learning and improvement from past experiences and other national approaches related to sustainable development. SIMPEER was mandated by Decision IG. 21/12 (COP18, Istanbul, Turkey, December 2013) and Decision 22/17 (COP19, Athens, Greece, February 2016). Based on a voluntary basis principle, the proposed peer review aims at engaging a dialogue between two or more Mediterranean countries for a mutual improvement and learning process on their National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSSDs).
It seeks to establish, within an agreed methodology, the exchange of experiences, policies and good practices on implementing sustainable development at national level, as opposed to creating a scrutiny framework between reviewers and countries under examination. This peer review mechanism will also contribute to the implementation and monitoring of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2025 (MSSD 2016-2025). Indeed, the SIMPEER represents an important tool to enable NSSDs review in line with the regional Strategy and as a contribution to the global Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals specifications.
Taking opportunity of the organization of the technical workshop on “How to monitor the MSSD 2016-2025 implementation and the Regional Action Plan on SCP in the Mediterranean?” that was held on the 17th October 2016 at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site in Barcelona (Spain), the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention Coordinating Unit and Plan Bleu decided to organize, back to back, the SIMPEER first technical meeting on the 18th October 2016 at the Catalan Waste Management Agency in Barcelona.
The technical meeting aims to present to the volunteer countries and members of the MCSD Steering Committee the road map and the proposed methodology in order to have their feedback, comments and orientations to move forward on the pilot test of the SIMPEER in 2016-2017.