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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Alianza Mar Blava, Ecologistas en Accion, Plataforma por la Calidad del Aire and Transport & Environment have praised Barcelona City Council for backing the initiative to create an Emission Control Area (ECA) in the Mediterranean Sea.

The number of premature deaths in Europe due to vessel pollution is estimated to reach 53,200 in 2020, up from 49,500 in 2000, according to a report by Denmark's Centre for Energy, Environment and Health - which is highlighted by Transport & Environment on its website.

As a result, the CleanCruiseNetwork alliance - which includes NGOs mainly from the Mediterranean countries of France, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Spain, but also entities such as Brussels-based Transport & Environment and Germany's NABU - has launched a campaign to achieve support for a Mediterranean ECA.

In particular, the alliance has urged the Spanish government to:

- Actively support the creation, as soon as possible, of a Mediterranean ECA to limit all types of air pollution from ships;

- Coordinate with the European Commission, France and the rest of EU member states, as well as non-EU coastal states, to ensure the creation of a Mediterranean ECA. Also, once created, support the implementation of a cross-border ECA management policy;

- Urgently implement port measures, such as forcing ships to connect to shoreside electricity when docked.

"The continued success of the Emission Control Areas that already exist in Northern Europe, in the seas of North America and other areas, demonstrates that the creation of an ECA in the Mediterranean Sea would also generate significant benefits in terms of improved air quality, not only in the maritime routes and coastal areas but also in the port and cities situated on the peninsula," the NGOs stressed.

"Other consequences will be immediate improvements in public health, limited damage to ecosystems and cultural heritage," the ECA backers added.

As previously reported, at the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) 73rd Marine Environmental Protection Committee meeting (MEPC 73), France presented the results of its impact assessment of a possible Mediterranean ECA which concluded that a combined ECA that addresses both sulphur (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the same time has the greatest positive effect in terms of reducing air pollutant concentrations as well as corresponding socio-economic and ecological benefits.

Another recent study, carried out by the IMO-administered Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), concluded that the further reduction of marine fuel sulphur content in the Mediterranean would bear considerable costs, but the health and environmental benefits - including fewer respiratory diseases and premature deaths avoided from improved air quality - could outweigh the overall costs.

The issue is due to be addressed again next week during a regional workshop on MARPOL Annex VI at REMPEC's Malta headquarters in Valletta on December 11-13.