Paradoxes and Challenges to Blue Economy Progress in the Mediterranean Region
12 February 2026. From 18:30 | Conference | English | IEMed
(This conference has been canceled due to the suspension of activities in Barcelona caused by the windstorm)
The Mediterranean basin is a unique region. However, it faces a series of paradoxes and challenges that hinder the advancement of the blue economy. It is a shallow and semi-enclosed sea, susceptible to pollution; marked by significant economic inequalities among surrounding states; home to both producers some of the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels, which undermines the drive toward a sustainable blue economy; and a crossroad of major international shipping routes and critical trade choke points (Suez Canal, Red Sea and Babel Mendes).
The region is also a setting of regional conflicts, maritime border disputes, and migration flows, while simultaneously being a premier global tourist destination, attracting approximately 20 millions of visitors annually. Moreover, the Mediterranean is warming about 20% faster than the global average, leading to climate variability, more frequent and intense wildfires, water scarcity, and a projected sea-level rise of 0.15–0.33 m by 2050, threatening millions of people living in low-lying coastal areas.
Against that backdrop, we will discuss environmental, geopolitical, security, and socioeconomic pressures, and their interconnected nature, that arise from these paradoxes and challenges, which continue to constrain further progress toward a sustainable Blue Economy in the Mediterranean.
A lecture by Ademuni Odeke, Professor of International Maritime Law at Ankara University. Odeke works in the fields of international maritime law and policy, maritime transport law, and ocean governance. He serves as Special Adviser to the National Research Center for the Sea and Maritime Law (DEHUKAM) and is a Lloyds of London-Fulbright Scholar.
He has been a visiting professor at Tulane University (United States), the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) in Malta, and the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, as well as teaching at various European universities. With an extensive professional background that includes fifteen years at the United Nations —at the IMO, the IAEA, and UN Headquarters in New York—, Odeke has published numerous books, articles, and consultancy reports in the field of international maritime law, including Insurance of International Sales’ Contracts under Incoterms (Springer, 2025).
Session moderated by Carmen Parra Rodríguez, Professor of International Law, CEU-UAO. A session co-organised with CEU Universitat Abat Oliba.
This conference takes place in English at the IEMed conference room, Girona, 20 – Barcelona.
It can also be followed on IEMed’s Youtube Channel.
Speakers
Ademuni Odeke
Special Advisor National Centre for the Sea and Maritime Law (DEHUKAM)
Ada Garriga
associate professor in European and International Public Law CEU-UAOOrganised by
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