The Mediterranean after the 1995 convention. The historical sense of a turnaround point  <B>The Mediterranean after the 1995 convention. The historical sense of a turnaround point</B><P>A. Vallega</B><I><P> International Centre for Coastal and Ocean Policy Studies, ICCOPS, Genoa, Italy.</I><P> Abstract<P> The objective of the paper is to focus on the current changing phase in the Mediterranean policy. In this context it is worthy of consideration that the Mediterranean cooperation has developed along two tracks: the Action Plan, adopted in 1975, and the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, adopted the year after. The spectrum of the objectives of the Action Plan was designed in wider terms than that of the Convention. As a consequence, during its two decades of development the Mediterranean cooperation was based not only on the pursuit of pollutionrelated goals, but also on that referring to the establishment of protected areas and coastal area management, which are concerned only with the 1975 Action Plan. In the meantime socioeconomic investigations have been carried out and scenarios have been built.<P> According to the resolution adopted in 1993 by the Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention again two tracks arose. On the one hand, the Convention and its related protocols were amended with the aim of designing a new convention consistent with the resolution from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. On the other hand, the Mediterranean Agenda 21 (Med Agenda 21), parallel to the UNCED Agenda 21, was formulated. The Ninth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties and the Plenipotentiaries Meeting to the Barcelona Convention adopted the amended Convention, entitled Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean.<P> The main innovations of the newly adopted Convention consist of : i) the claim that the environmental policy should aim at the preservation of biodiversity, so the ecosystem as a whole, especially its food webs, is expected to be regarded as a core subject of ongoing Mediterranean cooperation; ii) the inclusion of integrated coastal area management into the spectrum of actions, so strong collaboration, mainly concerned with Priority Action Programme/Regional Activity Centre (MAP/PAP/RAC), is expected to be developed.<P> When the mechanisms of the two Conventions are considered to their whole extent their efficiency is to be evaluated. The main question which should be considered by both the decisionmaking centres and the scientific community is whether the efficiency of the first Convention was satisfactory and how much efficiency could be achieved by the new one.<P>