Registration of contributions to the work on capacity-building under IPBES: Submission #24

Brief description of contribution Message from the President
Dear friends and colleagues,
It is my great pleasure and honour to invite you to our 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, scheduled for 18 - 21 October 2022, which is being organized by the University of Abdelmalek Essaadi, Faculty of Sciences_Tetouan and ATOMM. The Conference will take place in Morocco, in the city of Tetouan on the coast of the Western Mediterranean, one of the most important feeding and migratory habitats for Mediterranean sea turtles.
The city of Tetouan is one of Morocco's most famous tourist destinations with a diverse historical and cultural heritage. Tetouan is considered "the most Andalusian city in Morocco”. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the area contains beautiful landscapes and historical monuments. The logo of the 7th conference with the map of the Mediterranean Sea symbolizes the common history of peoples and our contemporary efforts aimed at the conservation of sea turtles and the marine environment.
Since the beginning, in 2001, our Mediterranean conferences have been supported by the UNEP MAP-RAC/SPA, Bern Convention, the Convention for Migratory Species, and now by US Fish and Wildlife Service. Their support will help us bring invited speakers, and provide travel and accommodation grants in order to make this conference available to as many of our colleagues as possible.
We will invite prominent colleagues working in the field of sea turtle conservation to discuss collaborative opportunities. This is why the theme of the 7th Conference is “Sea Turtles Conservation after the Pandemic”.
The conference venue is the Sofitel Tamuda Bay Beach And Spa (https://www.sofitel-tamudabay.com), located 15 minutes away in Tetouan. The Sofitel Tamuda Bay Beach And Spa chain of hotels and resorts has a history of supporting environmental and conservation projects. They have offered us a good deal for congress facilities and accommodation for participants. There are several international airports nearby (Tangier and Tetouan Airports) and Taxi shuttles service from Tangier (1 hour) and Tetouan (15 minutes) to the Hotel.
I invite you all – students, professionals, and all who care about sea turtles and the future of the Mediterranean– to register and come to Tetouan for the 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles. My team and I will do our best to make this Conference a memorable scientific, professional, and social event – the reunion of old friends with the new generation of sea turtle researchers and conservationists.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Tetouan!
On behalf of the Conference Organizing and Program Committees,
Mustapha Aksissou
President of the 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles