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	REGIONAL LINKS DIRECTORY

	Welcome to the GIN regional links directory. The regional directory is categorised under nine major geographic regions. Each region contains a list of websites specifically relating to the chosen region. All websites listed here have been individually chosen based on their quality of content and appropriateness to the specific region they represent. All links contained within this directory are regularly checked to ensure they are currently available and do not lead to broken or missing links. If you do happen to come across a broken link please let us know - email our webmaster describing the offending link and we promise to attend to it at our earliest opportunity.

	ANTARCTIC The world's coldest and most inaccessible region consists of an ice-covered continent, Antarctica, centred on the South Pole and surrounding this, the vast Southern Ocean, which is largely covered by floating pack ice. The Antarctic is much colder than the Arctic and its only inhabitants are visiting scientists. Various nations claim different parts of the Antarctic mainland. In 1959, twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty and agreed that Antarctica should be used for peaceful purposes only.

	ARCTIC The Arctic is an ocean more or less surrounded by land - just the opposite of the Antarctic, which is a huge land mass surrounded by water. The Arctic region generally refers to a rather large land area round the North Pole but the ocean is nearly five times as large as the Mediterranean and is covered with drifting ice which is sometimes 30m thick. Between Greenland and the Canadian mainland is Baffin Island, together with many smaller islands.

	BALTIC An inland sea of northern Europe, the Baltic is nearly 1,600km in length. It lies between Sweden on the west, Finland and the former USSR on the east, and Poland and Germany on the south. It has three main gulfs - the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga. Navigation in the Baltic has never been easy. The Danish channels and many of the harbours are too shallow for larger ships and wide areas are regularly frozen over for two months of the winter.

	CARIBBEAN The Caribbean Sea is bounded by the West Indies, the east coast of Central America and the north coast of South America. It is nearly 2,400km long and from 650 to 1,100km wide. The many islands surrounding the Caribbean are really the peaks of mountains submerged beneath the sea. After the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, this sea became one of the busiest waterways in the world, lying on the main route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

	INDIAN OCEAN This is the third largest ocean in the world - after the Pacific and Atlantic oceans - and covers an area of 73,555,715sq km. The Indian Ocean is bordered by Africa on the west, India on the north and Australia on the east, but to the south there is open sea as far as the Antarctic. The southern half of the Indian Ocean has no large islands except Madagascar. Those in the northern half include Sri Lanka and Socotra besides many smaller ones.


	MEDITERRANEAN CPMR Intermediterranean Commission Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Economic Research Institutes (FEMISE Network) Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission Euro-Mediterranean Think Tank (IPEMED) EuroMed Transport Project European Centre for Nature Conservation European Coastal & Marine Union European Environment Agency European Environmental Bureau European Federation of Regional Energy & Environment Agencies European LEADER Association for Rural Development European Partners for the Environment European Travel Commission European Union On-Line Friends of the Earth Europe Global Mediterranean Action Network Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean Hellenic Centre for Marine Research Hellenic National Oceanographic Data Centre Institute for European Environmental Policy Institute of the Mediterranean International Association for Mediterranean Forests International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation Maritime Regions Cooperation for the Mediterranean Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Crete Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles Mediterranean Centre of Environment Mediterranean Coastal Foundation Mediterranean Data Archaeology and Rescue [MEDAR/MEDATLAS II] Mediterranean Dolphin Biology & Conservation Mediterranean Education Initiative for Environment & Sustainability Mediterranean Experience of Ecotourism Network Mediterranean Forest Association Mediterranean Hydrological Cycle Observing System Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture & Sustainable Development Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos Mediterranean Marine Bird Association [MEDMARAVIS] Mediterranean Models Evaluation Experiment (MEDMEX) Mediterranean NGO Network for Ecology & Sustainable Development Mediterranean Oceanic Data Base Mediterranean Oil Industry Group Mediterranean Platform of Artisanal Fishers Mediterranean Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre Mediterranean Regional Office of the European Forest Institute Mediterranean Science Commission Mediterranean Scientific Association of Environmental Protection Mediterranean Small Islands Initiative (PIM) Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative Network of MPA Managers in the Mediterranean Observatoire Mediterraneen de l’Energie (OME) Observatory on Tourism for Islands Economy Secretariat of the Union of the Mediterranean Tethys Research Institute The Blue Plan: Environment and Development in the Mediterranean Region The MedPartnership UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan UNEP Mediterranean Information and Communication Regional Activity Centre UNEP Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre UNEP Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre

	NORTH ATLANTIC The northern half of the world's second largest ocean is rich in islands, varied coastline and tributary seas. On the west are the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay. To the east are the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. As well as purely oceanic islands there are those which rise from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, including the Azores. Other islands such as The Canaries and Madeira rise from Africa's continental margins.

	PACIFIC The Pacific is the largest and deepest of all the oceans with an area of 165 million square kilometres, an area greater than that of all the world's lands put together. At its greatest width the Pacific measures 17,220km. It extends from the Bering Straits of the Arctic Circle, to Cape Adare, Antarctica, a distance of 15,450km. There are very few islands in the eastern Pacific. Its northern and western borders are fringed with chains of islands including The Aleutians, The Kurils and the Ryukus. The Inner Pacific islands are divided into three main groups - Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

	SOUTHEAST ASIA Southeast Asia is the name for the peninsular area of the Asian continent that lies between India and China, and stretches south along a chain of islands towards Australia. The countries of mainland Southeast Asia are Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and Singapore. Further south lies insular (island) Southeast Asia. This is made up of thousands of islands containing the countries of the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and East Timor.