From the intuition of a prince to the signing of RAMOGE

In response to growing concerns over pollution in the Mediterranean, voiced by committed figures such as Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Alain Bombard, Marcel Clébant, and Folco Quilici, and at a time when environmental awareness was still in its early stages, Prince Rainier III of Monaco decided to take action.

As President of the CIESM (International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean), during the 1970’s Congress in Rome (held by this Monaco-based scientific institution founded by his grandfather, Prince Albert I), and alongside Cousteau, then Secretary-General, he proposed the creation of a transboundary cooperation between France, Italy, and Monaco to combat marine pollution in the area from Saint-Raphaël to Genoa, hence the name RA.MO.GE.

The proposal was quickly welcomed by both Italy and France, which in 1971 established its first Ministry of Nature and the Environment. The CIESM and the Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM), founded in 1960 by Prince Rainier, took the lead in developing this pilot zone project. After several years of preparatory work, and ahead of the signing of a formal agreement, a joint visit of the respective coastlines was organized in 1975, involving Michel Poniatowski, French Minister of State for the Interior, Mario Pedini, Italian Minister for Scientific Research, and André Saint-Mleux, Minister of State of the Principality.

The following year, on May 10, 1976, in Monaco, they signed the RAMOGE International Cooperation Agreement “on the protection of Mediterranean coastal waters.” The document was signed in the Throne Room of the Palace, an exceptional occurrence in the Principality’s contemporary history for an agreement of this kind, which was both pioneering and the first of its kind in the Mediterranean. Contrary to the project’s initial concept, the designated area was expanded, extending from Hyères to Genoa.

Ratification by the three countries was completed in 1980, and the Agreement entered into force on January 1, 1981. The first meeting of the RAMOGE Commission, its decision-making body, was held in 1982. A technical committee, composed of experts, provides the scientific foundation of the Agreement, supported by working groups that gradually formed its operational base, while a permanent secretariat, based in Monaco, initially at the CSM, coordinates its activities.

Speech by Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau at the opening ceremony of the CIESM Congress in Rome, where he served as Secretary-General, pictured here alongside Prince Rainier III, President of the CIESM, with Vincenzo Caglioti, President of the Italian National Research Council, on the left, and Clelio Darida, Mayor of Rome, on the right, photograph, December 2, 1970.

Letter from Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Secretary-General of the CIESM, to the Director of the Hydrographic Service of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy in Genoa, requesting his support for the follow-up to the announcement of the future RAMOGE project made by Prince Rainier III at the 1970 CIESM Congress in Rome, May 14, 1971. M.O.M.

Map of the initial pilot zone of the RAMOGE project.

Visit to the Principality by Michel Poniatowski, French Minister of State for the Interior, and Mario Pedini, Italian Minister for Scientific Research, Nice-Matin, February 15, 1975. A.P.M., A/665/17/24. All rights reserved.

Signature du plan RAMOGE dans la Salle du Trône au Palais Princ

Signing of the RAMOGE Agreement in the Throne Room of the Prince’s Palace by, from left to right, Michel Poniatowski, French Minister of State for the Interior, Mario Pedini, Italian Minister for Scientific Research and for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, and André Saint-Mleux, Minister of State of the Principality, with Princess Grace and Prince Rainier III in the background, photograph, May 10, 1976. A.P.M., PH 601/7.

RAMOGE Agreement on the protection of Mediterranean coastal waters, original signed by the three parties, first and last pages, May 10, 1976. A.P.M., A/848/8/65.

Notifications of the French and Italian ratifications of the RAMOGE Agreement by the French and Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, July 11, 1977, and November 24, 1980. Archives of the Department of External Relations and Cooperation (Princely Government).