Identified as a climate change hotspot region by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC), the South Mediterranean region is subject to the numerous effects of climate change, such as increasing water scarcity, rising temperatures and growing rates of desertification, which are increasingly felt across its borders.
The adoption of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, marked a significant stage in the global response to climate change, including in the Mediterranean. All Southern Neighbourhood countries (except for Libya) have ratified, or are in the process of ratifying, the Agreement, and have prepared Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) plans for its implementation. Yet, whilst NDCs are accorded a legal value, they vary in scope, level of detail and ambition, and their implementation will present a considerable challenge in terms of institutional, technical and financial capacity development.
In response, the intervention of the Clima-Med project is crucial and timely.
Especially since a growing number of South Mediterranean cities have already committed through INDCs to take Climate Action initiatives and the lead on applying climate change & energy policies, through the design, development and implementation of concrete local climate actions.