MPs, journalists and other Med stakeholders discuss climate change adaptation

More than 80 MPs, intergovernmental organisations, country administrators, NGOs, journalists and private initiatives from 16 countries converged to Athens, Greece to attend a regional workshop dedicated to climate change adaptation in coastal areas of the Mediterranean (5-6 November 2015).

The purpose of the meeting was to:

inform Members of Parliament (MPs) and journalists on on-going and upcoming international and Mediterranean initiatives and processes on Climate Variability and Change and to shape messages with emphasis on the Coastal Areas, including towards the Climate Change COP21 (Paris, December 2015) and the Barcelona Convention COP (Athens, February 2016);
inform about regional programmes and activities on Climate Variability and Change as well as their links with Water, Coastal and Environment programmes, and to identify ways for more active engagement of MPs and the media;
share experiences and views among MPs, Media and other stakeholders on how MPs can enhance their role and contribution in shaping policy agendas and promoting priority action at regional and national level, with emphasis on Climate Variability and Change, Education for Sustainable Development, the Water-Food-Energy-Environment-Climate Nexus, etc.

The two-day meeting was organised back-to-back with the very successful Final Conference of the GEF MAP/UNEP MedPartnership Progra mme (4 November 2015) and a very lively celebration of the 40 Years of UNEP MAP.

Embedded in the meeting’s programmes was a very interesting Round Table discussion on ‘The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change and COP 21’, co-organised with the Institute Français de Grèce and the Committee for the Study of Climate Change Impacts of the Bank of Greece (evening of 5 November 2015).

Organised by the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med) within the framework of the GEF MAP/UNEP ClimVar & ICZM Project and the GWP Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP), the regional workshop also combined with the 11^th meeting of the Circle of Mediterranean Parliamentarians for Sustainable Development (COMPSUD). The Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) supported the organisational efforts and provided technical expertise to the interactive session of day two “Investing in the future: the role of Education” that also functioned as input to the currently under development Action Plan for the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSESD).