Climate change impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016

Policy context
includes recommendations for policy, institutional
change and potential priority adaptation actions. It
calls upon countries, local and regional authorities,
and other stakeholders involved to formulate policies
and design strategies to adapt to climate change
and to mitigate its adverse effects. The Carpathian
Convention Adaptation to Climate Change Working
Group started to work on the development of an
Action Plan, which will support the countries in
developing common cooperation activities and
projects under the new EU funding period 2014–2020.
2.5.6 Mediterranean region
Mediterranean Action Plan and Barcelona Convention
The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) ( 39 ) was adopted
in 1975. The MAP is a regional cooperative effort
involving 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean
Sea, as well as the European Union. Through the MAP,
countries aim to meet the challenges of protecting
the marine and coastal environment and to achieve
sustainable development.
In 1995, the 'Action Plan for the Protection of
the Marine Environment and the Sustainable
Development of the Coastal Areas of the
Mediterranean' was adopted to replace the plan
of 1975. At the same time, the 'Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal
Region of the Mediterranean' (Barcelona Convention,
1995), an amended version of the 1976 Barcelona
Convention, was adopted. The members of the
Barcelona Convention are now Albania, Algeria, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, the European
Union, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya,
Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain,
Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
In 2009, the Barcelona Convention adopted the
'Marrakesh Declaration', which aimed 'to promote
Mediterranean cooperation to combat the effects
of climate change in the region' and 'to implement
effective coordination to ensure the integration of
climate change issues into development policies and
ensure the strengthening of cooperation for the sharing
of experience in the field of surveillance (early-warning
systems) and the development and implementation of
adaptation and risk-management strategies'.
A 'Regional Framework for Climate Change
Adaptation in the Mediterranean' was endorsed
at the 19th meeting of members of the Barcelona
Convention (UNEP, 2016). The vision of the framework
is that, by 2025, the marine and coastal areas of the
Mediterranean countries and their communities have
increased their resilience to the adverse impacts
of climate variability and change, in the context of
sustainable development. According to the framework,
this will be achieved through common objectives,
cooperation, solidarity, equity and participatory
governance. Members are urged to translate the
framework into actions and to take it into account and
address it in their national and local integrated coastal
zone management and climate change adaptation
strategies and plans.
The Union for the Mediterranean, a multilateral
partnership created in 2008 and consisting of the 28 EU
Member States and 15 other Mediterranean partner
countries, established a Climate Change Expert Group
in 2014 ( 40 ). Its activities support the UNEP Framework
for Climate Change Adaptation in the Mediterranean.
The Expert Group acts as a regional dialogue platform,
showcasing relevant initiatives, programmes and
structures, including stakeholders, the private sector
and various levels of governance, in both mitigation
and adaptation.
( 39 ) http://www.unepmap.org/index.php-.
( 40 ) http://ufmsecretariat.org/ufm-climate-change-expert-group.
60 Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016 | An indicator-based report