Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt – 6 to 18 November 2022
- The Mediterranean region is warming 20% faster than the global average and it is the planet’ second fastest warming area: but it’s also a hub for emerging solutions, that can be scaled up globally.
- For the first time in COP’s history, the 27th edition will host a Mediterranean Pavilion led by the UfM, UNEP-MAP and PRIMA Foundation with a coalition of the most relevant climate action organizations in the region.
- Located in the COP27 Blue zone, the Mediterranean Pavilion’s events will provide an exceptional opportunity to highlight the challenges the region is facing, as well as solutions.
- The Pavilion will have MedECC, an independent network of over 600 scientists from 35 countries, advising its activities: the network published in 2019 the first-ever assessment report on the impact of environmental and climate change in the Mediterranean.
For the first time in COP’s history, the 27th edition will host a Mediterranean Pavilion. The initiative is conceived to highlight both the urgent challenges the region is currently facing, and the innovative mitigation and adaptation solutions already being developed throughout the Mediterranean, raising awareness on a region overlooked in the climate negotiations.
The Mediterranean Pavilion is conceived as a space for all regional actors – public and private, scientific and academic, technical, policymaking, civil society, finance, and business – actively engaged in facing the climate crisis in and around the Mediterranean Sea. The initiative is led by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) together with United Nations Environment Programme – Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP-MAP) and the PRIMA Foundation, along with a coalition of the most relevant organizations dealing with climate action in the region. In an innovative approach, the Mediterranean Pavilion will have the independent network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC) as a scientific council advising its activities. MedECC gathers over 600 scientists from 35 countries and has published in 2020 the first-ever comprehensive scientific assessment report on the impact of environmental and climate change in the Mediterranean region.
Located in the COP27 Blue zone, the Mediterranean Pavilion will host relevant events and working meetings and provide an exceptional opportunity to highlight these severe challenges as well as to illustrate, share, scale up and discuss the advanced initiatives applied and planned in the region.
From Physics Nobel Prize awardee Giorgio Parisi to the Former director of the Earth Institute and renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, from Prince Albert II of Monaco to Princess Rym al-Ali of Jordan, several high-level personalities are planning to intervene in the activities of the Pavilion. Amongst many others, the following events are expected to take place:
- A workshop-debate between journalists and scientists on how to make climate change easily understandable, moderated by RAI’s Tg3 Editor in Chief Maria Cuffaro
- The showcase of Earth observation data gathered by EU Space Programme’s Copernicus, measuring the impact of sea level rise on UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- MedECC will be presenting some highlights from the most recent scientific results on climate and environmental change in the Mediterranean. The science-policy interface in the Mediterranean will be discussed.
- The launch of the Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, which will be financing large-scale projects to shift building and construction in 7 Southern Mediterranean countries
- Scientists from Oxford University will present their results in researching future water and energy strategies in resource-scarce areas of the MENA region
For more information, please consult the full agenda of events foreseen in the Pavilion here and access our complete press dossier here.
Background info
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is the only Euro-Mediterranean intergovernmental organisation bringing together the countries of the European Union and 15 countries from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region. The UfM provides a forum for strengthening regional cooperation, dialogue and the implementation of concrete projects and initiatives that have a tangible impact on citizens, especially young people, in order to meet the region’s three strategic objectives: stability, human development and integration.
In June and October 2021, the 42 countries of the Union for the Mediterranean signed two UfM Ministerial Declarations to tackle Energy challenges and Environment and Climate Change in the region. Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to lead by example and reflect the highest possible ambition by accelerating the transition towards fair, resilient, climate-neutral, and resource-efficient economies in an attempt to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C, halt and reverse biodiversity’s loss and reduce air pollution. The Mediterranean Pavilion’s initiative reflects the commitment of the Euro-Mediterranean countries towards effectively tackling climate change.
The dire warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change (MedECC) also drew attention to the Mediterranean as one of the world’s hotspots of climate change: read the full study here.
Following a summer dominated by climate and environmental emergencies across the region, and within the context of a global climate crisis, the Mediterranean area faces challenges of its own that can lead to regional instability: extremely severe and accelerated impact – it is the planet’s second-fastest warming region (warming 20% faster than the global average) – overlapping with a dangerous socio-economic asymmetry and lack of integration. But the Mediterranean is also a hub for emerging solutions – public policies and private initiatives – that can serve as a blueprint for similar efforts to be scaled up globally.
An effective and rapid transition requires a joint effort by all the relevant actors. The Pavilion is meant to serve the region and will operate as a hub for activities and partnerships undertaken by regional public institutions, civil society organisations and private sector entities catalysing a sustainable transition through collective and scalable innovation.
Media contact
Journalists interested in receiving further upcoming information on the Pavilion’s activities, announcements, press events or booking interviews with a Mediterranean Pavilion’s representative, please contact Beatrice Chioccioli (media@ufmsecretariat.org).
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