Mediterranean-Climate Regions: ready for a successful adaptation to present and future climate?

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Mediterranean-Climate Regions – ready for a  successful adaptation to present and future climate? is the title of the Side Event at UNFCCC COP18, Doha, Qatar (December 04, 2012 – 13.15-14.45 – Room 6, hall 5, Qatar National Congress Center).

Climate change adaptation and mitigation are linked challenges and confronting them together is essential. Adaptation, as mitigation, requires a local approach, the involvement of all stakeholders, decision-makers, tools, data, science, knowledge, communication and fighting political barriers.

Background information
A relationship has just been established among the five regions in the world with a Mediterranean climate: southern California, the Mediterranean basin, South Africa (Cape Town), Australia (east coast) and Chile.  This link, the Mediterranean City Climate Change Consortium (MC-4, www.mc-4.org) was developed at the first conference held in June 2012 in Los Angeles on “The Mediterranean City: A Conference on Climate Change (“MC4”) Adaptation”. The MC-4 has initiated collaboration between cities to realistically adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change as they similarly affect these five regions of the world.  Collaboration among partners with similar climate conditions, physical infrastructures and social systems is a key issue. This fundamental aspect can help adopt decisions in a quicker and more efficient manner at the right level of governance.
This COP18 side event is an occasion to build up the process on adaptation to climate change, participate in the UNFCCC debates and launch ideas to set up the MC-4 as part of the Action Plan produced at the mentioned Conference held in June.

Introduction and moderation by Riccardo Valentini, scientist at CMCC, University of Tuscia
Department for Innovation in Bilological, Agro-food and Forest systems

Speakers from the Mediterranean basin:

Antonio Navarra, President of Euro-Mediterrenean Center on Climate Change:
“The value of knowledge, the cost of ignorance”.

Nicolas Beriot, Segretary General ONERC (National Observatory on the impacts of climate change/Observatoire National sur les Effets du Réchauffement Climatique), IPCC Focal Point France
”Do we have an idea of the limits of the adaptation capacity of our cities?”

Kadir Demirbolat, Head of Department Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Climate Change Department,  Turkey

Josep Enric Llebot, Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainability, Government of Catalonia, Spain– Catalonian Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change.

Speaker from the Californian region:

Michael McCormick, State of California:
“Creating pilot programs to support climate change planning in the Mediterranean Climate Regions”.

Louis Blumberg, Director of the California Climate Change program of the Nature Conservancy, San Francisco.
“NGO  perspective on how nature-based solutions promoted in coastal areas of of mediterranean southern California to reduce climate amplified risks to communities”.

Speaker from Australia: 

Barbara Norman, Foundation Chair, Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Business and Government, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia.
“Cities and climate change in Australia: innovation in a southern land of fire, flood and drought”.

 

Contacts: Eva Banos de Guisasola

The COP 18 website: http://www.cop18.qa/

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