This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress
According to a prospective report published by the Blue Plan Organization upstream of the 3rd United Nations Conference on the Ocean (UNOC-3), average temperature in the Mediterranean could exceed 2 ° C increase from 2040 and reach 2.3 ° C by 2050.
This report, entitled “The Mediterranean by 2050 – Med 2050”, highlights a disturbing acceleration of global warming in this region. What was initially planned for the end of the century now materialized from the middle of this century, with major repercussions on droughts, floods, land and sea heat waves, as well as elevation of the sea level estimated at 40 cm.
This situation threatens the protection of coasts and populations, and risks sustainably upsetting living conditions and Mediterranean ecosystems, alerts the study.
Fruit of a four -year collaborative work involving a hundred experts, the report stresses that the Mediterranean is the second region of the world to warm up the Arctic as quickly as possible, with a 20% faster than the world average. It is also the sea most polluted by plastics and the most overexploited in terms of fishing, while representing one of the ten main hotspots of biodiversity in the world.
The authors believe that in the absence of major changes, the Mediterranean will experience by 2050 a profound transformation of its marine ecosystem and a general degradation of its living conditions.
To these factors are added structural vulnerabilities, such as the dependence of the region to external factors such as the climate, the world economy and geopolitical tensions, which escape its direct control.
The report insists on the urgency of quickly engaging in adaptation, resilience and prevention policies in order to limit irreversibility and strengthen the region’s capacity to deal with climatic and environmental crises.
“The Mediterranean region will have to rely more and more on international cooperation to meet future challenges, whether through North-South, South-South partnerships or with neighboring regions like Africa,” warn experts.
All the sustainable development scenarios mentioned by the study require new forms of collaboration, involving the various actors in the region and the international community.
Made under the aegis of the Blue Plan, created in 1977 as one of the pillars of the Action Plan for the Mediterranean of the Environmental Nations Program (UNEP), this report aims to shed light on the decision-makers and stakeholders on the major challenges to come.
