The message of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Climate Change Initiative (EMCE) is that only by acting collectively, decisively and based on sound scientific knowledge can we avoid the worst consequences of climate change in our region, the Minister said on Tuesday of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Kostas Kadis.
He was speaking during a presentation at an event organized by the Republic of Cyprus on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Mr Kadis said that the latest scientific forecasts are dire and suggest that the region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and under the usual scenario the region “may have reached temperatures 5 degrees warmer than those recorded at the turn of the century”.
The Minister said that all countries of the EMME initiative have expressed their willingness to comply with the Paris Agreement, however the region lacks detailed environmental observations and models, adequate mitigation and especially adaptation strategies and coordinated policy actions, exchange of good practices and joint projects .
He said that the international conference “Climate Change in the Mediterranean and the Middle East”, held in Cyprus, in May 2018 was the natural starting point for regional climate change issues and recorded proposals in the areas of education and outreach and dealt with issues energy, migration, built environment, tourism and health, water resources, green economy and innovation, agriculture and food chain, cultural heritage and marine environment/resources.
Mr. Kadis also added that the Climate Action Plan is ready to be implemented and that after three years of intensive preparatory work a solid scientific understanding of the nature of the evolving climate crisis and actions to mitigate climate change have been achieved and improving its impact have been identified and these, he added, form the basis of the Regional Action Plan.
“Today, the leaders of the EMEA countries will express their willingness to build on the results achieved so far” , he noted.
We have the best scientific knowledge available, Papanikolas says
Costas Papanikolas, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Cyprus and Special Envoy on Climate Change, said in his presentation that the worrying results for our region are based on the best available scientific knowledge at the moment and the effects will have a global impact, e.g. . mass immigration.
Professor Papanikolas said that the EMME Initiative concerns the understanding and mapping of risks in every sector of the economy and social activity and primarily the planning and implementation of measures to improve them.
“These are coordinated actions of the countries of the region to participate in cross-border actions/projects necessary to achieve this goal,” he added.
Professor Papanikolas also mentioned that the scientific effort of the previous three years allows the assessment of the situation in each thematic area such as research and policy needs and proposes technologically mature and affordable solutions to deal with the effects of climate change.
< p>He also said that indicative priority areas for the action plan include detailed impact modelling, acquisition and sharing of observational data, clean energy at an affordable competitive price. He spoke about the threat to coastal systems due to sea level rise, emissions reductions in cities, forest fire prevention and protection, the need for a green growth jobs strategy, industrial solar heat treatment and renewable energy-driven desalination.
He also noted that we need to have the most detailed and accurate modelling, “otherwise planning will be inaccurate, potentially wasteful and inefficient”.
He concluded saying that the EMME Declaration is an important milestone, “possibly of historical importance, however the most intractable difficulty, by far, lies before us and that is implementation”.
