The Mediterranean, a hotspot for climate change?

By the end of this century, the whole Mediterranean region will be vulnerable to water stress and suffer significantly from climate change. Some research indicates the Mediterranean as one of the climate change 'hotspots' in the century to come.

This sobering data were presented at the opening of the Ministerial Session of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (UNEP/ MAP), held in Marrakech, Morocco last week.

The main impacts of climate change on seas can be witnessed in rising temperatures; acidification (changes in the chemical balance of the waters due to absorption of CO2); changing currents; impacts on marine fauna and flora and rising sea-levels.

In the Mediterranean in particular, effects are to be evidenced in terms of increasingly strained water context, biodiversity and ecosystems impacts and the economic activities which depend thereon, particularly in agriculture, fisheries and tourism.

Sea level rise impacts on ports and other coastal infrastructures, as well as coastal and beach erosion, are also a serious concern. Formidable threats are posed to the Nile Delta, to cities like Venice and to some islands, even if there is minimal change in sea levels.

Maria Luisa Silva, UNEP/MAP officer-in-charge, said: "There is an urgency to act. So far, most of the climate change discussions have focused on reducing emissions, an issue of importance. We are aware that even if all emission targets are met, there will be impacts. To counteract them, we must adapt and take action."

According to the latest research, invasive species such as jellyfish and tropical sea-grasses have been documented in the region, involving among other things the spreading into the Levantine Sea of the killer algae Caulerpa Taxifolia - one of the world's 100 most invasive species - which was previously confined to limited areas of the western Mediterranean.

Additionally, researchers have become increasingly concerned about ocean and sea acidification linked with the absorption of carbon dioxide in seawater and the impact on shellfish and marine ecosystems.

In the Mediterranean, there are some five million hectares of Posidonia Oceanica meadows, an algae which acts as a carbon sink for the Mare Nostrum, absorbing CO2 and providing breeding habitat to several species. Over the past decades, a regression of such underwater prairies has been documented around large urban areas in the Mediterranean, such as Athens, Naples, Genoa, Nice, Toulon, Marseille and Barcelona.

In the past, limited use has been made of the various financial instruments available to Mediterranean countries for strengthening climate change adaptation.

Ibrahim Thiaw, director of the Division of Environmental Policy of UNEP, said: "One challenge has been inadequate awareness of the funds available for adaptation measures, as well as the sometimes lacking capacity for undertaking the numerous and often complicated steps, including proposal development, necessary for accessing the funds.

"As the new financial architecture for facilitating adaptation is elaborated in Copenhagen next month and beyond, it becomes even more crucial that the Mediterranean countries make the best possible use of these emerging funding opportunities," Mr Thiaw concluded.

The Med in key figures

• Seven per cent of marine species, and 10 per cent of higher plant species, in a sea that represents only 0.8 per cent of the total surface of the oceans;

• 60 per cent of the population of the world's 'water-poor' countries;

• Eight per cent of CO2 emissions (increasing);

• 30 per cent of the world's tourism.