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Climate change & biodiversity

RAC/SPA created a working group on the sustainable use of biodiversity and the evaluation of direct and indirect threats due to climate change

According to the recommendations made by the Contracting Parties at their last Ordinary Meeting (Almeria, January 15th-18th 2008), particularly the request that a report be drafted on the situation of biodiversity in the Mediterranean and on the impact of climate change observed, RAC/SPA initiated an appraisal of the information available on the Mediterranean.

Thus, RAC/SPA has already established:

In addition, a working group constituted by a team of international experts complemented by Parties’ National Experts was set to develop a detailed insight on vulnerability and impacts of climate change on Mediterranean biodiversity, in accordance with the outcomes of the 15th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and the Almería Declaration. This activity has been developed through a process involving biodiversity concerned ministries of all the riparian countries.

For operational reasons, the countries are grouped in three clusters (and sub-groups within them) and activities managed by three international consultants as follows:

  1. Cluster A: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Italy (Adriatic coastal area),
  2. Cluster B:
    1. Cyprus, Israel, Greece and Turkey,
    2. France, Italy (except Adriatic coastal area), Malta, Monaco and Spain,
  3. Cluster C: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia,

Therefore, three sub-regional meetings were organised to present and discuss national overviews and to draw up a sub-regional syntheses on the issue. These meetings were held as follows:

 

 

Cluster A meeting (Adriatic Sub-region): Split, Croatia, October 23rd-24th 2008,

 

 

Cluster C meeting (Middle East and North Africa): Tunis, Tunisia, October 28th-29th 2008,

 

 

Cluster B (Mediterranean European countries and Israel): Santa Pola - Nueva Tabarca Island - Spain, Novembre 9th-13th 2008

 

Following the three above meetings, sub-regional conclusions/recommendations and sub-regional synthesis reports specific to each cluster were elaborated.

Finally, a Regional Working Meeting was held at the Cooperativa Nautilus premises (Vibo Valentia, Italy) on  December the 11th and the 12th 2008.

Gathering RAC/SPA Coordination Team, two representatives from Nautilus and the three international consultants, recruited for that issue, the meeting permitted the elaboration, on the basis of the sub-regional conclusions/recommendations, a synthesis of conclusions/recommendations at regional level. Furthermore, a regional synthesis report on biodiversity and climate change impacts has been prepared.

All documents (national reports, sub-regional reports, regional synthesis report, sub-regional conclusions/recommendations and regional conclusions/recommendations) were submitted to the Ninth Meeting of Focal Points for SPAs, held on June 2009 (Florianna, Malta) and accepted.