Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change:

The future of the Mediterranean

At the heart of international concerns, the issue of climate change and its consequences in terms of vulnerability and adaptation is approached by IDDRI particularly from the perspective of the Mediterranean basin, which is both a priority region for adaptation and a testing ground for what could be achieved elsewhere in the world.

IDDRI is developing this research as part of the European CIRCE project (Climate Change and Impact Research: the Mediterranean Environment, www.circeproject.eu), which involves over 60 partners on the three shores of the Mediterranean. Laurence Tubiana is coordinating the economic and social sciences aspects of the whole project, and four of IDDRI’s researchers are also involved: first on the issue of adaptation policies (review, challenges, methods and opportunities for regional coordination) and second, through fieldwork in coastal tourist areas (factors that influence vulnerability and capacities for adaptation to climate change, and possible adaptation strategies).

This dual approach, both regional and local, enables IDDRI to explore a number of processes and issues that clearly relate to climate change in general, but which must be dealt with at a regional level. Based on the fact that the Mediterranean is above all a place of rapid and profound environmental, political and socio-economic change, climate change is not considered as the only – or even the main – driving force behind this change, but as an additional factor that must be understood in its interaction with the other dynamics at work.

Armed with its expertise and understanding of these issues, IDDRI recently produced a summary report at the request of the MEEDDAT/CGDD (French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Development / General Commission for Sustainable Development), as part of preparations for the next meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean. Drafted in collaboration with CIRED (French international research centre on environment and development), this document provides up-to-date information on conceivable climate trends and on their potential impact on natural resources and the different major sectors of activity for the Mediterranean. Principles and recommendations are also put forward to guide the design and implementation of adaptation strategies, at different levels and in different fields.

At a more global and international level, all of this research is also aimed at contributing to the climate change negotiations currently underway, in which IDDRI is actively involved, and which highlight the urgent need for feedback and for developing solid frameworks for action on adaptation.

AGENDA

* Seminar on sustainable development and environmental economics 
Tuesday 9 June 2009 (17.00 – 19.00), Paris

Session of the development seminar on “Climate change and development strategies: some avenues for thought”, led by Franck Lecocq (research professor at AgroParisTech). During this session, he will ask whether it is appropriate for developing countries to change their development strategies in the face of climate change issues, and will examine the best way to proceed.

>> See the presentation of the session

* International conference “Change in Governance as Collective Learning Process – Forests: management, politics and ethics”
21 to 24 June 2009, Nancy, Palais des Congrès

This international conference is the opportunity to analyse changes in forest management and policy brought about by globalisation and the international debate on forests as the result of a collective learning process that is not only social, but also political and cultural. As part of the RefGov project, this conference is organised in partnership with the Centre for Philosophy of Law at the Université Catholique de Louvain, AgroParisTech-ENGREF and the Regional Council of Lorraine.

>> See the conference web page

* Conference on the geopolitics of renewable natural resources
Monday 29 June 2009 (9.00 – 18.00), Paris

The IFORE (French institute for environmental training) is holding a conference on problems linked to the geopolitics of renewable natural resources (fishery, forestry, agricultural and water resources, etc.). Organised in partnership with IDDRI and the IRIS, this event is part of the series of conferences entitled “Towards a shared sustainable development culture”. Round tables and presentations will focus particularly on the following subjects: the state of renewable resources; human activity as a cause of the overexploitation and depletion of resources; consequences in terms of international policies and relations; and the new means of regulation for sustainably managing resources.

>> See the conference web page

OBSERVATORY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

A selection of sustainable development highlights by IDDRI and the Courrier de la Planète, with the support of AFD as part of their partnership for the yearly edition of A Planet for Life. 

* 3 March / Sustainable fisheries for a changing climate
FAO published the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008, focusing on the impact of climate change on a sector upon which over 500 million people worldwide depend directly. The global warming currently underway is driving different species towards the poles, affecting both their habitat and their productivity, and limiting possibilities for fishing in developing countries. These observations lead FAO to reiterate the importance of a sustainable and responsible approach to fisheries and to the management of fish stocks.

* 21-25 April / G8: biodiversity and climate, together
The Environment Ministers from the G8 and emerging countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, South Korea, Egypt and Indonesia) met in Syracuse (Sicily) and adopted a charter making biodiversity a major global cause, on a par with the fight against global warming. For the signatories, the clock is ticking for the protection of animal and plant species, and it is essential to meet the conservation objectives set for 2010 in order to then go one step further.  

* 30 April / Climate: the degrees of coal
The Potsdam Institute and the Oxford University Statistics Department published a study in the journal Nature on how much greenhouse gases the atmosphere can take between 2000 and 2050 before the mean surface temperature rises by over 2 °C. The figures indicate a maximum of 1 000 billion tones of CO₂. A third of this volume has already been emitted in less than nine years and, at that rate, the total will be reached in less than 20 years’ time. The study concludes that we must speed up the energy transition and abandon fossil energies, whose reserves still represent four times the tolerable level of emissions to avoid excessive warming.

Director of publications
Laurence Tubiana
Editor
Élise Coudane & Marisa Simone
Translation
Anna Kiff