The Mediterranean is “on fire”… The warning that the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable to climate change was expressed during the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) on sustainable urban development, held in Zagreb. As mentioned, the Mediterranean region warming 20% ​​faster than the global average, and as such, it is particularly vulnerable to climate change and also has one of the fastest rates of urbanization in the world.

In response to this emerging dystopian situation, a strong commitment to building sustainable, resilient, safe cities in the Mediterranean was expressed at the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean.

In particular, the cooperation of the member states of the Union for the Mediterranean was decided through the new Strategic Action Plan for Urban Development 2040, which is part of the commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.

To this end, and given the complex and interconnected crises and global challenges, including climate change, the Union for the Mediterranean will advance 7 initiatives:

  • Identifying strategies to improve urban health by promoting better planning, providing social spaces and services to local communities, climate action, ensuring the sustainability of natural resources and nature-based solutions.
  • Encouraging joint work on the sustainable transformation of port cities and port-city cooperation.
  • Promotion of public policies and programs for affordable housing, including the establishment of National Housing Agencies and Housing Observatories.
  • Promotion and dissemination of traditional architecture and traditional building techniques, as a means to increase cultural integration and climate change adaptation solutions.
  • Increasing the safety of citizens and the resilience of cities against natural and man-made disasters.
  • Initiate a process that could result in a comparative analysis/compilation of coastal spatial planning governance models and a set of recommendations.
  • Continue to promote projects that could be presented as best practices in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean’s strategic urban action plan.

In this context, it was agreed to submit a progress report before the end of the Decade of Action in 2030.

In his statement, the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, highlighted that sustainable urban development is vital for the future of the region. “It will enable cities to fight climate change, attract new investment and create new economic opportunities, especially in the areas of renewable energy, green infrastructure and sustainable tourism,” he explained.

For her part, the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, expressed the EU’s commitment to fully support the members of the Union for the Mediterranean to implement the Strategic Action Plan for Sustainable Urban Development 2040. Highlighting the importance of the decision, the commissioner said that a clear path is being drawn for further cooperation on a corporate basis to achieve the green and digital transformation of cities and ensure quality of life, decent jobs, a healthy environment and affordable housing in the years to come.

The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental Euro-Mediterranean organization in which all the countries of the European Union and 16 countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean participate. The UfM provides a forum to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue, as well as to implement specific projects and initiatives with a tangible impact on the citizens of its member states.