Climate change has a significant impact in the Mediterranean region compared to the global average.
According to a study presented by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona on Thursday, temperatures in the region have so far risen by 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. The global temperature increase averaged 1.1 degrees over the same period.
More than 600 scientists from 35 countries have analyzed data on the climate in the Mediterranean for the study. The project is under the umbrella of the UfM and the United Nations Environment Program UNEP. The German geographer and ecologist Wolfgang Cramer coordinates the participating scientists. The first results have now been presented in Barcelona.
According to the report, climate change is threatening the Mediterranean region like hardly any other part of the world. The rise in temperature is currently advancing there 20 percent faster than the global average, it said.
"Ground Zero" of the fight against climate change
If nothing changes in the conditions and emissions of greenhouse gases, the average temperature on Mallorca and Corsica, in Barcelona and Rome by 2040 will increase by 2.2 degrees compared to the value of pre-industrial times, the researchers warn.
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In the Paris Climate Agreement, UN member states committed to halt global warming at well below two degrees, if possible at 1.5 degrees. This brand, which is expected elsewhere only from 2030 to 2050, has already reached the region, it said at the launch of the study in Barcelona. The situation could worsen over the next few years if the world community does not limit its emissions, the researchers continue.
Sicilian island Pantelleria first affected by sea level rise
- By the turn of the next century, global temperature threats could even rise to four to five degrees. In that case, the sea level in the Mediterranean region would increase by more than one meter. The conference in Barcelona spoke of "serious risks" and "ground zero" in the fight against climate change.
- Whole islands and coastal strips could disappear completely before the eyes of the next generations, it was called with reference to the "first scientific study on the effects of climatic and environmental changes in the Mediterranean". Three out of ten people in the region live in these most vulnerable areas.
The first to be affected by rising sea levels would be the so-called "black pearl" of the Mediterranean, the Sicilian island of Pantelleria, the researchers report. This island of volcanic origin is visited by tourists mainly because of the numerous natural attractions.
Threatening salinisation of groundwater
According to the study, there is also the danger that in just two decades around 250 million people - almost half of the population in the Mediterranean region - could suffer from water scarcity due to climate change. The reason: The rise of the sea level salines the groundwater. Agriculture would also feel that. Production could be reduced by one third by the year 2100.
In Barcelona, scientists also warned of a mass extinction of marine fauna, more and more frequent heat waves, increasing droughts and more frequent storms.
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With the climate change, the Asian tiger mosquito and other disease carriers in Europe spread, there will be more health problems, Cramer said. Not only of these would "the elders, the young children, the poor be the worst affected."
Moreover, climate change is not just affecting ecosystems. According to his findings, he also fueled social and political conflicts and migration, according to Cramer, who was Professor of Global Ecology at the University of Potsdam from 2003 to 2011.
The UfM was launched in 2008. It includes the 28 states of the European Union, 13 other Mediterranean countries, and Jordan and Mauritania.