The meeting:
• informed MPs and journalists on on-going and upcoming international and Mediterranean initiatives and processes on Climate Variability and Change and shaped policy messages with emphasis on the Coastal Areas, including towards the Climate Change COP21 (Paris, December 2015) and the Barcelona Convention COP (Athens, February 2016);
• informed about regional programmes and activities on Climate Variability and Change as well as their links with Water, Coastal and Environment programmes, identifying ways for more active engagement of MPs and the media;
• shared experiences and views among MPs, media and other stakeholders on how MPs can enhance their role and contribution in shaping policy agendas and promoting priority action at regional and national level, with emphasis on Climate Variability and Change, Education for Sustainable Development, the Water-Food-Energy-Environment-Climate Nexus, etc.
Organised by the GWP-Med within the framework of the GEF MAP/UNEP ClimVar & ICZM Project and the GWP Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP), the regional workshop was combined with the 11th meeting of the Circle of Mediterranean Parliamentarians for Sustainable Development (COMPSUD). The two-day meeting was organised back-to-back with the very successful Final Conference of the GEF MAP/UNEP MedPartnership Programme (4 November 2015) and a very lively celebration of the 40 Years of UNEP MAP.
The Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) co-supported organisational efforts and provided technical expertise to special interlinked session on “Investing in the future: the role of Education” that also functioned as input to the currently under development Action Plan for the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSESD) that was part of the regional workshop. Embedded in the meeting’s programmes was a Round Table discussion on ‘The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change and COP 21’, co-organised with the Institute Français de Grèce and the Committee for the Study of Climate Change Impacts of the Bank of Greece (evening of 5 November 2015).