Climate protection in the Mediterranean: Southern countries want to plant billions of trees

Friday 17 September 2021

Climate protection in the Mediterranean region
South people want to plant billions of trees

The climate crisis is already affecting the Mediterranean – the summer fires tragically demonstrated. At a summit of EU countries bordering the Mediterranean, governments are therefore making plans for climate protection. But there is another topic as well.

Eight European Union Mediterranean countries and Portugal decided at a summit meeting to work together in the fight against the climate crisis. “The best lesson we could have been taught was the devastating fires in the summer,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said at the so-called EUMED-9 summit in Athens. “There’s no more time to waste.”

Besides climate, the issue of EU foreign policy and migration was also on the agenda of the meeting. According to a statement against the climate crisis the participants signed, the Mediterranean region is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Heat waves would come more frequently and more intensely, and droughts, heavy rainfall, floods and wildfires also plagued the region.

It already has strong ecological and economic impact. In addition to a commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement and other international climate goals, the paper also includes an intention to plant at least three billion trees by 2030 and a promise to work together in the fight against the climate crisis.

Second topic: Migration

Besides climate, it was also about migration – due to the Afghanistan crisis, Greece, Cyprus and Italy in particular fear a renewed increase in the number of refugees. Relations with neighboring Turkey were also discussed. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that there was good cooperation with Turkey within the framework of the refugee treaty, but warned once again that Ankara should not play a significant role in migration.

“We will not allow a repeat of the uncontrolled migrant flow incident in 2015,” he said. At the European level, the participating countries seek to work to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the Confederation of States. French President Emmanuel Macron said there was talk of strengthening the areas of defense and security, and thus the sovereignty of the European Union.

“We must be able to counter provocations and threats affecting our territory.” It is also important to form your own coalitions to respond systematically to crises in the Mediterranean. In their statements after the summit, almost all participants spoke in favor of greater strategic autonomy for the EU.

At the summit in Athens, Mitsotakis invited Italian Prime Minister Draghi as well as French President Emmanuel Macron as well as Spanish heads of government Pedro Sánchez, Croatia’s Andrzej Plankovic, Cyprus’s Nikos Anastasiades, Malta’s Robert Abella, Janez Jansa. Received. Slovenia and Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva. In the afternoon, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also a guest to discuss the climate crisis.