Brussels, 20/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the world climate conference (COP 21) in Paris in December, the Anna Lindh Foundation for cultural dialogue in the Mediterranean is to put forward a position that will reflect the common concern of countries in the region on preventing the harmful consequences of global warming and the warming of seas. The Foundation links the climate challenge to stepping up cultural exchanges between the countries in the region and calls for these exchanges not to be overlooked in decision-making.
“This is essential for us - Mediterraneans and Europeans”, says Elisabeth Guigou, the leader of the Foundation. “Our region is one of the most vulnerable in the face of climate changes, although it contributes pretty little”. In the Mediterranean, she adds, “natural balances are among the most complex”.
The position that the Foundation will support at COP 21 is the result of a forum that was held in Paris on Thursday 15 October on the theme of intercultural dialogue in the face of environmental challenges. According to those who initiated it, the forum enabled “the work to be seen that is carried out by the members” of the network making up the Anna Lindh Foundation. Its members believe that “the environment challenges, caused by climate change, are critical and must be addressed urgently in order to ensure sustainable development and a prosperous future in the Euro-Mediterranean region”.
They also want the need to be admitted at the COP 21 conference in Paris “of integrating the strengthening of social cohesion and resource management into decision-making” and into its implementation.
The issue is ecological, social, and economic “but also an issue of peace”, said Guigou. “If we don't do anything, there will be climate wars and hundreds of thousands of climate refugees”, she said. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)