Paris, 02/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s Blue Plan published a study in Paris on 1 July 2008 into climate change in the Mediterranean and its impact on the development of Muslim countries around the Mediterranean. Commissioned by countries bordering on the Mediterranean, the study is divided into three sections - the impact of climate change in the Mediterranean, the cost of not doing anything, and adjustments in the energy industry.
Henri-Luc Thibault, Blue Plan director and author of the study, says the Mediterranean is a key area for climate change. Researchers from the Intergovernmental Group of Climate Change Experts (GIEC- LU) at the United Nations predict that by 2100, air temperatures will have risen by between 2.2 and 5.1°C, and this will be combined with increased intensity of rain, periods of drought, and rising sea levels. Thibault says the cost of doing nothing will be around US$ 30 billion in 2015, the equivalent of Tunisia's gross domestic product in 2005. Both the Blue Plan and the EIB refuse to put a figure on the cost of taking action. EIB vice-president Philippe de Fontaine Vive warned that public funding was out of reach for this problem in any case. Henri-Luc Thibault said that the energy industry was coming under pressure from climate change, quoting the energy used to find water. He said the water industry would be demanding ever greater supplies of electricity for the highly energy-intensive process of desalination. The research calls for a continuation of the share of energy provided by nuclear power in the Mediterranean, which is the equivalent of confirming a great effort in such energy, but did not suggest how many power stations should be built to achieve this.
The author says the ball is now in the member states' court. Although the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has not yet been set up, Philippe de Fontaine Vive said he wanted to give this study to the UfM as an opportunity to take advantage of an issue that could unite people across the region, adding that he was looking forward to the launch of the 'Barcelona Process Union for the Mediterranean' as an “unprecedented dynamic”. The study will be presented on 7 October 2008 at a FEMIP ministerial meeting (EuroMed investment and partnership facility) in Luxembourg at the same time as a EuroMed ECOFIN conference. Henri-Luc Thibault said that the study should encourage governments to act. (L.B.S.)