The reason for this is the numerous forest fires and heat waves in summer.
The heads of government and foreign ministers of nine EU Mediterranean countries agreed at a summit in Athens to work more closely together in the fight against climate change. “The best lesson we could be taught was the catastrophic fire in the summer,” said Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Friday at the so-called “EUMED-9” summit. “There is no more time to lose.”
The Mediterranean region is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, according to a statement signed by the participants. Heat waves would become noticeably more frequent and more intense, and droughts, heavy rainfall, floods and forest fires were also causing problems for the region. That already has strong ecological and economic effects. In addition to the commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the paper also contains the intention to plant at least three billion trees by 2030 and the promise to work together more closely in the fight against the climate crisis.
Migration was also discussed
In addition to the climate, the issue of migration was also on the agenda – because of the Afghanistan crisis, Greece, Cyprus and Italy in particular fear a renewed increase in the number of refugees.
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis received the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi as well as the French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the Heads of State Pedro Sanchez of Spain, Andrej Plenkovic of Croatia, Nikos Anastasiades of Cyprus, Robert Abela of Malta, Janez Jansa of Slovenia and the Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva. In the afternoon, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also a guest to discuss the climate crisis.
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