The Tangier Regional Council is organising MedCop Climat

On 22 and 23 June, a wide range of people will gather in Tangier for the third MEDCOP, which will encourage climate action in the Mediterranean region at regional and local levels. Relaunched for the Council of the Tangier-Tetouan Al Hoceima region, this is the third MEDCOP Mediterranean Climate Forum (the first in Marseille and the second in Tangier), following the 2015 COP21 in Paris. This mediterranean forum is also a preparation for the 23rd United Nations International Conference on Climate Change (COP28) to be held in Dubai next November.

As a result of climate change, we are facing many challenges, such as securing water resources, building land resilience, addressing climate-induced migration, and ensuring energy security and the transition to clean energy. In order to address these challenges, the conference will have three objectives, starting with local, regional and international objectives, to explore solutions to the problems. MEDCOP23 will act as a bridge, providing new solutions for COP28.

The objective is to structure a framework for cooperation between the regions of the country on the three Mediterranean shores and to make a direct contribution to COP28. And, more importantly, how to build the resilience of cities and territories to the effects of climate change, to better prepare for the physical, social and economic risks that accompany recurrent climate events.

The conference will bring together a large number of representatives of governments and international organizations, more than 100 speakers and more than 200 regional presidents, for a total of more than 500 participants and more than 1 000 visitors.

In 2016, the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region and the Moroccan government have already organized the second MedCop in the city of Tangier, in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean (UpM). Under the theme "Acting for the climate", MEDCOP 2016 brought together more than 3,000 territorial and economic actors from the Mediterranean region, as well as several countries in Africa, Europe and Asia. The meeting aimed to develop an action plan to promote a Euro-Mediterranean agenda against global warming, as well as the creation of concrete regional initiatives to implement the Paris Agreement. "It has become imperative to adopt a coordinated regional approach to achieving climate change objectives in one of the region’s most vulnerable to the negative impact of climate change", said Ilyas El Omari, president of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima at the time.

After two days of wide-ranging debates, workshops and side events, the forum concluded with the adoption of the "Tangier Call", a document calling for collective mobilization, interregional cooperation and the implementation of an adaptation strategy based on specific programs in each territory. The call sets out ten priorities related to water, energy, food security, marine biodiversity and fisheries, tourism, transport, construction, the green economy and resource efficiency. In addition to the conference, regional governors and presidents, mayors and the main networks of local authorities in the Mediterranean adopted the 'Climate Governance Charter for the Mediterranean Territories'.