The Med2020 conference coorganised by MISTRALS programme, MedECC and Plan Bleu was held from 16 to 18 November 2020 online. This event gathered more than 280 participants. This three-day conference was the opportunity to take stock of scientific knowledge and challenges that the Mediterranean environment will face in the coming decades. A broad range of topics were covered, including: evolution of the Mediterranean climate in the 21st century and its impacts on the environment, extreme events (floods, heat waves, marine submersions), water resources management and amplification of droughts, links between pollution and health, fluxes of contaminants from water, air and soil into living organisms, proliferation of invasive species on land and at sea and loss of biodiversity.
The Med2020 conference was an opportunity for the organizers to present the conclusions resulting from their respective work:
- The release of the MedECC’s 1st Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) on the risks and impacts of climate and environmental change in the Mediterranean, accompanied by a Summary for Policy-makers (SPM) (available here);
- The release of the new State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED 2020) report coordinated by Plan Bleu within the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP / UNEP) (available here);
- The conclusions of the unprecedented MISTRALS program, organized into six programs and two transversal actions allowing the deployment of multidisciplinary research to study the impacts of climate change and environmental modifications on the livability of the Mediterranean Basin in the 21st century. This conference was the opportunity to present the scientific advances made in 10 years and to discuss the legacy of this unprecedented program.
Life transmission of the conference