13 November 2022, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated in the Parliamentary Meeting, jointly organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Egyptian House of Representatives on the occasion of the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP27). PAM was represented by its President Emeritus and President of the 2nd Standing Committee, Hon. Karim Darwish (Egypt).
The meeting, which brought together MPs from various continents with experts from environmental organizations, provided a platform to address climate challenges, including emissions reductions, scaling-up adaptation efforts, and mobilizing climate finance for developing countries.
By facilitating legislative dialogue on the climate emergency among the global parliamentary community, the meeting aimed at identifying solutions for climate adaptation and sustainable development.
Hon. Darwish highlighted PAM’s serious concern about the global Climate Emergency and its catastrophic effects on the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions. “The Mediterranean Sea is a ‘Climate Change hotspot’, warming 20% faster than the world average”, he added.
Hon. Darwish reiterated PAM’s support to the UN-led initiative for a “Climate Solidarity Pact”, within the framework of the COP27, and the Assembly’s commitment to reinforcing the North-South cooperation.
The meeting ended with a number of recommendations in which MPs called for urgent international actions, including, among others, the need to adopt a science-based approach to environmental issues, increase transparency in the climate decision-making process while emphasising the need to transform parliamentary pledges into concrete actions.
Finally, the meeting agreed on the need to continue supporting developing countries in their green transition plans and encouraged technologically advanced countries to stand by the COP26 commitment to contribute with 100 billion dollars per year.//