Istanbul, 8 July 2025 – During the Regional Meeting on Climate Change Adaptation, held from 8 to 9 July 2025 in Istanbul, experts from the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention agreed on an updated Regional Climate Change Adaptation Framework (RCCAF) 2026–2035. The revised framework, which will be submitted for formal endorsement at COP24, provides a strengthened regional response to enhance climate resilience in coastal and marine areas of the Mediterranean.
Participants emphasized the urgency of collective action in a region that is warming 20% faster than the global average. The proposed RCCAF 2026-2035 responds to these escalating risks by introducing an integrated and science-based approach, promoting the mainstreaming of adaptation in national and local planning, scaling up nature-based solutions, mobilizing public and private climate finance, and improving access to reliable climate data and tools.
Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, and Chief Climate Negotiator, Fatma Varank, opened the meeting with a call for swift, collective action. “The Mediterranean cannot afford delayed action—we must act together, and we must act now,” she urged, underscoring the need for stronger regional cooperation on climate adaptation.
An important new element included in RCCAF 2026-2035 is the Performance Monitoring Matrix as a key accountability tool, with indicators and targets to track progress.
Discussions underlined the need for scaled-up investment in climate resilience, leveraging international mechanisms, domestic budgets, and private sector engagement to implement bankable, climate-smart solutions across the region. Experts also emphasized the need to enhance awareness and knowledge-sharing, recommending wider dissemination of important MAP led studies, including Med50 and the analysis of harmful subsidies in the Mediterranean, both within the UNEP/MAP system and beyond.
UNEP/MAP Coordinator, Tatjana Hema welcomed the collaborative efforts that shaped the updated framework, noting its alignment the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development. She reaffirmed UNEP/MAP’s commitment to supporting Contracting Parties in advancing RCCAF implementation, ensuring its operationalization ahead of COP24.
The outcomes of this meeting are set to build momentum toward COP24, where the endorsement of the RCCAF 2026-2035 and the finalization of CC/RAC’s mandate will mark an important milestone in reinforcing the Mediterranean’s leadership on regional climate adaptation.
