The side-event 'Coastal cities at the forefront of climate change' was organised on the 17th of November, 2022 by Coastal Authorities Forum Israel and Tel Aviv University as part of the Mediterranean Pavilion at COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Its relevance for further implementation of the CAMP Israel project, jointly coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and PAP/RAC, was highlighted by the visit of Ms Tamar Zandberg, the Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection.
Moderated by Dr Orli Ronen, CAMP Israel national coordinator, the event focused on the impacts of climate change on the coastal cities of the Mediterranean basin, with particular emphasis on the eastern Mediterranean.
By bringing together representatives of cities, NGOs, climate experts and government officials from the region, potential solutions regarding identification of hazards, analysis of local vulnerability and identification of pertinent actions were shared and discussed in order to improve climate adaptation strategies in urban coastal areas. Professor Colin Price, head of the Tel Aviv University Climate Crisis Initiative, and Gideon Behar, special Ambassador for Climate Change, laid-out the regional perspectives, while Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy from the Resilient Cities Network, and Orly Babitsky from the Department of Marine Geosciences at Haifa University presented a Mapping tool for Coastal Sensitivity as one of the innovative tools for coastal adaptation.
With the aim to face the increasing challenges and pressures on the coastal zones, twenty-two years after the implementation of the first CAMP Israel, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and UNEP-MAP have re-joined forces to support capacity building, development of ICZM tools and promotion of good practices for sustainable development of coastal areas in Israel – with adaptation to climate change on the forefront.
