11th Euro-Mediterranean Economic Transition Conference: "Mediterranean Economies facing the immediate environmental challenge"

The Economic Transition conferences are an annual event under the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. They provide an informal forum for open debate on key economic policy issues under the Partnership. Participants are invited to freely express their views and not necessarily their government’s opinions; no formal conclusions are drawn.

The Conference will carry out a general discussion on how to better integrate environmental considerations (including climate change) into the Mediterranean overall economic analysis and the agenda of economic reforms. The economic costs of inaction (e.g. with respect to environmental pressures derived from demographic transition, increased pollution, higher temperatures, scarcer water resources, increase of sea-level) do imply adaptation costs (e.g. new public and private investments, adaptation of tourism facilities, adjustments of agricultural practice). The time horizon of such costs is often undervalued and early action is generally effective to limit adverse economic impacts and the final expense. These are pure traditional economic challenges, and many of them will come to the top of the to-do-list in a short time-framework. Inversely, Euro-Mediterranean countries may also benefit from new opportunities and may increase them by adequate up-front actions.

See the programme.