A draft assessment drawn up by the United Nations revealed that the Mediterranean region is the “center of climate change”, as it will witness unprecedented heat waves, droughts and fires caused by rising temperatures.

An assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be published next year, details the future impacts of carbon pollution on a region that this week saw above-average temperatures as Greece and Turkey battle record fires.

The chapter devoted to the region in the second draft report of the IPCC Working Group on Climate Impact, due to be officially published in February 2022, said the Mediterranean’s more than half a billion people face “highly interconnected climate risks”.

“Concerns include risks related to sea level rise, losses in terrestrial and marine biodiversity, risks associated with drought and wildfires, water cycle changes, at risk food production, and health risks in urban and rural settlements from extreme heat and disease vector change,” the assessment said.

The draft predicts that temperatures across the Mediterranean will rise faster than the global average in the coming decades, threatening the very vital agriculture, fisheries and tourism sectors.

Tens of millions of additional residents will be at increased risk from water scarcity, flooding and exposure to extreme temperatures that can be deadly, according to the report.

The assessment indicated that some regions of the Mediterranean could see rain-triggered crop yields fall by 64 percent, depending on how quickly humanity can control greenhouse gas emissions.

He stated that 71 percent of the gross domestic product of the Middle East and North Africa region is subject to water stress.

(AFP)