The Climate Change Regional Activity Centre, which will be based in Istanbul, Turkey, and will operate under the auspices of the United Nations, will carry out national and regional projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change in the Mediterranean and ensuring regional adaptation to climate change.
The notion of building such a centre in Türkiye was first discussed at the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP22), which was held in Antalya in 2021 and was attended by Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan.
The Mediterranean Climate Change Research Centre (AIDAM), located within the Ankara University National Centre for the Sea and Maritime Law (DEHUKAM), was then proposed as a component of the UN Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and as a Climate Change Regional Activity Centre.
The decision to establish the centre was unanimously adopted at the 23rd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (COP23) this year in Slovenia, thanks to negotiations led by the Turkish delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Fatma Varank, and diplomatic initiatives led by the Foreign Ministry.
The facility will be operational by the 24th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (COP 24) in December 2025.
Using UN and European Union money, it will carry out national and regional projects aimed at mitigating the consequences of climate change on the Mediterranean region and ensuring regional adaptation to climate change.
