Security implications of climate change in the mediterranean and eu policy response

Abstract

During the last century, an accelerated climate change has 
occurred due to increase in global air mean temperature 
that has been raised by 0.6oC, while the average 
temperature in Europe by nearly 1oC. Climate experts 
predict that this global change (warming) will accelerate with 
the rising of global temperature by nearly 1.4 to 5.8oC by 
2100, and temperatures in Europe by 2 to 6.3oC [7].  
Global warming is mainly caused because of rising up of 
greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted into the atmosphere 
from human activities. The atmosphere plays the role of the 
glass walls in a greenhouse. Although much of these GHGs 
exist naturally, since the industrial revolution in the 18-19th 
century, human activity has produced them in ever
increasing quantities. As a result, their concentration in the 
atmosphere is higher now than at any time in the past 
420.000 years [6].