The International Conference on Climate Crisis in the EMME region successfully concludes

Numerous members of CARE-C at the Cyprus Institute played a key role in the success of the international conference on the ‘Climate Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East’ held from September 26-28, 2024, at Radisson Beach, in Larnaca, Cyprus. Organized by the Cyprus Institute and the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts, the event brought together prominent scientists and policymakers from 22 countries to discuss scientific data and explore strategies for adaptation and mitigation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region. The conference attracted over 250 participants.

The Director of CARE-C, Prof. Jean Sciare, alongside distinguished partners of the EMMECARE teaming project—Prof Philippe Ciais, Prof. Jos Lelieveld, and Prof. Markku Kulmala—led a panel session titled ‘The Evolving Climate Crisis: The Scientific Basis.’ The session highlighted the key climate challenges facing the EMME region, including air pollution, extreme heat, and the role of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. The panelists also explored potential solutions to these crucial issues.

In another panel session, Assoc. Prof. Panos Hadjinicolaou and Dr. George Zittis discussed the impacts of extreme events such as heatwaves, droughts, and floods on public health, providing valuable insights into the growing risks these phenomena pose to the region.

Additionally, Dr. Marco Neira, Dr. Kamil Erguler, and Prof. Jos Lelieveld organized a pre-conference workshop on 24-25 September, 2024, titled ‘Climate and Health in the Urban Environment’. This event brought together 21 researchers, from eight different countries, to discuss recent scientific advances on the health effects of extreme temperatures, air pollution, and vector-borne diseases.

Prof. Costas Cartalis and Assoc Prof. Panos Hadjinicolaou also led a workshop on 25 September, 2024 on ‘Urban Overheating in the Mediterranean and the Middle East-North Africa.’ This workshop gathered climate science experts from the region to present and discuss scientific progress in the monitoring, analysis, and prediction of the urban heat island and mitigation strategies of its associated impacts and it included contributions from Action 2.3 ‘Climate Crisis and Urban heat Island’ of the CLIMPACT project in Greece (‘National Network for Research on Climate Change and its Impacts’). CARE-C researchers and PhD students participated in both workshops.

Finally, Dr. Marco Neira co-ordinated the conference’s poster session, which featured contributions from CARE-C researchers and PhD students. Notable presentations included:

• Dr. Kamil Erguler’s poster on ‘VEClim – An Early Warning Support System for Climate-Sensitive Vector-Borne Diseases’.
• Dr. Marco Neira’s work on ‘Effects of Climate Change on Environmental Suitability for Dairy Cattle: Predictions from a High-Resolution Analysis’.
• Mr. Andreas Karpasitis’ work on ‘Precipitation Projections and Variability Changes in North Africa Based on the CMIP6 Ensemble’.
• Mr. Frangeskos Kekkou’s poster on ‘Health Impacts of Extreme Temperature Events: A Mortality and Hospitalization Study in Cyprus (2004-2019)’.
• Ms. Konstantina Koutroumanou-Kontosis’ research on ‘Statistical Downscaling of CMIP6 Models to the Urban Scale: A Case Study for Athens, Greece, within the CLIMPACT Project.’.
• Ms. Alkistis Papetta’s poster on ‘Integrating UAV-Based In-Situ and Ground-Based Remote Sensing Observations for Enhanced Aerosol Profiling.’
• Ms. Aayushi Shama’s research on the ‘Detection of Usutu Virus and Culex pipiens molestus in Targeted Mosquito Surveillance Collections from Cyprus.’

You can find more details about the conference here.

The conference is supported by the EMME-CARE and the Edu4Climate projects.