Climate resilience for Mediterranean coastal communities

How well-managed marine protected areas help Mediterranean coastal communities cope with climate change. A Med Sea Alliance event at COP31. Tuesday 10 November 2026, 12:30–13:15 (Antalya time) Green Industrialization Hub (Yeşil Sanayileşme), COP31 Green Zone, Antalya, Türkiye Climate change is already reaching Mediterranean coastal communities. The sea is warming, marine heatwaves come more often and last longer, and the species and habitats that fishers and coastal towns depend on are moving. The Mediterranean region is warming about 20% faster than the global average, and that makes it one of the clearest places to see what climate change does to people who live from the sea. This 45-minute event starts with what people on the coast are living through and moves to what can be done about it. Well-managed, properly enforced marine protected areas (MPAs) cannot stop climate change. What they can do is keep the sea healthy enough to absorb shocks, and that protects the livelihoods built around it. We open with a conversation about the changes seen in Türkiye's seas and across the Mediterranean. Then fishers and coastal residents speak for themselves in short video testimonies. After that come two moderated conversations, each followed by questions from the audience: the first on what climate change is doing to Mediterranean coasts, the second on how MPAs help coastal communities adapt. Most of the time goes to conversation and Q&A, not presentations. The event closes with two asks. To the COP31 Presidency: deliver an ambitious outcome for the ocean. To Mediterranean governments: make ocean protection part of their national climate commitments. You are welcome to join us at the Med Sea Alliance stand afterwards to keep talking. Agenda • 12:30 Welcome • 12:32 Opening interview: climate change and marine protection in Türkiye and across the Mediterranean • 12:38 Voices from the sea: testimonies from fishers and coastal residents • 12:41 Conversation: what climate change is doing to Mediterranean coasts • 12:50 Audience Q&A, with a live poll • 12:55 Conversation: how MPAs build resilience for coastal communities • 13:04 Audience Q&A • 13:09 What Mediterranean governments should do next • 13:15 Close and networking at the Med Sea Alliance stand Speakers • Karlijn Steinbusch, Managing Director, Med Sea Alliance (host and moderator) • Zafer Kızılkaya, Mediterranean Conservation Foundation, Turkiye • Benoît Guerin, fisher, France • Amjed Khiar Eddine, Notre Grand Bleu, Tunisia • Alexander Kebbon, IndyAct, Lebanon