On the 20th of February, Région SUD - Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur organized a regional workshop focusing on the vision of the area as a Replicating Region of DesirMED project.
Approximately 30 regional stakeholders gathered and emphasized the need for support, collaboration, and measurable outcomes when it comes to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate resilience.
The discussions reinforced the necessity for strategic support, financial commitment, and collaboration to advance biodiversity and climate initiatives effectively. Stakeholders continue to work towards practical and scalable solutions that balance environmental objectives with regional realities.
As discussed during the workshop, the Region benefits from the work of various organisms working on climate, risks and biodiversity data, creating a very broad knowledge base for Climate Change Adaptation, which is one of the Region's strengths. The main climate risks and their consequences on biodiversity and key community systems were presented.
A presentation was also made about “Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation”, with the case study of Région SUD done in 2024 by the European Commission Joint Research Center.
Région SUD has already been working on its vision for the future with different strategies: the Regional Biodiversity Strategy (2025-2035), Regional Climate Plan (2025-2028), the regional dimension of ecological planning (2030-2050). Territorial objectives in terms of mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity have already been set, as well as action sheets and roadmaps.
Since the pathways have already been designed in the various existing strategies, the workshop participants worked on making the proposed solutions as concrete as possible. A selection of 8 actions from the Regional Biodiversity Strategy, in connection with planning and NbS, were discussed who built together in detail the objectives, the activities, the calendar, the resources.
Through DesirMed, Region SUD will develop regional governance through a club of stakeholders for GBI and NBS in means of acculturation, peer to peer exchanges, 1st level of engineering and fostering planning and projects. The targets are local authority planning departments and local authority biodiversity departments in collaboration with planning agencies, local council for architecture, Natural Regional Parks, French Office for Biodiversity, Water Agency, National Agency for Ecological Transition…
