Covering an area of 31.700 km² of which 18.700 km², the Region counts 3 major metropolitan areas, Aix-Marseille Provence, Toulon and Nice. The region is populated by 5 million inhabitants with 75% concentrated in 10% of the region and a 0,40% yearly demographic growth.

59% of the Region’s area is covered by protected areas and 6,7% of strict protected areas. This highlights the Region as France’s leader in biodiversity, with over 70% of the country’s species recorded here.

Current climate impacts and vulnerabilities
Main regional hazards include a combination of rising average temperatures, increased irregularity of precipitation regimes, water disponibility stress, decline in snow and glacier coverage, increase in forest risk fires, urban sprawl and ecosystem fragmentation increasing its vulnerability. This region is noted for its tightly intertwined climate and biodiversity crises.

Transformation scenarios through DesirMED
Expected interventions through DesirMED’s approach include the improvement of operational regional governance through a network of technical stakeholders for Green-Blue Infrastructure (GBI) and NbS for the reinforcement of such tools in favour of biodiversity and climate resilience, as these needs to be mainstreamed in the region to face both climate crisis and biodiversity decline. Identified challenges include lack of territorial facilitation, lack of ecological-based engineering in certain areas, and the need for providing territories with tools to organize land sobriety with nature link to a recent national legislation (2021) planning to halve natural, agricultural and forest land consumption due to urbanization in the coming decade (2021-2031) compare to the last decade (2011-2021).