AdaptAction - Advancing Climate Adaptation in the Southern Mediterranean   (AdaptAction ACA-MED) Contract related to: AdaptAction - Advancing Climate Adaptation in the Southern Mediterranean   (AdaptAction ACA-MED) - The Mediterranean region has been identified as a climate change hotspot, warming 20% faster than the global average, causing a wide range of negative impacts on the environment, the availability of food and water, human health, and security. In urban areas, climate change carries even more severe consequences, given the population density. In the Mediterranean, in 2018, 60% of the people already lived in urban areas, and continued urbanisation trends are expected to further exacerbate the climate crisis and put further pressure on natural resources and the environment. In the light of these challenges, there is an urgent and critical need to support Southern Neighbourhood countries in their efforts to increase their resilience to climate change. The proposed programme will focus on this area of intervention and will place particular emphasis on climate adaptation measures that also protect the region¿s rich biodiversity, which has been under increasing pressure. The overall objective of the programme is to promote the green transition and increase the environmental and climate resilience of economies and communities in the region, leading to improved quality of life for men and women. The specific objectives of the programme are to: Enhance knowledge, climate governance, policies and action plans at national/central level for successful implementation of NDCs and NAPs, and facilitating access to climate finance for adaptation. Increase local authorities¿ access to climate finance to implement climate change adaptation investments. &nbsp;The programme will aim at leveraging and attracting additional funding for climate adaptation and will prepare the grounds for the use of blending interventions through the EFSD+. Awareness raising and promoting citizens¿ engagement and behavioural changes will be an integral part of the intervention. &nbsp;The programme will include two separate actions which will work in an integrated fashion and build on the achievements of current and previous regional and bilateral projects: The AFD¿s AdaptAction programme, already active and bringing good results in other countries, will be expanded to the Southern Neighbourhood. Actions will consist of interventions at the central level, promoting climate integration and planning at the horizontal level, across Ministries, and preparing the grounds for large-scale investments, using a tested methodology.The Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) facility designed and hosted by UNCDF, is already active and successful in other countries and will be expanded to the Southern Neighbourhood. Actions will use the tried and tested `LoCAL mechanism¿ to integrate climate change into local governments¿ planning and budgeting systems and increase awareness of and response to climate change at the local level. It will thereby promote climate integration with a vertical approach, from the central governments to the local authorities. The two actions will be implemented through two separate contracts but will be coordinated very closely at national level for all on-the-ground work and regionally through the participation of all implementing partners in each other¿s Steering Committees. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme will also contribute to foster a sustainable, resilient and climate-neutral economic recovery in partner countries, in the spirit of `building back better¿.&nbsp;