In 2030, North-African coastal cities will be home to 100 million people, these cities are also exposed to serious risks of natural disasters, such as flash floods, landslides, coastal erosion, water scarcity and earthquakes, most of which will be intensified by climate change in the coming decades. The city of Algiers gathers 3 million inhabitants, most of the country’s economic and political activities, and is particularly prone to natural disasters. In 2001 and 2003, the city was hit successively by the Bab el Oued flashfloods and the Boumerdes earthquake, which revealed the cities’ weaknesses and urged the authorities to take action in order to mitigate the impact of such disasters in the future.

Following a first regional study led by the World Bank in Alexandria, Tunis, Casablanca and the Bouregreg Valley, the Algerian government showed great interest in the undertaking of an urban risk assessment in Algiers. A call for proposals was thus launched by the Caisse des Depots, which will finance the study in the framework of CMI’s Cities & Climate Change program. The study, conducted by Egis EAU, will start mid-April 2012 for a duration of 14 months. It will aim at strengthening the capacities of Algiers to prepare for climate change impacts and natural disasters, through the undertaking of an urban risk assessment and the drafting of an adaptation plan.

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In the wake of the Arab Spring, concurrent with economic and social changes taking place worldwide, youth unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are higher than in any other region in the world. Young people are demanding better opportunities to study and work, and universities and other higher education institutions are under particular pressure to close the gap between the skills demanded by labor markets and those that higher education graduates are acquiring.

University governance — how universities and higher education systems define and implement their goals, manage their institutions, and monitor their achievements — is a focus area in tertiary education reform worldwide. The World Bank team based at the Center for Mediterranean Integration developed a University Governance Screening Card to benchmark the extent to which MENA universities follow good governance practices aligned with their institutional goals. "Universities Through the Looking Glass" shares the results of implementing the Screening Card in 41 universities from 4 countries - Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. On Thursday April 5th they were launched at the headquarters of the Bank the report and reveal trends across the first four countries and the potential for both regional and institution-level reforms, as well as plans to expand the tool to new countries throughout MENA and to new regions.

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Casablanca, February 27th, 2012 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with the support of the Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) organized a day of discussion under the banner of “Stimulating growth and investment during transition” in Casablanca on 27 February. The event was arranged in cooperation with the General confederation of Moroccan enterprises (CGEM), the Centre for young leaders (CJD) and the Moroccan association of Businesswomen (AFEM).
About 380 participants attended the conference, including top policy makers and business representatives from Morocco, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey. The event is the third in a series of discussion under the “Transition to Transition” EBRD-led initiative organized in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region. The EBRD's “Transition to Transition” initiative, launched in 2011, aims to facilitate a “peer-to-peer” exchange of experiences between countries that have gone through a transitional process in Central and .

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During 2011, the Middle East and North Africa region went under tremendous changes. On January 10, 2012 Inger Andersen, Vice President for the region at the World Bank, hosted a one-hour live discussion in English and Arabic to discuss what the region needs to build positively on these changes.

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Responding to the lack of scientific literature on biodiversity in Arabic-speaking countries and to the challenge of understanding, interpreting, and translating scientific knowledge into Arabic are key ingredients towards achieving greater integration in the region. For those reasons, the CMI is promoting the creation of an on-line thematic trilingual glossary (English, French, Arabic). It is based on the belief that common terms and concepts will help promote actions that preserve species and coastal zones among Mediterranean countries. It has been constructed in a way which will allow an easy search for scientific, technical and administrative terms and concepts related to sustainable development. The aim of our approach is to support the emergence of a regional scientific community, to facilitate scientific publications in Arabic, and to promote local knowledge designed to respond to regional needs. A first thematic glossary on biodiversity is now available on the CMI website, gathering around 150 terms. It will be updated on a regular basis. This first phase has been carried out in association with the UNEP/MAP and specifically its protected areas' department based in Tunis, Paul Cézanne University (Institute of Ecology and Paleoecology - IMEP) and the National Institute for Coastal Protection in Marseille, and with the participation of the Damascus University. The next series of thematic glossaries will focus on (i) health and environment, (ii) green economy, and (iii) sustainable urban development.
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The March 2011 Barcelona Conference represented a turning point in the way we understand Urban Development Strategies (UDS) in the Mediterranean. Local officials and representatives want to choose a Mediterranean approach of urban development. Thus, CMI partners decided to implement a multi-partner support to the CDS process. They agreed to: (i) better inform Mediterranean cities on financing tools through the CMI website; (ii) prepare a guidebook; and (iii) develop pilot projects. Prior to the Conference, a state of the arts on the Urban Development Strategies in the Mediterranean region contributed to the evaluation of the quality and evolution of Urban Development Strategies and their implementation in Mediterranean Countries and determined potential similarities and differences in UDS practices in these countries.

Drawing on the report, and responding to the Southern stakeholders requests, the CMI, together with Medcities, designed an adapted methodology to the Mediterranean context, taking into account the Mediterranean cultural, social and economic specificities. This guidebook is intended to engineer a toolbox which would assist project implementation. It describes each step of the process, integrated in a comprehensive and consistent approach. This decision making tool is dedicated to urban stakeholders, ranging from local authorities to national decision makers, civil society, and also to development agencies and donors, willing to define and implement City Development Strategies in the Mediterranean.
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