Editing IPCC:AR6/WGI/Chapter-10 (section)

==== 10.6.4.1 Motivation and Regional Context ====

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The Mediterranean region is loosely denoted as the region that surrounds the Mediterranean Sea, and it is characterized by complex orography and strong land–sea contrasts. The region contains a dense and growing human population, with large regional differences: whereas the population of the European Mediterranean countries has been relatively stable or even declining during the past decades, the population of countries in Mediterranean areas of the Middle East and North Africa has quadrupled between 1960 and 2015, and the degree of urbanization has risen from 35 to 64% during the same period ( [[#Cramer--2018|Cramer et al., 2018]] ) and during the more recent period 2000–2020 the urban expansion rate has exceeded 5% ( [[#Kuang--2021|Kuang et al., 2021]] ).

The Mediterranean region has experienced significant climate variability over recent decades and has been affected in particular by severe heatwaves and droughts (Sections 8.3, 11.3, 11.6 and 12.4; [[#Hoegh-Guldberg--2018|Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2018]] ). Increasing summer temperatures will enhance the frequency and intensity of such extreme events and will cause additional environmental and socio-economic pressure on the region.

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