A new report says climate change and unchecked development in theMediterranean region could sharply degrade the area and cost poorercountries in the region billions of dollars in the coming years. LisaBryant has more on the findings from Paris.

View of Benidorm on Spain's Costa del Sol (file photo)

Authored by the U.N.Development Program and the European Investment Bank, the new studydescribes the dangers of unsustainable energy consumption, climatechange and development on the arid, fragile and species-richMediterranean. Environmentalists consider the area a "hot spot" whenit comes to climate change - meaning it is among those regions mostvulnerable to rising temperatures resulting from greenhouse gasemissions.

The United Nations' Henri-Luc Thibault, director ofPlan Bleu, or a "blue plan" for ecologically friendly development inthe Mediterranean region, says the fallout from climate change will beparticularly costly for eastern and southern countries bordering theMediterranean - counties like Tunisia or Egypt. He spoke in Paris.

"Thecost of non-action ... is 30 billion U.S. dollars. It represents thecost of [doing nothing] in terms of energy efficiency and renewables inthe eastern and southern Mediterranean countries," Thibault said.

Bycontrast, Thibault said, the cost of promoting energy efficiency is farcheaper - and the study looked at the case of Tunisia and Egypt. Meanwhile, the fallout from business as usual - that is uncheckedeconomic growth - could be devastating.

Southern Mediterraneancountries - those in Africa or the Middle East - would suffer from lessrainfall and rising temperatures, and rising sea levels could affectislands. By contrast, there could be more rainfall in northernregions, like the Alps.

In two weeks, leaders from Europe andthe Mediterranean region will gather in Paris to sign a newEuro-Mediterranean plan. Many of these nations are part of Plan Bleu -and agreed three years ago to develop the Mediterranean area in aenvironmentally sound way.

"What we are presenting right now isto ask the head of states and the heads of government of these rimcountries to act in the field of energy efficiency and the field ofrenewables," he said.

The report's recommendations includebetter energy and water conservation, sustainable shoreline developmentand protection of the marine environment, and sound agricultural andurbanization policies.