VOUGIAGMENI, Greece — Some 15 Mediterranean countries, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority, agreed Friday to work together to combat the effects of climate change that threaten the region.

The countries signed a declaration at a climate change conference near Athens in Greece which called for "contributing to the emergence of low carbon, resource efficient and climate resilient economies."

"Climate change threatens our way of life as people of the Mediterranean," said Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who initiated the conference attended by his counterparts from Turkey, Libya, Malta, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority and environment ministers from some 15 countries.

The Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative also aimed "at developing common Mediterranean positions on climate change demonstrating leadership and strong commitment to action in the international arena," a text of the declaration in English said.

The Mediterranean initiative comes about a month before the United Nations conference on climate change which will be held in late November in Cancun, Mexico.