More frequent drought cycles, less water available, rising mean sea level and more likely to occur extreme weather events, such as rapid floods or ideal conditions for the occurrence of forest fires.
These are some of the problems that the Algarve is expected to face in the future, and which should be included in the diagnosis that will be made in the Intermunicipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, commissioned by AMAL – Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve, which will be prepared by Filipe Duarte Santos, the leading Portuguese expert in the field of climate change.
The first steps towards the elaboration of this plan, which should be completed in October 2018, have already been taken weeks ago, but it was today, November 27, that the plan officially kicked off.
AMAL hosted a clarification session, which brought together "the main stakeholders in this project, to discuss the climate projections for the territory covered by the plan and the impacts arising from these projections for the different vulnerabilities", according to the entity that brings together the 16 municipalities of the Algarve .
The session was attended by Filipe Duarte Santos, coordinator of the Intermunicipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, which will be prepared by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, University of Algarve and by Action Modulers – Consulting Technology.
On the sidelines of the session, this expert revealed the main objectives of this plan, which has “a time horizon until the end of this century”.
«What we can expect from him is the knowledge of how the climate in the Algarve will evolve, what the impacts of this future climate will be, especially in sectors that are vulnerable to climate change, such as water resources, agriculture, coastal areas and also , to a certain extent, tourism», according to Filipe Duarte Santos.
According to the specialist who will coordinate the preparation of the plan, "this is an instrument that will allow us to adapt and minimize the adverse effects of climate change, but also to take advantage of some of the opportunities they bring to this region."
AMAL, in turn, noted that this initiative “will require an investment of more than 470 thousand euros and comes after the application to the Operational Program for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (PO SEUR), in a project that also has the financial support of the municipalities from the Algarve'.
Jorge Botelho, president of this entity, explained to journalists that the decision to prepare this study was taken "months ago, even before there was talk of extreme drought."
All of this so that, in October of next year, AMAL will have «a diagnosis of the current reality and the one projected for several years, so that we can, from a scientific document, with different scenarios, make investments and provide the Government with a set of needs for us to adapt».
“The final document will give us a set of clues and guidelines for concrete measures. I believe that the final report points out investment scenarios for what we will have to do to have water, fight climate change and against the progressive desertification of the territory», added Jorge Botelho.
Today's session aimed to explain the objectives of the plans to technicians from different entities, namely the Chambers, but also from other state entities, which are expected to help those responsible for preparing the plan to make a diagnosis of the region.
Later, there will be sessions open to civil society, with the same objective.
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