The second workshop hosted by the Climate Resilience Centre (CRC), coordinated by Eurecat, stressed the importance of prioritising collaborative and consensus-based climate action in Catalonia with the engagement of the public and private sectors and society in general to make progress in climate resilience by driving the bioeconomy and climate change adaptation and mitigation projects plus initiatives such as carbon credit systems.
The conference, entitled “Climate Resilience in Catalonia: points of no return, opportunities, best practices”, noted that we are close to reaching a rate of sea level rise of half a centimetre per year worldwide with a direct impact on the Catalan coast, where the effects on beaches and coastal infrastructures can already be seen.
“Supporting local authorities with tools and knowledge to deal with the impacts of climate change is a priority for the country,” said Sonsoles Letang, Director General for Climate Change and Environmental Quality in the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition. “Climate resilience is today the key to ensuring quality of life, competitiveness and cohesion in our country.”
“Climate action is now a social, economic and ecological priority as shown by recent events in the Mediterranean area, especially droughts and floods, along with heat waves which are warning us that climate change is accelerating and we need to rethink territories and economic activities from a resilience perspective which integrates adaptation with mitigation through partnerships between all social and economic stakeholders,” added Carles Ibáñez, director of the Climate Resilience Centre.
At the event, Adam Tomàs, the mayor of Amposta, spoke about the operations of the Climate Resilience Centre in Amposta and the importance of holding the workshop to help “fight against climate change from the environmental, technological and economic standpoints.”
“Seminars like this one help to cement an alliance between science, the region and government which is essential for tackling the climate emergency, making resilience the centrepiece of public policy,” commented Jordi Sargatal, the Secretary for Ecological Transition in the Ministry of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition.
Research and innovation for climate action
Likewise, Leonardo Bejarano, head of the Catalan Climate Change Office who presented the Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for Catalonia 2030, pointed out that “the crucial thing now is to make progress in multilevel climate governance and turn local adaptation and mitigation strategies into tangible results, especially in the areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as les Terres de l’Ebre.”
Ten years after the Paris Agreements, “the number of extreme events is increasing,” noted Carme Llasat, professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Barcelona, and she stressed that “the window of opportunity for building climate resilience is closing rapidly, but we still have time to act. We have no right not to do it.”
“Climate change and United Nations experts say that this decade is critical to prevent the impact of climate change from irreversibly harming the economy, territories and people’s health,” said Daniel Altimiras, Eurecat’s chair.
In this respect, “the Climate Resilience Centre is a unique initiative in which Eurecat has brought together territorial ecosystems to address complex challenges for society and businesses in response to climate change with tools such as the rollout of Living Labs across the region,” pointed out Xavier López, Eurecat’s Chief Operating and Corporate Officer.
“Climate resilience is a great opportunity to transform our region anchored in a humanistic and pragmatic approach which includes scientific and technical knowledge but also empowers the public and enhances people’s daily lives,” argued Miquel Alonso, Ministry of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition Regional Services Director in les Terres de l’Ebre, during the workshop’s closing session.
