On 27 and 28 November, the annual coordination meeting of this European project was held in Tenerife, focused on improving knowledge of the effects of global warming and its impact on the Macaronesian Region.
The European project PLANCLIMAC, co-financed with FEDER funds and in which ITER participates as a partner, this week has set up its Technical Monitoring Commitee during its annual coordination meeting, held in Tenerife. This initiative, which is led by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands and in which Cape Verde, Azores and Madeira also participate, has the approval of the European Union (EU), within the framework of the second call of the INTERREG-MAC Territorial Cooperation Program 2014-2020.
PLANCLIMAC’s objective is to improve knowledge about the effects of global warming and its incidence in the Macaronesian Region. In turn, it promotes the inclusion of different possible climate scenarios to know the evolution of the climate in advance, as well as the continuous monitoring of natural and territorial resources. In addition, it proposes specific actions aimed at fighting climate change to reduce or prevent the effects caused by this process.
The newly formed Technical Monitoring Commission is made up of representatives of the Regional Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources of Madeira, Regional Directorate for the Environment of Azores, National Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics of Cape Verde, University of La Laguna, Technological Institute of Renewable Energies, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Technological Institute of the Canary Islands and Territorial and Environmental Management and Planning.
Its main task will be to follow up on the actions to be carried out by each one and to ensure compliance with the planned execution schedule, as well as the objectives of the project through the established indicator systems.
The Regional Councellor responsible for the Area, José Antonio Valbuena, recalled that “this project is part of the Canary Islands Executive strategy toward the adaptation and mitigation of climate change effects and highlighted that these periodic meetings allow exchange of information about different nature experiences in similar territories of the planet ”
During the meeting, different actions to be carried out within the framework of PLANCLIMAC were put on the table, a schedule of work meetings was established and an economic follow-up was carried out on the different phases of the project, among other matters.
This project constitutes a link tool for all the initiatives of the European Union Cooperation Program INTERREG-MAC for the study and evolution of the climate, combining the scientific-technical material generated within the program, coordinating the synergies between the different projects and producing updated information. The final objective is to turn the Macaronesian Region into a pioneering laboratory in the world that will allow it to respond to social needs and guide policies regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The work agenda included a visit to Garachico to learn about the operational system for preventing coastal flood events that has been developed by Cartographic of the Canary Islands (Grafcan), the entity responsible for carrying out the planning, production, exploitation, dissemination and maintenance activities of Canary Islands geographic and territorial information.