In order to prepare their territories to face the impacts of climate change, the municipalities of Setúbal, Palmela and Sesimbra participated, between February 2021 and September 2022, in the project PLAAC - Arrábida, coordinated by ENA – Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida. This project will result in climate adaptation plans at local scale, contributing to increase the resilience and responsiveness of the region to the challenges of a changing climate.
For the development of these Local Climate Change Adaptation Plans, ENA, as project promoter, relied on the partnership with the three Municipalities, beneficiaries of these plans, as well as with the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT, University of Lisbon) and NOVA School of Science and Technology | FCT NOVA, contributing with their experience for the analysis and assessment of climate risks, training municipal technicians and Local Safety and Security Authorities, local entities and citizens, relying also on almost 400 local community participations.
The implementation of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Plans was based on a participative process with the active involvement of about 200 local agents who debated climate issues and their impacts on the territory, building Local Climate Adaptation Networks in each municipality, composed of local authorities, civil society and the private sector, contributed to the design of measures that ensure a safer and more resilient territory to the impacts of climate change.
The adaptation proposal resulting from this project is a fundamental instrument for municipalities to know the climate reality they face and its risks, acting consequently and addressing specific financial support, preparing the community and the territory, protecting and empowering the citizens. In short, with these instruments, Arrábida Territory will create conditions to reduce climate risk, reduce possible impacts and promote adaptation.
After 19 months of work, the project consortium presented its results at the Seminar "Local Adaptation to Climate Change", which took place on September 29th at Arrábida Convent, with more than a hundred participants. The event was opened by ENA’s President of the Board of Directors, Carla Guerreiro, and the First Secretary of the Norwegian Embassy in Portugal and Deputy Head of Mission, Ellen Aabø. The Seminar also included presentations by the project partners, namely Fábio Cardona, Senior Technician at ENA, Lia Vasconcelos, Professor at FCT NOVA and José Luís Zêzere, Professor/Researcher at IGOT. Sérgio Faias, Administrator of ENA, was responsible for closing the event.
The PLAAC - Arrábida (Local Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change) is funded through the Environment, Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy Programme of the Financial Mechanism EEA Grants 2014-2021, which promotes the circular economy, the decarbonisation of society and the valorisation of the territory and is operated in Portugal by the General Secretariat for Environment, of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action.