On February 15th, the project PLAAC - Arrábida (Local Climate Change Adaptation Plans) starts with the objective to prepare the Arrábida territory (which includes the Portuguese municipalities of Setúbal, Palmela, and Sesimbra) to face the challenges of climate change through the elaboration of adaptation plans, contributing to increase the resilience and response capacity of these municipalities.
This PLAAC - Arrábida project 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 of the Environment, Ministry of Environment and Climate Action.
For the development of these Local Climate Change Adaptation Plans, ENA – Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida, as project promoter, counts with the partnership of Setúbal, Palmela and Sesimbra City Councils, which will benefit from these plans, as well as the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT, Lisbon University) and the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT, Nova University Lisbon), which will contribute with their experience in the analysis and assessment of climate risks and the stakeholders’ capacity building. The project will also involve key public and private actors and the local community.
The three local plans resulting from this project are crucial instruments to prepare the community to face the challenges of climate change. With these instruments, the Arrábida territory will create conditions to reduce climate risk, reduce possible impacts and promote adaptation, identifying and typifying recent, current and future vulnerabilities of the territory, sectors and population.
The PLAAC - Arrábida project will define and prioritize short, medium and long-term climate change adaptation measures, creating support tools for population assistance and territorial planning. It will also raise awareness and capacitate municipal technicians, local community and relevant stakeholders on the climate phenomena and the need to promote local adaptation processes.
PLAAC - Arrábida is aligned with the vulnerabilities and measures identified in the Portuguese Adaptation to Climate Change Action Programme (P-3AC) and the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change 2020 (ENAAC 2020), and follows the methodological guidelines of the Lisbon Metropolitan Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PMAAC-AML), a current state of the art carried out at metropolitan scale, being necessary to downscale and integrate it in the spatial planning.
With a global budget of 165.289 euros, the project is 90% funded by EEA Grants and will be developed over 18 months (until August 2022). After the technical kick-off meeting with partners and the EEA Grants Programme Operator, the project will be publicly launched in the coming months to civil society and stakeholders in the scope of a Conference on Adaptation to Climate Change.