Government wants Portugal more prepared for extreme climate phenomena

A minister for Environment and Energy today highlighted the importance of investment in the country's resistance to climate change, listing what is being done in that area.

“ It is very important to invest in giving greater resistance to our territory, to have a territory, which is very exposed to climate change, better prepared for winds, floods or fires,” Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists the presentation of the Center for Climate Security and Resilience (CSCR), an initiative of the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon.

Maria da Graça Carvalho highlighted the importance of the Center in the availability of data and better modeling tools, which join those that the Environment Agency already has, and pointed out the artificial intelligence and other tools that the faculty uses and that can help the various departments of the Ministry in better preparation and forecasting of policies to adopt.

The minister said that agencies from the Ministry of Environment and Energy will make collaboration protocols with the CSCR, which will provide scientific support in matters such as scientific knowledge, data science, advanced modeling or supercomputers, which will help predict what will happen and how to respond to climate events.

“ We have been trying all year to prepare the country for droughts, floods, strong winds, protecting our coasts, clearing rivers, renaturalizing rivers, renaturalizing ecosystems,” the minister said, pointing out that it was a job in the whole country, with some major works and major funding.

In the work list also put the analysis of the amount of electric lines that should be buried and the beginning of a plan to acquire renewable generators for the parish joints, in the case of a problem such as a blackout.

The CSCR is a national platform that will integrate scientific research, innovation, training and decision support, enhancing capacity to respond to the risks associated with climate change.

According to the heads of the Faculty of Sciences, the CSCR aims to establish a permanent platform for cooperation between higher education institutions, public administration, defense and civil protection entities, companies and international organizations.

It will work in areas such as risk mapping, the development of monitoring technologies and early warning systems, the protection of infrastructure and ecosystems, the development of recommendations for public policies and the training of professionals and institutions.