Santiago do Cacem, Setubal, Portugal, March 10, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of the Portuguese Intermunicipal Community of the Alentejo Coast (CIMAL), Vítor Proença, on Monday considered the climate challenges facing this region, such as water scarcity and rising sea levels, to be an urgent and unavoidable issue.
It's "an issue that's not just pressing, it's unavoidable", because "climate change is no longer a distant scenario", said Vítor Proença during the presentation of the Alentejo Coast's Intermunicipal Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PIAAC).
"If nothing is done, water scarcity will jeopardise public supply, particularly in agriculture and biodiversity," warned the president of CIMAL, also alluding to the "scarcity of water, lack of food and disappearance of species that are fundamental to the environmental balance and survival" of the general public.
The strategic objectives of the Alentejo Coastal PIAAC are to reduce exposure to climate risks, increase the region's adaptive capacity and resilience and promote knowledge about climate change.
For Vítor Proença, the increase in forest fires, "promoted by rising temperatures and extreme phenomena such as strong winds and low humidity", as well as "rising sea and river levels", are "the most visible threats" to the impact of climate change in this region.
This phenomenon ‘jeopardises’ the beaches, including the sand, "between Troia and Sines and the cliffs between the northern coast and the entire Vicentine coast", and "could flood riverside areas such as Alcácer do Sal and Comporta", in the district of Setúbal, where rice paddies predominate, he said.
Through this document, he said, it will be possible to "manage water sustainably, making efficient use of water resources that tend to be increasingly scarce, resorting to new sources of supply, where we can't rule out desalination".
"It will allow us to opt for agricultural crops that are more resistant to the climate and less water-intensive through regenerative agricultural practices, and to prevent and deal more effectively with the increasingly frequent and devastating forest fires with active risk planning and management," emphasised the official.
In a video message broadcast during the session, the minister for the environment and energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, saluted the local authorities on the Alentejo coast "for the important step" in the fight against climate change and emphasised that this plan "reflects the opportunities of a rich and diverse region".
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Vítor Proença, also mayor of Alcácer do Sal, explained that the plan, which will be in force until 2035, will mitigate and strengthen the territory for "enormous challenges", particularly in terms of "forestry and land management".
Asked about the use of desalination, the mayor said that it was "a possibility" that should not be ruled out, given the diversity of aquifers in the area.
"Basically, we have to find mechanisms and desalination is one of them, so that we can be prepared in advance to resist and strengthen ourselves and have alternative solutions so that water is not lacking" in this region, he said.
As for the funding planned for implementing the measures set out in the plan, the president of president of the Intermunicipal Community of the Alentejo Coast said that the figure "has not been estimated".
"It's a plan that will require a combination of various entities, farmers‘ and producers’ associations, municipalities, the central and devolved administrations," he emphasised.
The plan will be developed in five stages, from preparation to the identification of current climate vulnerabilities and adaptation and monitoring options.
HYN/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
