The Government presents its roadmap for Spain to survive the climate crisis

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On January 21, the Vice President and Minister for Energy Transition, Teresa Ribera, declared the climate emergency in Spain and promised to implement its main measures in the following 100 days, including sending the Parliament the draft Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition and the draft of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC). And although the health crisis unleashed by the coronavirus is the highest priority now, work has continued on the development of the texts.

Just as the 100-day deadline ended, the Ministry for Ecological Transition has presented the draft of the second National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change , more action-oriented than the first. A sort of road map that includes 81 lines of action that our country will carry out during the period 2021-2030 to adapt its economy and society to the new climate scenario.

The current scenario, in which the impacts of climate change are already appreciated, and the future scenario drawn by scientists and which places Spain as one of the European countries that will suffer most from the consequences of increased temperatures and the frequency of extreme phenomena such as DANAS that have plagued the country's coastline in the last year. According to the document, "the average temperature in the whole of Spanish territory has risen around 1.7ºC since pre-industrial times, the summer has lasted five weeks compared to the beginning of the eighties and the extension of areas with semi-arid climate has increased more than 30,000 square kilometers in a period of 20 years. "

"We know that climate, nature and biodiversity are closely connected . But we also know that the way we live, our infrastructures, our common spaces in cities, our health, our economy, our productive sectors depend enormously on the state of health of the climate" , said Ribera, who admits that the presentation of the draft comes "in a strange situation" and "at a painful moment for our country where we are discovering the difficulty of living in a much smaller, interdependent and interconnected world."

The current crisis, he adds, has also highlighted "the need to respond on the basis of what science tells us, but also on the basis of solidarity and the effort of multilateral cooperation."

The state of alarm decreed on March 14 has parked legislative activity unrelated to the pandemic and public participation processes have been suspended. But as Vice President Ribera explained, the objective of sharing the PNACC draft at this time "is to collect all those comments and opinions that come to us from anyone who understands the importance of building a country, an economy, a resilient society for the effects of climate change. "

When the public participation processes are resumed, the process of processing the text will begin, which could be extended until the end of the year.

No budget estimate

The 81 measures included in the PNACC involve 18 areas of work and are intended to be a guide to avoid or reduce the economic, social and ecological risks of the climate crisis that our country is already suffering and locate the most vulnerable areas.

However, the Ministry of Ecological Transition does not yet have a global estimate of the budget that will be needed to implement this plan, which includes actions in very different fields. In addition to measures to adapt economic sectors such as agriculture, fishing, tourism or transport, directly linked to the climate, measures are considered for biodiversity, human health, urban planning, housing, research and innovation or education .

From the Ministry of Ecological Transition it is considered that adaptation to climate change is a good opportunity to get out of the crisis because the investments will be profitable and will translate into the generation of new niches and jobs.

" We know that we probably have a time ahead of national reconstruction, but we want that reconstruction to serve us all, is oriented in the future, and in the needs of our youth, our children and the generations to come," says Ribera.

One of the novelties is that a set of indicators is included -27 in total- that allow monitoring the evolution and progress of the policies that are put in place to adapt the response. Furthermore, the draft notes that there will be an estimate of the costs and benefits of action and inaction.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Science and health
• science
• Climate change
• Environment

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