By: CECÍLIA PIRES
“IS THE climate really changing?” and “How fast?” These were some of the questions climate scientists and other experts tried to answer at a conference dedicated to the “Climate Change – Scenarios for the Algarve”, held at the Algarve University on June 14 and 15.
After two days of debate, organisers agreed that climate change would happen.
In a more local analysis, the experts looked at how tourist regions like the Algarve were contributing to this acceleration. Although ideas and solutions to diminish the negative impact were presented, all agreed that any positive change will only come from co-operation between politicians and the science community. Then society’s behaviour can really change.
Action plan
A proposal from the European Community, which wants member states to help create an action plan for a sustainable tourism, was criticised by Fernando Perna, professor at the Algarve University.
According to this Economist, who expressed a less scientific perspective on the subject, the EU “is wrongly connecting the climate impact of tourism to transport activities”.
In fact, he said, touristic transportation is only one part of the problem: “What we must consider is a new way of managing touristic demand and adapt that to the land development”, he said, concluding that by 2050 we will still see the same touristic demand but there will be a different consumer, with different needs.
This two-day conference was organised by Forum Algarve, Centro de Ciência Viva do Algarve, Comissão de Coordenação para o Desenvolvimento da Região do Algarve (CCDR), Centro de Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve and Zoomarine.
Experts from many disciplines studying climate change’s impact on our survival participated.
Among the speakers were professors Adelino Canário, from Centro de Ciências do Mar, an organisation dedicated to studying the impact on the sea, and Claudio Torres, a well known archeologist connected with the Mértola Archeological Center, one of the most important in Iberia.
Professor Fátima Abrantes, from Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Informação, an engineer with a state technology body, presented information about climate change on the North Atlantic. She backed the view that the melting of the polar ice is inevitable, saying it had accelerated in the last 100 years due to our modern lifestyles.
Fatima Espirito Santo, from the Instituto de Meteorologia, the Portuguese weather authority, talked about climate change impact in Portugal and professor Pedro Miranda, from Lisbon Faculdade de Ciências, gave a presentation on recent changes on the weather state in the country.
The impact of climate change on the Algarve coastline was debated on the second day, with speakers concentrating on the impact of the rising temperatures over the sea level changes, as well as the role of Ria Formosa on the carbon dioxide emissions.
Wasting water
Water supplies and their connection to the climate change were also investigated, with experts verifying that man is still wasting a lot of water.
The temperature variation in the North Sea and its impact on the water levels was another important perspective, with many scientists fearing that major changes will have a huge negative impact in coming years.
If you would like to know more about Algarve University, click on the web link located on the right.
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