With the aim of increasing the resilience of the Spanish coast against the adverse effects of climate change, Rover Maritime has held the 1st Conference on Innovation for Coastal Sustainability in the face of Climate Change in Altea. The meeting, followed by 600 attendees, has brought together important national and international experts from various disciplines, as well as prominent members of the central, regional and local governments.
Jaume Llinares, mayor of Altea, has made it clear in his welcoming speech that climate change “can only be tackled if we work in a coordinated manner. The future of the planet requires the commitment of all, administrations and private companies. The sum of efforts is key.
For his part, Alfredo Rodríguez, president of the Rover Group, acknowledged that all of us present at the conference “have been moved by the desire to leave a better planet for future generations”.
In addition, he took the opportunity to announce that the Rover Group wants to concentrate various departments of the company such as innovation, among others, in the Altea.
“Engineers and innovation have always been at the service of society and progress,” he stated, adding that society “has now given us a clear mandate: fight against climate change and for environmental sustainability.” Finally, he took the opportunity to announce that a very exciting company project is underway, such as the creation of artificial reefs from sustainable concrete.
The protection of the coast against the effects of climate change is one of the pillars of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, a challenge that transcends a large number of agents involved, especially administrations and the business sector.
This has been revealed by the participants of the first of the “Ports and Coasts. Experiences against Climate Change”. Among them María Luisa Martínez, General Director of Ports, Airports and Coasts of the Generalitat Valenciana, who has not hesitated to describe the Mediterranean as “zone zero of climate change”, highlighting that all the actions of her administration “are aimed at coloring inter-administrative at all times without forgetting, of course, the public-private one». “We need innovative solutions that respect the environment, always seeking balance between port infrastructure and the coexistence of citizens,” she stressed.
The scientific rigor at the table has been present at the hands of José Camacho, Scientific Officer of the World Meteorological Organization, who has recalled how “the rise of the sea has accelerated in recent years as a result of climate change”. In addition to reviewing the extreme phenomena of waves and winds on the coast that have been taking place in recent years, “this type of phenomenon is already a reality and the projections say that there will be storms of great impact, as well as frequent and prolonged droughts alternated with intense precipitation. ».
