SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, January 12. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mariano Hernández Zapata, presented this Friday the results of the first phase of the ‘LIFE Garachico’ pilot project that advocates establishing an early warning system and executing small works in order to prevent floods.
This study aims to adapt coastal urban areas of Macaronesia to possible marine flooding, a consequence of climate change, by adopting a series of strategies that increase the resilience of these areas against extreme coastal events, current or future.
The counselor highlighted that the study “has begun in Garachico, but could be exported to other areas of the archipelago or regions with similar characteristics”, and has assured that “the rise in sea level globally will change the way in which live, so we must be prepared, in the case of the Canary Islands, both to protect the population and the territory”.
“This project, which has been underway for two years, now continues with concrete actions, such as the implementation of the first early warning system in the Canary Islands and the adaptation of the municipality with small works that will help reduce the damage, current or future, caused by the waves,” said the counselor.
Likewise, Zapata thanked the study work carried out in Garachico and the collaboration of all those involved.
“The LIFE projects have great prestige and Garachico has been the perfect laboratory for its development. Both for its climatic conditions and for the commitment of all the residents of the area, who are the first to suffer the consequences. of the waves, and all the participating institutions, which are many, since the fight against climate change is everyone’s business,” said Zapata.
For his part, the mayor of Garachico, Heriberto González, declared that “Garachico is, without a doubt, one of the most vulnerable places in the Canary Islands with respect to maritime storms”, which is why he considered it “essential to advance in security and, above all, in anticipation”.
“We must be prepared for the effects of climate change on the tides and with this project we lay the foundations for this,” said the mayor.
IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF NEIGHBORS
In the case of the University of La Laguna, Carla González, social anthropologist and researcher at this entity, explained the importance of the social dimension of the project, which focuses on work with the residents of Garachico, “being those who most suffer the consequences of adverse coastal phenomena.
“This work is based on knowing the day-to-day coexistence with such phenomena; raising the need to work in a coordinated manner between technicians, scientists, institutional leaders, business people and neighbors,” highlighted the researcher.
Along the same lines, Christine Bezic, environmentalist at Grafcan, highlighted the work carried out by the entity “to understand the current situation in Garachico and monitor the adaptation measures implemented”, placing special emphasis on the implementation of a viewer that also citizens can access.
Thus, he explained that “Grafcan will continue working in this line and is now beginning its support work in the development of the Early Warning System, in addition to leading the feasibility study of the use of Artificial Intelligence in the monitoring of adverse coastal events.”
This project, carried out mainly in Garachico, as well as in Puerto de la Cruz and Praia da Vitória (Azores, Portugal), is led by the Department of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands and has the collaboration of ten other partners: the Garachico City Council, the Puerto de la Cruz City Council, the Tenerife Cabildo, the EVM group, IH Cantabria, Grafcan, the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, Tragsa, the University of La Laguna and Elittoral.
A PIONEER PROJECT THAT FOCUSES ON ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
For the development of this project in Garachico, a thorough field study has been carried out to analyze the risk of flooding of the coastal front, taking into account the social, environmental and economic dimension of the area.
The first phase, started in 2021 and ending now, is summarized in preparatory actions, consisting of the mapping and identification of risks, a social study of the inhabitants of the area to identify their own perception of these possible risks, the mapping of high definition of the underwater seabed of the area’s coastline, the analysis of wave parameters from images and artificial intelligence and the modeling of 150 million maritime predictions, both in current and future scenarios, to study the problem in depth and propose possible solutions that reduce the risk.
Once this first phase is completed, the project now continues in 2024 with a second and third phase that will end in 2026.
In this second stage, three actions will be carried out. The first of them will be the implementation of a flood early warning system, which will be integrated into the alert system of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Emergencies, and which will allow evaluating when a flood may occur and in which sectors of the Garachico coast.
On the other hand, a series of action protocols will be designed to respond to adverse meteorological phenomena and a series of specific actions will be adopted to mitigate the possible damage caused by floods, such as lowering the road, adapting parking areas. and the installation of anti-impact benches that reduce the energy and damage that the waves cause.
Likewise, the entire project will be monitored and analyzed to check whether, in fact, these measures are effective or require any change or modification, with the aim of making it efficient, as well as exportable to other areas of the archipelago that suffer the same problem, as well as as to other regions.
The LIFE projects, aimed at safeguarding nature, are studies promoted and partially financed by the European Union as they put into practice innovative actions and approaches to fight and adapt to climate change.
These studies are pioneering projects that can be focused on different aspects of the natural environment and climate change.
In this specific case, the project focuses on this adaptation in the coastal area.
