The Director General of the Spanish Office for Climate Change, Susana Magro, said today that “we cannot plan for the future without taking into account the effects of climate change”, after stressing that “the assessment of impacts and the adoption of measures to adapt to climate change are priority objectives for Spain”. This was stated during the inauguration of the Conference “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, together with the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Sonia Castañeda. In this forum, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), Volume II of the Fifth Assessment Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability to Climate Change is analyzed.

The report has been developed by scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has 30 chapters that separately analyze the observed and projected impacts on water resources, inland and ocean ecosystems, coasts, rural and urban areas, health, continents, islands, etc. etc.

This volume highlights the effects of climate change at all levels and serves as a link between volume I, which develops the physical basis of the phenomenon, and volume III, which stresses the need to adopt mitigation measures to minimize the magnitude of change.

During her speech, Susana Magro analysed the content of this latest study and stressed that “climate change is unequivocal and mitigation and emission reduction measures may contribute to slowing it down, but they will not make it disappear”.

Progress in the National Adaptation Plan

He assured that at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, “we are very aware of the need that all countries have to adopt effective mitigation measures, but, at the same time, we have to take adaptation measures, since climate change is already having observed and documented impacts throughout the planet”.

In this sense, he valued that “we have made great progress in the development of our National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, whose ultimate objective is the integration of adaptation in the planning and management of all those sectors, systems, resources and vulnerable territories”.

Seven Spanish experts who collaborate as authors in the work of the IPCC and who come from various Spanish universities and scientific institutions participate in the conference, together with representatives of the State Meteorological Agency, the Spanish National Research Council, among others.