The Management Committee of LIFE SHARA (Sharing Awareness and Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Spain) held its first meeting today in Madrid, in which the first steps of the project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment were addressed, which aims to strengthen the governance of adaptation to climate change and increase resilience to climate change in Spain and Portugal. in line with the Europe Adaptation Strategy.
During the meeting, held at the headquarters of the Biodiversity Foundation, the actions to be developed within the framework of this project, which began on September 1, and will be carried out until February 2021, were analyzed. The LIFE SHARA project has the technical direction of the Spanish Office for Climate Change and is proposed under a participatory perspective in which all partners contribute their knowledge and experiences as well as participating in decision-making and in the execution of the project’s actions. To this end, this Management Committee has been set up, which will meet every six months.
The project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and which has a budget of more than 1.5 million euros, is 57% co-financed through the LIFE funds, the European Union’s financial instrument for the environment, and has as partners the Spanish Office for Climate Change. the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), the Autonomous Agency of National Parks through the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM) and with the Portuguese Agency for the Environment.
Among the objectives of LIFE SHARA are the improvement of the capacities of AdapteCCa (platform for consultation and exchange of information on adaptation to climate change) to improve the quality and quantity of information and facilitate its use as a tool for governance; strengthening technical capacities for adaptation and raising awareness; and the strengthening of coordination and cooperation between key agents (with the private sector, Spanish administrations and Portugal).
The first steps of the project involve the analysis of the content and user profiles of the platform, in addition to a diagnosis of the knowledge generated in Spain in the field of impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, using bibliometric techniques.
LIFE SHARA and the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change
Spain has been one of the first European countries to develop an adaptation policy, materialised in 2006 with the approval of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC). Portugal, for its part, has just adopted in July 2015 its National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change, which provides for the establishment of an Iberian cooperation system that supports the integrated articulation of the adaptation frameworks of Spain and Portugal, especially in resources and systems shared by both countries. The LIFE SHARA project is a key contribution to achieving this goal.
Adaptation to climate change is a very complex area of work, in which the public and private dimensions converge, where there are competencies, responsibilities and the need for coordination at all administrative levels – local, regional, national and European – and where a multitude of sectors and agents interact. In this context, good governance is essential in the development of the Third Work Programme, in order to move towards the ultimate objective of the PNACC: the integration of adaptation in all those sectors, systems, resources and territories vulnerable to climate change.
In this context, the LIFE SHARA project is proposed, whose general objective is to strengthen governance in the field of adaptation to climate change in Spain, considered in the Third Work Programme of the PNACC as a central element that should include a set of actions and initiatives in order to increase collective capacities.
