Yesterday, 30th Oct 2024, we were all shocked by the horrible images seen on media about the disastrous floods that hit the Spanish city and province of Valencia where nearly 100 deaths are reported. Road infrastructures, houses, shops, cars, lorries have been destroyed, some people have been left stranded, the Madrid-Valencia high-speed railways interrupted. As a matter of fact, in 8 hours rained the amount of water usually registered within an entire year.
Paradoxically, all this happened in Valencia, the 2024 EU Green Capital City, and this generates some questions: how could a city win this ambitious prize and then bear this misfortune? how much responsibility has to be addressed to the human action (or inaction)? or was this a calamity impossible to predict? Someone says that weather forecast didn’t specify such a strength of bad weather conditions, whereas some others say the civil protection didn’t act promptly. Facts will be investigated in the next weeks.
The important matter is that, despite a city submitted and won a candidature stating the (past, present and future) initiatives to make its territory green(er), the reality proved the opposite or, at least, that what done/proposed was not enough.
Unfortunately, a similar disaster happened a few days ago in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna that experienced the 3rd disastrous flood in 18 months.
Both sides of the Mediterranean Sea sadly have registered deadly meteorological events. Experts explain that this is due to the higher temperatures reached by this sea in recent times. This is one of the many clear signs of Climate Change, in case someone had still doubts about it.
What we can understand from these two catastrophic events is our cities and territories are not ready to face the climate change effects. When we hear talking about “adaptation and resilience”, well, neither of them are actually available at the moment, even for a green capital city.
Local and national governments should understand once for ever climate change is here among us and we don’t need ambitious great plans for our cities to be boasted – in particular – during electoral campaigns. Instead, we need serious, pragmatic and scientifically-based plans designed for immediate applications. Financing resource to fund these plans implementations “must” be rapidly identified and political decisions should be taken fast.
Otherwise, there won’t be many other chances to avoid more destruction.
Stefano Mainero
EPN Consulting and EPN Consulting Research and Innovation Founder & CEO
Article written by human beings without any use of AI. EPN Consulting Ltd. copyright 2024
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