APA vice-president does not refer to climate change tragedies recently in Germany/ Spain
The vice-president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) said today in Macau that Portugal is the country in Europe where climate change is having the greatest impact.
Carlos Pimenta Machado said that even among the more vulnerable southern European countries, “Portugal is where climate change is having the greatest impact, on water, on the rise in temperature”, and it is possible to see what is happening in Europe: “fires (…) with more concentrated rain and long periods of drought”, with results (negative effects) “on economic activities and the ecosystem“.
At a conference at an environmental forum in Macau, where he discussed water management in the context of climate change, the APA vice-president reaffirmed Portugal’s intention to bring forward the carbon neutrality commitment from 2050 to 2045.
He took the opportunity to list some of the challenges and emphasise the success of environmental policies, from the “incredible, remarkable work in terms of sanitation and wastewater treatment“, described as “the Portuguese miracle“, to the quality of beach water, in a country that is also faced with the fact that “more than 50% of the water that reaches Portugal comes from Spain”.
Coastal erosion “is obviously another challenge” for Portugal, which, he emphasised, has sought to make progress in river rehabilitation and is one of the “best performing” European countries in terms of renewable energy.
Carlos Pimenta Machado recalled that the country was “the fourth in Europe to eliminate coal-fired energy production in 2019” and seventh in the ranking of the 27 European Union countries in terms of the use of renewable energy sources.
The Macau International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition began on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
The forum covers an area of more than 10,000 square metres and has more than 400 exhibitors, including 40 foreign exhibitors.
During the 20 forums and conferences planned, around 30 environmental innovators, heads of multinational companies and political decision-makers from various countries and regions will be speaking, namely mainland China, Europe, Portuguese-speaking countries, Southeast Asian nations, Hong Kong and Macau.
The Forum, the theme of which is “Building an ecological civilisation through innovative initiatives”, also aims to “promote international exchange and cooperation on environmental protection between different sectors, including governments, industries, universities, research institutes, users and investors”.
The forum will be held at the Venetian’s Cotai Expo and is organised by the Macau Special Administrative Region Government, co-organised by the provincial and regional governments of the Pearl River Delta Region and coordinated by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and the Environmental Protection Bureau, writes Lusa whose text makes no reference to climate change tragedies in countries like Germany and Spain where lives have been lost ostensibly as a direct result of climate change – particularly in the former where a deadly flash flood swept away multiple homes only a couple of years ago.
Source material: LUSA
