During Blue Waves, the MEDSEA event on the circular economy for the sea and the environment in Sardinia, this year dedicated to climate change and the possibilities of adaptation for territories and businesses, Margaretha Breil, urban planner expert in climate change from CMCC, Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, spoke.
Watch the video:
The Mediterranean basin, as we have seen, "warms up much faster than other seas, - explains Breil - resulting in excessive energy accumulation phenomena which, in contact with the atmosphere, lead to water bomb" or heavy rainfall: the theme is therefore how to quickly and efficiently collect water in these moments, considering the decrease in rainfall and, on the theme of agriculture, that constantly needs water to irrigate ".
“The trends are pretty clear for the next 20 years. We can hope that the global policies for cutting climate-altering gas emissions (CO2, methane ...) will change the course of events - explains the expert - but if this does not happen, we could trigger an irreversible trend that will lead to much higher temperatures. This will change the appearance not only of Sardinia, but of the whole Mediterranean and the rest of the world”. See the latest data from the IPCC, the intergovernmental panel that monitors climate change.
The summer of 2022 already brought the signs of this change evident, with an average of 2 ° above the average recorded in Italy, heat waves and tropical nights with little or no temperature range between day and night, with an annual estimate of + 25% of the mortality of the elderly in Italy this year, according to the data reported by the Italian Ministry of Health.
On the possible adaptation measures already in use, in addition to the need, if not the obligation, to reduce CO2 emissions as much as possible: the "gray" infrastructures - protective infrastructures, such as the Thames Barriers that are located in London to stem floods of the Thames; the "green and blue" ones concerning urban, rural and marine reforestation; the "soft" ones concerning the recommendations and precautions to the population; those “climate proofing” which should concern all new infrastructures in order to consider the levels of resistance to extreme events, such as floods. An example of infrastructure designed to withstand climate change is Copenhagen city, which has built a step for accessing the underground metro station and has created neighborhoods resilient to climate change since 2014, such as the Østerbro Climate Resilient Neighborhood project.

Author and source: Metroselskabet
At the level of private infrastructures, waterproof walls, doors and safety bars at the entrance to prevent water access, as well as the design of sockets and electrical appliances in the upper part of the house, are certainly effective and accessible solutions for all to adapt to climate change.

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