European Week of Regions and Cities
7-10 OCTOBER 2019 Brussels

Madeira - becoming a Resilient Region

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Tue 8, October 2019
11:00 - 12:00
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The Cohesion Fund is helping to transform Madeira into a more resilient region?

The Operational Program for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (POSEUR) in the period 2014-2020 is supporting the prevention and management of natural risks in Madeira, under a systemic and structural perspective. Adaptation to climate change was assumed as a strategic priority.

The risks related to floods, landslides or forest fires are being adressed in critical locations considering the protection of the population but also of strategic infrastructures. For example structural interventions along the water streams will avoid catastrophes similar to what occured in 2010, where 47 people died.

Other interventions are taking place to prevent and control fires, with the acquisition of vehicles and protection equipments, but also using new technologies for detection and support to decision making. Madeira is adopting innovation and best practices in risk prevention.

THE SESSION WILL BE A PITCH OF PERSPECTIVES

  • The Operational Program for Sustainability – a framework perspective
  • The impact of interventions - a regional development perspective
  • Madeira island, a complex biophysical reality - the problem in perspective
  • Flooding and risk reduction – An infrastructural perspective
  • Protecting people - A risk management perspective
  • Our public safety - A citizen perspective
Cesário Camacho, Journalist, RTP Madeira, Portugal.
Emília Alves, President, IDR, Portugal.
Helena Azevedo, President, PO SEUR, Portugal.
Miguel Branco, Vice-Presidente, Serviço Regional de Proteção Civil, Portugal.
Cesário Camacho, Journalist, RTP Madeira, Portugal.
Sergio Lopes, Director, The Office of Studies and Services of Fluvial Hydraulics of the Regional Directorate of Infrastructures and Equipment - SREI, Portugal.
José Alberto Pimenta de França, Regional Director, The Regional Laboratory of Civil Eng., Portugal.
Natércia Xavier, -, -, Portugal.
08QA693
Exhibitors pitch
A greener Europe
PO SEUR
english (en)
Building SQUARE - Brussels Convention Centre, Room Agora 1.
Address: Mont des Arts, 1000 Brussels

Session summary

Madeira is an archipelago located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal, with Madeira Island and Porto Santo Island being the only inhabited islands. The archipelago is home to about 26,000 inhabitants.

The Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (POSEUR) is supporting the prevention and management of natural hazards in Madeira, under a systemic and structural perspective. The programme is helping to reinforce the island resilience with interventions to reduce vulnerabilities in critical areas.

Risk assessments were conducted, priorities for investment were listed, and projects were developed and submitted to co-funding.

During the period 2014-2019, 37 projects with high technical conditions were approved in four specific domains:

·       11 projects for river regularisation and flood control,

·       13 projects on landslide prevention and mass movement control and

·       6 projects for forest fire prevention.

·       7 projects focusing on planning and monitoring

Those 37 projects approved had a global investment of 147 million Euro with the contribution of the Cohesion Fund of 121 million Euro, representing a large scale investment in the protection of the population.

Take away message

The risks related to flooding, landslides or forest fires are being significantly reduced in critical locations including the protection of strategic infrastructures. The island and the communities are adapting to deal with the natural hazards intensified by climate change preventing new catastrophes. Thanks to the EU Cohesion Fund, Madeira is becoming a more resilient region.

Photos

Additional information



Miguel Branco

In emergencies and catastrophes, it is essential, in addition to well-trained and equipped professionals, that a civil protection culture be assimilated throughout civil society. Only with cohesion of all entities that contribute to the security of our territory we can say that Madeira is a resilient region.

Helena de Azevedo

Highlight of interventions in Madeira Island with the support of the cohesion fund, to prevent climate change risks (floods, forest fires and landslides). Examples: regularisation of river streams, new detection and warning systems, reinforcement for civil protection means and containment of slopes at risk of collapse.

Emilia Alves

The island morphology, the geophysical conditions, the urban growth and other conditions are part of our reality. The projects co-funded to reinforce the island resilience are also investments made in our sustainable development, in our competitiveness, in our future.

José Alberto Pimenta de França

Floods and landslides have been an historical problem in Madeira due to structural conditions. Over the centuries many destructive events took place around the region but the catastrophe of 2010 was one of the deadliest.

Sérgio Lopes

In response to the flooding problem, it is essential to set up and maintain an integral risk management strategy, which requires coordination and constant vigilance, and a monitoring strategy over time to make an assessment of structural and non-structural measures to the scale of the hydrographic basin.

Natércia Xavier

Citizens are the cornerstone of our Madeira resilient region. They need information, awerness and participation.

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