Workshop on Climate change impact on water related and marine risks  

26-27 October 2009, Murcia, Spain

The Council of Europe, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate for Civil Protection of Spain, organised a workshop on “Climate Change impact on water related and marine risks. The workshop took place in Murcia on 26-27 October 2009. The main aim of the Workshop was to foster better preparedness and response amongst populations living in the European and Mediterranean areas which might be affected by water related disasters induced by climate change. This can be done by spreading the latest knowledge on the potential impact of climate change and identifying the challenges of the associated scenarios to such domains as public awareness, protective actions, emergency planning, early warning procedures and emergency response.

Presentations

Background work
 

• Findings of the French presidency of the European Union in disaster risk reduction and climate change - Philippe Boullé, AFPCN, Paris, France
• Linking the disaster risk reduction to adaptation to climate change - Karl-Otto Zentel, DKKV, Bonn, Germany
• The role of local and regional authorities in Disaster Risk Reduction in the face of Climate Change - Iñigo de la Serna Hernáiz, Rapporteur of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the CoE on Coastal cities facing rising sea level, Mayor of Santander, Spain
• NGOs on climate change and disaster preparedness: the Red Cross action across the Mediterranean - Amèlia Marzal, Red Cross Centre for Co-operation in the Mediterranean, Barcelona, Spain

Floods and related water management problems

• 2007 floods: a forerun of climate change implications?- Steven Barnes, Civil Contingencies Secretariat, Cabinet Office, London, United Kingdom
• Climate change and river management: the Loire example- Jean-Claude Eudé, Etablissement Publique de la Loire, France
•  Climate Change Challenges to Water Management in Jucar River Basin Authority - Juan José Moragues Terrades, President of the Jucar Hydrological Confederation

Droughts, desertification, heat waves and forest fires
 

• Impact of climate change on drought appearance in Slovenia and South-eastern Europe - Gregor Gregoric, Environmental Agency, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Climate change impact on drought management in Mediterranean area: how to improve the approach - Michele Vurro, Water Research Institute (CNR), Bari, Italy
• Desertification: a threat for both sides of the Mediterranean - Fattoum Lakdhari, Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Scientific and Technical Research in Arid Zones (CRSTRA), Biskra, Algeria
• Heat waves: learning from the 2003 experience in France - Raquel Bohn-Bertholdo, Symlog Institute, Paris, France
• Climate change and forest fires risk - Nikola Nikolov, UNISDR Global Wild land Fire Network

Marine risks, coastal erosion and landslides

• Mediterranean Coastal risks in a climate change context - Anton Micaleff, Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Insular Coastal Dynamics (ICoD), La Valletta, Malta
• Geomorphological coastal effects of climate change - Olivier Maquaire, European Centre for Seismic and Geomorphologic Hazards (CERG), Strasbourg, France
•  Oceanic risks in a climate change context - Romain Chancerel, European Centre on Coastal Risks, Biarritz, France
•  Presentation by Segura Hydrographical Confederation on the topic "Water Management in Extreme Hydrological Situations - Joaquin Ezcurra Cartagena, Technical Director of the Segura Hydrographical Confederation
•  Fernando Toledano Sanchez, Head of the Automatic Hydrological Information System Management of the Segura Hydrographical Confederation