Portugal and Spain will develop public warning systems focused on cross-border areas for risk scenarios such as flooding or dam failures, the two governments announced on Friday, 6th March.
The “implementation of public warning systems” is one of the measures included in a memorandum of understanding “on civil protection and emergencies” signed by the interior ministers of Portugal and Spain, Luís Neves and Fernando Grande-Marlaska, at the close of the 36th Iberian summit held in Huelva this week, in southern Spain.
“Public warning systems are an essential tool in improving preparedness in the face of risk events. In this context, particular emphasis is placed on the development of cross-border projects to alert populations in the event of rapidly developing hazards, such as floods or dam failures,” the document states.
The memorandum also provides for the “assessment of cross-border risks and emergency planning” by the two countries, which note that they “share several risks across their territories, including seismic risk, tsunamis, forest fires, dam failures and flooding”.
“The assessment of cross-border risks, based on common methodologies, will help improve preparedness, reflected in the creation or revision of emergency planning instruments,” the document adds.
The two countries also agreed to share “best practices in risk education and public information” and to promote “coordination between the National Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction of Portugal and Spain”. These political coordination bodies, chaired by the respective interior ministers, are intended to provide “strategic guidance over the medium and long term”.
Both ministers jointly argue that closer coordination between the respective authorities will contribute “to strengthening prevention and preparedness, particularly in the case of shared risks”.
In the preamble to the agreement, both countries highlight the “excellent cooperation” that already exists between them in the field of civil protection, while noting that “climate change is contributing to an increase in the frequency and impact of natural disasters”. As a result, they say it is desirable to “strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in border regions, in order to reinforce prevention, preparedness and response actions”.
The agreement is one of ten legal instruments signed on Friday at the 36th Luso-Spanish Summit, alongside two action plans covering areas such as the environment, civil protection, health, cybersecurity, social inclusion, and consumer protection.
The 36th Luso-Spanish Summit, which took place after months marked by major wildfires and storms across the Iberian Peninsula, focused on the impacts of climate change in Portugal and Spain and was held under the theme “alliance for climate security”.
In addition to the joint final declaration typically issued after Luso-Spanish summits, this year also saw a separate joint statement from the two environment ministries devoted to the “climate emergency”.
In the document, the two governments “reaffirm their intention to deepen strengthened Iberian cooperation on climate action, understood as a strategic pillar for shared resilience and sustainable development”.
In that context, “Iberian cooperation” will include areas such as the “exchange of experience and best practices in mitigation, adaptation and just transition”, as well as “coordination on policies, plans and programmes that accelerate responses to the risks of climate change, particularly in water management, nature conservation and restoration, the prevention of forest fires and civil protection in the face of extreme events”.
The two governments also intend to “jointly promote the preparation of hydrological plans for shared river basins, coordinate assessment and response systems for drought and water scarcity, collaborate in flood risk planning and management, including through real-time hydrological information exchange systems, and strengthen the protection of water status and quality”.
Source: DN / LUSA
