Climate Change Adaptation Strategies at a Local Scale: The Portuguese Case Study

Coastal areas are home to more than 2 billion people around the globe and, as such, are especially vulnerable to climate change consequences. Climate change adaptation has proven to be more effective on a local scale, contributing to a bottom-up approach to the problems related to the changing clima...

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Veröffentlicht in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-12, Vol.19 (24), p.16687
Hauptverfasser: Ramalho, Margarida, Ferreira, José Carlos, Jóia Santos, Catarina
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Coastal areas are home to more than 2 billion people around the globe and, as such, are especially vulnerable to climate change consequences. Climate change adaptation has proven to be more effective on a local scale, contributing to a bottom-up approach to the problems related to the changing climate. Portugal has approximately 2000 km of coastline, with 75% of the population living along the coast. Therefore, this research had the main objective of understanding adaptation processes at a local scale, using Portuguese coastal municipalities as a case study. To achieve this goal, document analysis and a questionnaire to coastal municipalities were applied, and the existence of measures rooted in nature-based solutions, green infrastructures, and community-based adaptation was adopted as a variable. The main conclusion from this research is that 87% of the municipalities that answered the questionnaire have climate change adaptation strategies implemented or in development. Moreover, it was possible to conclude that 90% of the municipalities are familiar with the concept of nature-based solutions and all the municipalities with adaptation strategies include green infrastructure. However, it was also possible to infer that community-based adaptation is a concept that most municipalities do not know about or undervalue.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph192416687