The effects of climate change are becoming more palpable and coastal areas around the world are beginning to feel the effect of the melting of the polar ice caps, which causes a rise in sea level. Phenomena such as the expansion of the Azores anticyclone, which will cause us to have longer periods of drought in summer and winter, is just one of the consequences that are beginning to be measurable.
The environmental promoter Manuel Aguado has visited this week the set of the program Todo es Lie, from the Cuatro chain, confirming that next August will be the "hottest since we have records". Regarding the rise in sea level, the expert pointed out that three Spanish towns will suffer especially, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Cádiz and Barcelona, where "we have coasts and beaches that are shrinking", he declared.
When consulting other documents such as the Plan for the Promotion of the Environment Adapts Canary Coasts, the PIMA, we discovered that of the 1,500 km of the Canary Islands' coastline, 47 sections are in a high-risk situation. In 2050, the Archipelago could lose up to 10.6% of surface due to the rise in sea level, which could mean that beaches that are not free of urban structures, such as Las Canteras, cannot adapt to this situation and disappear partially. For 2100, these forecasts are even worse, since more than 150 Canarian beaches could see their surface area reduced by 45.2%.
LIFE Garachico, participatory solutions to a real problem
While cities like Miami have chosen to invest a whopping 400 million euros to increase the height of sidewalks, trying to minimize the effect of water on the urban environment, in other regions they are studying how to adapt to a situation that seems inevitable . In this sense, the LIFE Garachico project, co-financed in a 55% by the LIFE program of the European Union, acts on the municipality of Tenerife that bears its name to create a methodology for action against rising sea levels that can later be exported to other territories in Europe and Macaronesia.
Led by the Vice-Ministry of Fight against Climate Change and Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, the project has eleven partners who work to put into practice, evaluate and disseminate new ideas in which citizens participate, aimed at local and regional administrations. The other two municipalities where the project operates are Puerto de la Cruz, also in Tenerife, and Praia de Vitória, in the Azores.
