The catalogue of measures and their selection and prioritisation enters the process of stakeholders’ consultation. MedCities is part of the technical team developing redacting the strategies where we lead the communication and participation activities. The project, which began in 2019 and is in its final phase, is coordinated by the Directorate General for the Coast and the Sea (DGCM) of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and is funded by the European Union’s Structural Reforms Support Programme.

The virtual meeting was the opportunity for the General Directorate for the Coast and Sea (DGCM) from the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) to present the work performed in the last two years, the documents under consultation and the consultation process.

The consultation will be opened till the end of May. The documents under consultation and all necessary information can be found here .

The Strategies aim to become a diagnostic and planning tool to identify the most appropriate coastal protection measures in the provinces in the coming years.The measures address coastal erosion risk management, seeking synergies with flood risk management and incorporating adaptation to climate change.

Following the Integrated Diagnosis the technical team has worked with DGCM on the identification of all possible measures applicable. The subsequent step was to develop such a methodology that allows to establish which of those measures are the most appropriate concerning each of the Management Units (MU). Respectively, 61 MU in Cádiz, 83 MU in Málaga and 57 MU in Almería.

The presentation, held on  6th April, included the various strategies and framework for the different objectives pursued by the measures included in the catalogue (to understand, to plan and to act), indicating all the categories of measures established (social and institutional prevention measures; physical and structural prevention measures; recovery and review measures) and their corresponding measures.

Regarding the selection and prioritisation criteria, the methodology included two steps:  1) the prioritization of Management Units based on the risk assessment and aimed to establish a hierarchy for intervention; and 2) the selection of measures, which allows to identify the sequence of measures for the protection of the coast so to intervene  in each management unit establishing a hierarchy.

The meeting was attended by 42 representatives of municipal governments, including those from the city of Málaga, MedCities member strongly engaged on coastal adaptation to climate change.

The video conference was recorded and can be viewed (in Spanish) here.

NATIONAL PLAN FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE COAST

MITECO is also working on the National Strategic Plan for the Protection of the Coast, also financed by the Structural Reform Support Programme, a document that will include the guidelines established by the Ministry for the management of the coast.

The Plan should serve as a basis for the development of planning instruments for coastal actions, as well as to establish the principles, guidelines, criteria and methodologies for the management of coastal protection, the objectives at national level and help to define the objectives at regional level, all considering the effects of climate change.

Furthermore, having the Strategies for Coastal Protection will enable investments to be carried out based on prior planning, improving their effectiveness and the efficiency of the investment.

You can read the 3 factsheets here:

– (In Spanish) Coastal Strategies ANDALUCIA_ Factsheet4_Catalogue_meassures_ES

– (In English) Coastal Strategies ANDALUCIA_ Factsheet 2 Basline Assessment_ENG

– (In Spanish) Coastal Strategies ANDALUCIA_ Factsheet3IntegratedDiagnosis_ES_v02