International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

Oct. 13, 2022

In the Azores, the small size of the hydrographic basins, as well as the steep slopes and reduced concentration times, favour the occurrence of torrential flash floods, sometimes devastating and frequently associated with a high transport of solid flows. These episodes are also favoured by the change in land uses over the last few decades, in particular by the transformation of areas occupied by forest or natural vegetation into pastures and the occupation of floodplains with urban areas.

In order to minimize the effects of climate change, in particular the risks associated with floods and inundations, the Autonomous Region of the Azores has territorial and regulatory management instruments to reduce and, whenever possible, avoid the impacts associated with this type of risk.

In this context, LIFE IP CLIMAZ, a project coordinated by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, focuses on ensuring the implementation of a group of measures whose objective is related to the implementation of specific and transversal key guidelines for adaptation and mitigation to climate change, reducing the risk of catastrophe, of which the strengthening of territorial resistance to vulnerabilities and risks is highlighted, with nature-based solutions for adapting to extreme weather events. For this purpose, within the scope of LIFE IP CLIMAZ, sections of watercourses with recurrent occurrences of floods, with considerable material damage, were selected to be intervened and requalified with natural engineering techniques, contributing to the creation of a buffer and protection strip of the riverside zone, which will offer greater resilience to areas at high risk of flooding.

Find out more about the actions to be taken in this regard at www.lifeipclimaz.eu.