Regional Secretary publishes 1st Monitoring Report of the Regional Climate Change Programme

Feb. 27, 2023

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, announced the publication of the 1st Monitoring Report of the Regional Climate Change Programme (PRAC), as well as the Follow-up and Monitoring Report of the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the PRAC, both available in the Portal da Monitorização, Avaliação Ambiental e Licenciamento (Monitoring, Environmental Assessment and Licensing Portal) (www.azores.gov.pt/Gra/srrn-ambiente).

Alonso Miguel highlights the PRAC as being “an essential instrument for public policy planning, considering that the intensification of global climate change puts increased pressure on small and vulnerable territories such as the Azores archipelago”.

“This Programme was developed following the policies, concepts and guidelines established at regional, national and international levels (IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), ensuring compatibility with national and community tools, particularly concerning territorial management tools, as well as other studies and programmes applied in the Region, at the time of its preparation,” continues the governor.

The Regional Secretary added that “the report now published resulted from the evaluation and monitoring process of the PRAC, biennially, to monitor the degree of implementation and effectiveness of the proposed measures, supporting the decision on the possible amendment or revision of the Programme, so that it remains adequate to meet its strategic objectives”.

Alonso Miguel mentioned that “regarding the Follow-up and Monitoring Report of the Strategic Environmental Assessment, the results show that most environmental effects identified in the Environmental Report, for all Critical Decision Factors, were reconfirmed, considering that, under most of the implemented measures, it was possible to enhance the main positive effects foreseen and that the threats detected were, or have the capacity to be, in essence, safeguarded and mitigated”.

The governor explains that “this 1st PRAC Monitoring Report presents the compilation of the information collected from the entities that promote the various measures included in the Programme, namely regional public administration services, the business sector and municipalities of the Autonomous Region of the Azores”.

By the end of 2021, two years after the implementation of the PRAC, 52 % of a total of 145 recommended measures are already being implemented, of which 9 % are fully implemented. However, it was found that 39 % of the measures are still not implemented or, having been implemented, the process was not communicated to the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change.

“This is the first monitoring exercise referring to the first two years after the approval of the Programme under analysis. It is understood that the results achieved are quite satisfactory and should be consubstantiated as motivators of the demanding implementation process of the missing measures. Nevertheless, it is considered relevant to continue to focus on an effort of all entities to affect the implementation of the measures that have not been implemented to date. Still, considering the time gap, it is not understood that the recommended measures are inadequate, so, for now, it is not considered necessary to review the PRAC”, said the Regional Secretary.

Alonso Miguel safeguarded, however, that “fighting climate change is an ongoing process, which must be dealt with in an integrated way, taking into account constant technological developments, as well as the environmental and socio-economic framework and the evolution of European, national and regional guidelines”, adding that, “taking into account that the Azores' Carbon Neutrality Roadmap is under development, by the end of 2023, it may be necessary to revise the PRAC, to ensure compatibility between the two instruments”.