Valencia, 21 October 2022. – This morning the conference “The great challenge of adaptation to climate change in ports” was held, an event to disseminate the European project ECCLIPSE organised by Fundación Valenciaport with the collaboration of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) on the occasion of the World Day against climate change.

The main objective of the ECCLIPSE project – Assessment of climate change in ports in Southwest Europe, co-financed by the European Commission through the Interreg SUDOE Programme and led by Fundación Valenciaport, is to analyse the impact of climate change on ports, developing early prediction tools and models that allow a thorough understanding of its impact on a local scale.

The PAV and Fundación Valenciaport are working with Puertos del Estado and the Foundation for Climate Research to draw up a strategy for the adaptation of the ports managed by the Port Authority, Valencia, Sagunto and Gandía, to the effects of climate change. More specifically, among the activities of the ECCLIPSE project, a common methodology has been defined for analysing the impacts of climate change and its effects on the maritime port environment, developing predictive models of the effects of climate change at local level. In addition, and in close collaboration with the port community, the possible impacts of climate change on port operations and infrastructures have been analysed. This has provided a complete map of the vulnerabilities of the ports, which will be monitored in the framework of the observatory on climate change created for this purpose. On the basis of this information, adaptation measures will be designed for the ports which will have to be included within a broader framework to ensure that at least 80% of the logistics chain remains operational in the event of any extreme climate phenomenon.

The conference, held in a hybrid format, online and face-to-face, counted on top level experts as speakers: Mercedes de Juan Muñoyerro, of Fundación Valenciaport and Coordinator of the Ecclipse Project; Raúl Cascajo, of the PAV; Gabriel Díaz Hernández, of the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of the University of Cantabria; César Paradinas, Consultant of the Foundation for Climate Research; and José Serra, Professor of Ports and Coasts of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

This session has allowed, from a realistic point of view, to understand what climate change is and what its effects will be in the medium and long term.