Climate Change Adaptation Policies in the Mediterranean

The physical phenomena that govern the climate in the Mediterranean are the same as in any other part of the world. What makes the Mediterranean unique is its extraordinary geographical definition, that sea surrounded by land.

The DANA (Isolated High Level Depression) experienced on 29 October 2024 in Valencia (Spain) generated precipitation never seen before since records have been kept. Some experts say that “it is not clear”, “we must be cautious” or “we will have to study in detail” whether or not this phenomenon is related to climate change. When a DANA generates precipitation, because not all of them do, a series of factors must be present, one of them is that there is an important contribution of energy that comes from humidity and temperature, and in the Mediterranean basin this was provided during those days by an abnormally warm sea.  

Truly, extreme events are rare phenomena, which makes it difficult to analyse changes in intensity and frequency. Thus, for statistical purposes, it is complicated to determine whether or not the extraordinary nature of this phenomenon is due to climate change, because there are many factors that influence it. Climate change itself is only one part of a larger change that we could call environmental. In turn, this is also only part of what some call Global Change (globalisation of the economy, population growth, increasing inequalities, changes in land use, excessive growth of cities, greenhouse gas emissions, rising temperatures, pollution, loss of biodiversity, alteration of the hydrological cycle, misinformation in society…).

We are moving inexorably towards the risk society described by Ulrich Beck. Global change is subjecting us to increasing risks, leading to greater exposure and increased vulnerability among the population, all the more so as the population is poorly informed, because to talk about risk is to talk about the perception of risk. Risk diminishes, or even disappears, if the perception of risk is total, and vice versa.

Therefore, the basis of any policy of adaptation to the risks of climate change, environmental change or global change must be a policy of dissemination, awareness-raising, information and risk perception on the part of the exposed population.

Miguel Polo Cebellán, CHJ President