Canary Islands will have several events and its own stand at the XVI edition of the National Environment Congress (CONAMA), which begins this Monday in Madrid. The event, which will last until Thursday, is held at the Municipal Congress Palace of Ifema Madrid and brings together more than 7,000 participants and nearly 500 collaborating institutions, including companies, administrations, universities, technology centers and third sector entities under the slogan `Lead the transformation. It's time'.
The Minister of Ecological Transition of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, highlighted “the growing interest in the work we are doing in the Canary Islands to prepare for climate change, both from the point of view of research and study, as we have seen with works such as PIMA Adapta Costas, on which they are asking us for information to transfer it to other territories, as from the point of view of regulatory development, which we hope will soon complete its parliamentary process.”
The CONAMA 2022 program is structured in nine thematic areas that cover all areas of sustainability: Energy and climate change; Mobility; Urban renewal; Rural development; Biodiversity; Water; Environmental quality; Waste; Economy and society.
Among the outstanding events in which the Canary Islands will participate is the inauguration, which will be given by the third vice-president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, this Monday.
On Tuesday 22, the Canary Islands will have a prominent role in a meeting on strategies of the autonomous and state communities on circular economy, which it will share with representatives of the governments of the Basque Country, Murcia and Galicia.
On Wednesday 23, the LIFE Garachico project on risks derived from marine impacts, coastal floods and sea level rise will be presented in a meeting on adaptation to climate change and the dismantling of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife refinery will be explained in an event dedicated to energy, circular economy and waste from the energy transition.
On Thursday 24, there will be talk about public water policies in the archipelago and how the third planning cycle is being faced in compliance with the Water Framework Directive.
Specific policies for the islands
As agreed at a meeting held last October, Canary Islands and Balearic Islands will take advantage of their presence at CONAMA to defend a common proposal of actions as archipelagic territories.
In this sense, on Monday 21 the so-called `Island Connection' will be held, which will include, among other events, a presentation in the morning entitled `Canary Islands-Balearic Islands: A common front in terms of decarbonization and energy sovereignty', with the participation of the Canarian Minister José Antonio Valbuena together with the Vice President and Minister of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory of the Balearic Government, Juan Pedro Yllanes; and the commissioner for the Promotion of Sustainable Energy in Island Systems of the Government of Spain, Marc Pons.
Valbuena insisted on the importance of both archipelagos working together to achieve common needs on the regulatory and governance framework that the islands have to carry out to promote the energy transition and to be able to establish measures that help increase resilience to climate change.
