The Algarve is a region located in the south of Portugal. It is exposed to several climate vulnerabilities – in recent years, it has faced climatic events such as heat waves, forest fires, floods, storm surge and coastal erosion. The Algarve’s vulnerabilities are expected to continue to worsen due to climate change, which will impact different areas and socioeconomic sectors in the region.

The Intermunicipal Climate Change Adaptation Plan of the Algarve (PIAAC-AMAL) was funded by the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR), whose main purpose is to “specifically contribute to the sustainable growth priority, addressing the transitional challenges to a low carbon economy based on a more efficient use of resources and on the promotion of greater resilience to climate risks and catastrophes.”

The aim of the PIAAC-AMAL is to prepare the territory and population of the Algarve to deal with the effects of climate change. It results from collaborative work between different entities, and it was created by a transdisciplinary team consisting of technicians, scientists, researchers and consultants in the ​​climate change field.  Nearly two hundred stakeholders were also involved during the process of preparing this plan.

The PIAAC-AMAL is based in the continued search for scientific knowledge and the best environmental practices. It focuses on the climate impacts and vulnerabilities that the Algarve region is already facing, as well as in the climate projections until the end of the 21st century. The PIAAC-AMAL was presented in 2019 and it proposes 100 adaptation measures that will make the territory of the 16 Algarve municipalities more resilient to climate change. It follows the recommendations and main objectives of the EU Adaptation Strategy and the Portuguese National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (ENAAC2020), contributing towards:

1. Improving the level of knowledge about climate change;
2. Implementing adaptation measures;
3. Promoting the integration of adaptation into sectoral policies, through actions that promote the continuous implementation of solutions based on the best scientific/technical knowledge, as well as national and international benchmarking.

The PIAAC-AMAL, its sectoral reports and other documents can be found on the website climaaa.com.
(Those documents are only available in Portuguese. The list of 100 adaptation measures translated to English can be found here.)