Yesterday, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, visited the recent regeneration of the Premià de Mar beach, which has withstood the latest storm, contrary to what happened on the rest of the Catalan coast, where Storm Nelson devastated the beaches, reducing the minimum its capacity. Morán recognized that the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco) and the Demographic Challenge no longer has the beach regeneration strategy developed in 2015 but focuses on activating protection plans based on the emergency of each coastal area. .
The serious situation posed by climate change, according to Morán, also forces us to rethink the action strategy to regenerate the coastline. The planned intervention model that they had planned nine years ago no longer works. Climate change sets the model for action, for which adaptation plans are developed depending on the urgency of each case. “The prioritization to move forward more quickly will depend on the degree of severity of the damage,” he summarized.
For the Ministry, it is necessary, apart from establishing a priority for each emergency, to advance an agreement between local administrations, autonomous communities and the state government to establish budget availability. Morán assured that each situation is unique and therefore “it is essential to write recovery plans.” Regarding the budgetary situation, the Secretary of State stated that the Recovery and Resilience Plan promoted by the Spanish Government has led the General Directorate of Coasts to increase the investment item to 300 million euros.
Regarding the effects of Storm Nelso n on the Catalan coast, Morán reported that the Government Delegation and the Coastal Demarcation are finalizing the report on the impact and damage. In each case, a priority for action will be established that will be established by the emergency declaration of each affected area. The Secretary of State explained that there are currently 90 actions in development along the Spanish coast, of which eight are focused on Catalonia.
The Ministry representative praised the level of technical knowledge that Catalonia has accumulated on the impact of climate change, which “will allow acting with the appropriate degree of knowledge.” The Catalan town councils, he asserted, “will be the figurehead of future planning” for coastal protection.
Regarding the key infrastructures that may be affected by new attacks from the storms, such as the promenades or the railway, Hugo Morán admitted that “it is not possible to undertake all the projects” but that action will be taken on the need that it generates. the urgency in each case.
The priority actions for the future that the Ministry of Transition will establish based on scientific studies involve, according to Hugo Morán, “anticipating the effects of climate change” that entails an inevitable rise in sea level and the rethinking of new spaces. urban.
Morán also highlighted the need to protect the services and infrastructure that run along the coast, such as sanitation pipelines that maintain a high risk of contamination.
In Premià de Mar, the mayor, Rafa Navarro, thanked the Ministry for its willingness to act in the regeneration of Bellamar beach but recalled the need to protect “the first line of services” which in Maresme is the railway and the road. N-II. Also as vice president of the Maresme Regional Council, Navarro asked the secretary that the Ministry generate a “unity of thought” regarding the regeneration actions among all the affected administrations, regardless of the particularities that each project may have.
