The BASE project was recently presented at Greenfest, widely considered the greatest and biggest Sustainability Festival/Congress in Portugal. BASE partner FFCUL organised a seminar followed by a participatory workshop, involving around 40 participants in one full afternoon focused on the theme: “Adaptation to Climate Change: Opportunities and Vulnerabilities for the Tourism sector in Cascais.
The event took place in the only Green Venue in Portugal, the Estoril Congress Center, from the 3-6 October 2013. In line with the research methodology approved for our case study CASCAIS, the FFCUL team organised the seminar which included talks from three experts on climate change, tourism and local initiatives. FFCUL also organised the participatory workshop, which allowed project members to experiment for the first time with a 'Simplified Participatory Cost-Benefit Analysis' for 3 key adaptation measures for the tourism sector.
Strengthened by the recent IPCC V reports and enriched by a heterogeneous public representing multiple stakeholders, from tourism agencies to municipality decision-makers, the debates that followed the Seminar were intense and mainly focused on question like, “What can we do”? “Which options do we have”? and “Which opportunities can we maximize while reducing our vulnerability”? This gave momentum for the Participatory Workshop, with a clear focus on evaluating and prioritizing Adaptation Measures for the Tourism sector in Cascais and culminated in the Simplified Participatory Cost-Benefit Analysis (SPCBA) for three adaptation measures: Green corridors; Rainwater harvesting; Raising awareness. The SPCBA methodology has been designed and developed by the Climate Resilience Network and was first tried in BASE Portugal at this event with great success, not due to the results themselves but mainly due to the process which forced the participants to raise their awareness regarding positive and negative impacts – social, economic and environmental – and at the same time value them within a common, simple, scale.
This workshop was the first of three that will happen in 2013, connected with the review of the Cascais Strategic Plan for Climate Change. The next will be focused on the Cluster of Biodiversity and Coastal Protection Adaptation Measures, while the last one will focus on the Cluster Water Adaptation Measures.
For any comments, feedbacks or more information please contact Filipe Alves.