The Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, admitted this Friday that the September rains “helped to stop the loss of water in many dams”, however, he warned that one cannot “lower one’s guard”.
It can be said that the situation is currently better than two weeks ago, but we cannot lower our guard,” he said.
During the inaugural session of the Parque dos Marmelos, one of the main green lungs of the city of Oliveira do Hospital, Duarte Cordeiro highlighted that the forecasts for rainfall for the rest of the month and October give “some hope“.
But we have to be aware that the the context is a structural change”, he warned.
During his speech, the representative of the Government indicated that climate change is clearly one of the greatest challenges for the country, as well as for all of humanity.
This year we had very clear evidence of the urgency of adapting to this situation,” he said.
Duarte Cordeiro has also highlighted that this hydrological year, which ends in a week and a half, has been “exceptionally dry” in Europe and with a great impact on the Iberian Peninsula.
We were affected by four heat waves and we are experiencing the most serious hydrological drought of this century, due to the unusual combination of temperatures and low rainfall. This is the fifth year in a row with below average rainfall,” he said.
To mitigate the effects of the drought, since February measures have been adopted throughout the country, including “the restriction of the use of water for the production of electricity”, having also left a set of recommendations for the restriction of water. non-essential use.
“The objective was very simple: try to moderate and save water for what is essential. We have a very unequal territory and we have to work, from the beginning, on this essential dimension, which is to have water for our future”, he concluded.
Source: Observadora
