Portugal cannot prevent powerful storms driven by global warming, but it can reduce their impact by changing how land is used and cities are planned, according to disaster and environmental risk expert Maria José Roxo.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the professor from the Department of Geography and Regional Planning at Universidade Nova de Lisboa said the recent storms – Kristin, Leonardo and Marta – were part of a wider pattern linked to climate change.
“We couldn’t avoid it because what is happening in Portugal, and in many other areas of the planet, as we have seen in recent days, with the very heavy snowstorm in the United States and the very intense rains in Brazil, are phenomena that have to do with something we have been talking about for a very long time, which is the effect of global warming,” she said.
Since January 28, the storms have caused at least 18 deaths, hundreds of injuries and displaced thousands, mainly in the Central, Lisbon and Tagus Valley and Alentejo regions.
Roxo, a researcher at Nova’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Sciences (CICS), said Portugal’s Mediterranean-Atlantic climate has become increasingly unstable due to global warming, leading to stronger storms and more intense weather fronts.
“We couldn’t avoid it, but we could minimise its effects. And this is where we have to focus,” she said, adding that reducing the impact means addressing an issue that has long been debated – how land is being occupied and used.
According to the expert, poor land management – including building on floodplains and sealing urban soil surfaces – has worsened the impact of extreme rainfall.
“Thinking about cities means thinking about cities with nature. Cities have to be sponge cities that absorb water, as seen in the example of Setúbal, with its retention basin, and all these aspects of more greenery in cities, more absorption spaces, less waterproofing,” she argued.
She pointed to urban planning failures, noting that trees are often planted in minimal, even sealed spaces, raising questions about how they can survive.
“This question of how we plan has to be properly addressed, because we need to think differently,” Roxo said, calling for an integrated approach that considers soil, vegetation and water together.
She also warned that people tend to “get used to a region” and build in risky areas such as floodplains or steep slopes with unstable geology, increasing the risk of landslides and destruction when heavy rains arrive.
“There is a way of using the territory and then, suddenly, these storms come, all this water comes, which obviously has to use its natural paths and, obviously, the infrastructure built by human beings is destroyed,” she said.
While she described existing legislation as adequate, particularly rules banning construction on floodplains and cliffs, Roxo said enforcement remains a concern, with many buildings failing to comply.
The storms, however, also have what she called a “positive side” by replenishing water resources. She argued for more retention basins, better sediment management in dams to increase storage capacity and stronger soil conservation practices in agriculture.
“If we conserve soil, we conserve water, we conserve biodiversity,” she said.
Finally, the researcher called for less bureaucracy in implementing measures to protect watercourses and reforest burnt areas, saying excessive red tape often delays urgent action.
Source: LUSA
