During the various working sessions of #AragonClimateWeek, the Pyrenean Observatory on Climate Change (OPCC) has highlighted the need to move forward with coordinated adaptation between territories and sectors in the face of climate change. The meeting, which took place throughout the week in different parts of the region, brought together institutional, academic, economic and social representatives committed to climate action in Aragon and concludes today with the commemoration of International Climate Change Day.

As part of the activities carried out within the framework of #AragonClimateWeek, the coordinator of the OPCC, Eva García-Balaguer, participated in the meeting of the Aragonese Climate Council and in the subsequent round table held on Friday 24 October in the Paraninfo of the University of Zaragoza. In her speech, García-Balaguer emphasised the importance of working in a coordinated and cooperative manner between territories and sectors to tackle climate change as early as possible, before its consequences become unmanageable. She also recalled that the OPCC's mission is to strengthen the resilience of the Pyrenees to climate change through collaboration between regions and cross-border cooperation.

García-Balaguer highlighted the generation of knowledge, the development of decision-making support tools and the implementation of 33 demonstration projects that contribute to improving the adaptation of ecosystems, water resources and the population and territory of the Pyrenees to an increasingly changing environment.

Along the same lines, on Thursday 23rd, OPCC technician Juan Terrádez presented the progress of the LIFE Pyrenees4Clima project in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, highlighting precisely these demonstration projects referred to by García-Balaguer, which are being developed in areas of high value. Terrádez explained that these pilot cases aim to preserve ecosystems of high ecological value and protect water, soil and biodiversity from climate change. He also stressed the importance of fieldwork, cooperation with local actors and the exchange of knowledge with other mountain regions. As he pointed out, preserving the Pyrenees means caring for the future.

The Aragonese Climate Council brought together 22 stakeholders involved in the problems generated by this new reality: public administrations, environmental organisations, research centres, the State Meteorological Agency in Aragon, and social, economic and academic stakeholders. The aim of this meeting was to identify the main demands and challenges, which will subsequently be addressed in specific working groups.

On behalf of the Government of Aragon, the Vice-President of the Council and representative of the Department of Environment and Tourism, Raquel Giménez, took note of the participants' contributions and proposals, with a commitment to forward them to future discussion forums and the relevant administrations, with a view to promoting coherent public policies based on scientific evidence and coordinated between territories.