Beyond Adaptation: Integrated Resilience for Place-based Climate Extremes
17. June 9:00 - 10:30
Plenary Area
How do cities move beyond adaptation towards truly integrated resilience, rooted in local realities and capable of responding to compound and cascading risks? This opening plenary sets the tone for EURESFO26 by linking the Forum theme “Moving beyond adaptation” to place-based experiences of climate extremes such as heat, drought, flooding and wildfires, as well as wider societal shocks.
The session opens with welcome remarks from Ricardo Araújo (Mayor of Guimarães), highlighting Guimarães’ role as European Green Capital 2026 and its “One Planet City” vision, as well as from ICLEI Europe (Vasileios Latinos) and the European Environment Agency (Lucy Gregersen). A short cultural moment curated by the host city will underline the Forum’s emphasis on connecting resilience with local identity and community.
Two high-level impulses will then frame the discussion: Antonella Valmorbida (Secretary General, ALDA) on societal resilience and Natalia Alonso Cano (Chief Regional Office, UNDRR) on climate risk. The plenary will conclude with a high-level panel moderated by Natasha Walker, bringing together Ricardo Araújo, Antonella Valmorbida and Natalia Alonso Cano and Grammatiki Papazoglou (City of Athens) to unpack what “integrated resilience” means in practice across EURESFO’s four thematic streams: from a health-first lens, highlighting what successful implementation looks like and what helps cities move faster from plans to action.
Speakers
Secretary General, ALDA - European Association for Local Democracy
Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General, ALDA - European Association for Local Democracy
Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA since 1999, has extensive experience in promoting local democracy, civil society empowerment and participation, as well as good governance across Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean region. She is a senior European consultant in local development, specialised in the implementation of participatory processes for urban regeneration. She manages a network of more than 300 members, mainly composed of local authorities and civil society organisations, across more than 45 countries in Europe and beyond.
Chief, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Natalia Alonso Cano, Chief, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Ms. Natalia Alonso Cano is Chief of Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. She joined UNDRR bringing over 25 years of professional experience in international development and partnerships. An agronomic engineer, she has worked 9 years overseas, in India, the Dominican Republic, for the European Union and others. Previously, Ms. Alonso Cano was also Senior Adviser at UNICEF EU Office, Deputy Director at Oxfam International as well as Plan International and Amnesty International.
Moderators
Head of Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Vasileios Latinos, Head of Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Vasileios Latinos, is Head of Resilience and Climate Adaptation at ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, European Secretariat. Vasileios is a climate resilience expert and project coordinator, with 14 years experience, working with local and regional governments throughout Europe. He is responsible for the management and coordination of projects and services in the topical areas of climate change adaptation, urban resilience and disaster risk reduction and leading the programmatic development of ICLEI in this field.
Expert - Mission on Adaptation, European Environment Agency
Lucy Gregersen, Expert - Mission on Adaptation, European Environment Agency
Lucy Gregersen works on monitoring frameworks and data systems supporting climate adaptation across Europe. Her work contributes to the implementation of the EU Mission on Adaptation.
Previously, she worked with UN Environment Programme and UNDP, focusing on climate technology transfer and supporting developing countries in implementing and monitoring their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
Master of Ceremony
Owner, Natasha Walker Associates
Natasha Walker, Owner, Natasha Walker Associates
Natasha is an expert on communication, focussing since 1995 on designing and facilitating complex dialogue processes. She enables effective strategy implementation, sustainable change and smart organisational development all over the world (and online!). She designs and facilitates long-term change and large-scale participation processes and is also a leading moderator of exclusive high-level discussions and workshops with and for corporate boards and governments. Natasha advises decision makers and scientific institutions on civic and stakeholder engagement across the globe.
She studied English Literature and Modern Languages (German) at Oxford University and at the University of Göttingen. She lives in Heidelberg with her family and dog.