Integrated approaches for Wildfire protection
18. June 11:15 - 12:30
Pitch Stage
Wildfires and extreme heat are increasingly shaping the risk landscape for cities across Southern and Central Europe, as illustrated by the severe 2025 season in Portugal and Spain. Drawing on the experience of Guimarães and other cities, this session examines how local and regional authorities are addressing wildfire risk in urban and peri-urban areas through integrated approaches combining nature-based reforestation, AI-supported tools, and coordination with civil protection and communities, while exploring governance challenges for long-term resilience.
Speakers
Development Programs Officer, Alexander Innovation Zone
Stella Psarropoulou, Development Programs Officer, Alexander Innovation Zone
Stella Psarropoulou is a resilience and sustainability expert based in Thessaloniki. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, project management and urban policy development. She has managed European projects related to innovation, climate resilience and sustainable food policies as head of the Resilient Thessaloniki office and is currently a Development Programs Officer at Alexandria Innovation Zone S.A. She is an economist with two Master's degrees: in European Integration and Governance from the University of Macedonia and in Spatial Planning for Sustainable and Resilient Urban Development from the Department of Spatial Planning and Development, Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Professor, Dept. Informatics and Telecommunications, National Kapodistrian University of Athens
Prof. Athanasia Alonistioti, Professor, Dept. Informatics and Telecommunications, National Kapodistrian University of Athens
Prof. Athanasia Alonistioti is faculty in the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her Research Activity focuses on: Next-Generation Networks (5G/6G), AI, IoT, Digital Twins. She has over 250 publications in scientific journals and conferences, and 50 lectures as an invited speaker. More than 3500 citations. She is co-author in four Global patents and one European patent. She has been Scientific Supervisor/Coordinator in more than 45 European and National Projects and 15 projects with industry. Chair of the One6G Association (one6G.org). Honorary distinction in the category "Forest Digitization" at the SMART FOREST INNOVATION CHALLENGE by the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Honorary distinction: Listed among the 100 most influential women in 6G research globally for 2024. Member of the Working Group of the Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT) for Sustainable and Smart Cities.
Member of ETSI AFI Group.
Mayor, City of Alzira
Alfons Domínguez, Mayor, City of Alzira
Alfons Domínguez Gento is the Mayor-President of Alzira, in the Valencia Region, Spain. He is an environmental scientist and agricultural technical engineer, with a long professional background in ecological agriculture, agroecology, biodiversity and climate transition. Before becoming Mayor, he worked for the Generalitat Valenciana in the field of organic production and innovation, where he coordinated the First Valencian Plan for Organic Production and contributed to the development of the Second Valencian Plan for Agroecological Transition. His career combines public administration, applied research, training and environmental policy, with extensive experience in sustainable agriculture, climate adaptation and local environmental governance. As Mayor of Alzira, he promotes local policies focused on climate resilience, ecological transition and effective public communication.
CCDRC Portugal/RESIST Project
Carlos Silveira, CCDRC Portugal/RESIST Project
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.
Senior Expert, ICLEI Europe
Vivien Franck, Senior Expert, ICLEI Europe
Vivien works as a Senior Expert in ICLEI's Climate Resilience and Adaptation team and in the FairFuture coordination team. Vivien studied biology and urban ecology at the Technical University Berlin and has been working on climate adaptation, sustainable food systems and urban planning topics.