Living with water: planning for coastal adaptation, smart cities and resilient territories
14. September 16:00 - 17:30
Climate Change impacts in coastal urban areas, such as socio-environmental vulnerabilities derived from sea-level rise, coastal erosion and coastal flooding, are a major concern across European regions and communities that need to be addressed with local and regional actions, cooperation and coordinated policies.
In this session, city representatives around Europe will have the opportunity to discuss together about cities’ challenges, and share expertise on coastal adaptation strategies that include ecological principles. The display of examples of coastal adaptation practices that enhance urban resilience, where nature can play a role in reducing coastal risks and enhance coastal protection, will support peer-to-peer learning and exchange, aiming at fostering cooperation and inspiring action.
During the session, there will also be the chance to present the Coastal Climate Core Service (CoCliCo) tool, informing decision-makers on coastal risk and adaptation, and giving them access to an open web platform that can help to assess dominant risks posed to both vulnerable communities and natural ecosystems. Water Europe will introduce water-smart principles that entail a paradigm shift for coastal adaptation against flooding risk and erosion, with the aim to incorporate this vision into cities’ agenda and support efficient decision-making, proper allocation of coastal infrastructure investments, and the establishment of fruitful collaboration frameworks.
Speakers
Special Advisor to the Mayor of Cannes, City of Cannes
Régine Resbeut-Montanella, Special Advisor to the Mayor of Cannes, City of Cannes
Régine RESBEUT-MONTANELLA is a graduate of the prestigious EM Lyon business school. She started to work in the private sector during ten years as a senior consultant, financial controller and marketing director for international companies. Twenty years ago, she chose to dedicate her career to the public sector and joined the administration of the City of Cannes where she held executive positions related to public service concessions, complex cases, management control, cost killing.
Since 2020, she has been a Special Advisor to the Mayor of Cannes. Her tasks include steering structural and strategic projetcs such as the renewal of the public works and service concession of the Old Port of Cannes for the next 30 years (March 2022), the lauching of the World AI Cannes Festival (April 2022), the creation of the Cannes Underwater Museum by Jason deCaires Taylor (unveiled in February 2021), the future International Museum of the Cinema and the Cannes Film Festival.
Director, Civil Protection Department
Susana Gonçalves, Director, Civil Protection Department
Susana Gonçalves concluded her degree in Environmental Health at Health School of the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto in 2001.
Below are her credentials:
• Municipal Operational Coordinator of Matosinhos;
• Director of the Municipal Civil Protection;
• Operacional Director for resilience in Matosinhos;
• Senior technician in Health and Safety at Work, by IDICT since 2004.
• Teacher in the Advanced Specialization in Civil Protection at Instituto CRIAP;
• Guest assistant teacher at the Polytechnic’s Institute of Oporto Health School, in the Environmental Health Course;
• Teacher in the Post-Graduate Project and Leadership in Prevention, Safety and Civil Protection Emergency Actions at Lusófona‘s University of Oporto.
• Trainer of several courses and in several institutions, in areas such as ergonomics, prevention and safety against fire and toxicity; fire safety and first aid; environment, hygiene and safety at work; health and safety at work; rescue swimming techniques.
Senior Technician, Office of Strategy-Donostia City Council
Judith Moreno, Senior Technician, Office of Strategy-Donostia City Council
Judith Moreno is technical assistance to the management of the Strategic Planning Office of Donostia/San Sebastián. She deals with the drafting and management of the strategic plan, and also works on the implementation and coordination of projects related to the current Strategic plan E2030DSS. She is in charge of research studies, basic indicators, monitoring and evaluation of the city's E2030 Strategy.
Previously, she worked as a senior technician in the same Strategic Planning Office and as a researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid-UAM. She holds a doctorate in Geography, a bachelor's degree in History and Geography, as well as postgraduate studies in Urban and Environmental Planning; Local Development & Social Economy and Strategic Management of Cities, and more recent additional training in sustainability or the development of the Agenda2030-SDGs.
Professor / ARSINOE Coordinator, University of Thessaly
Chrysi Laspidou, Professor / ARSINOE Coordinator, University of Thessaly
Chrysi Laspidou is a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly in Greece. She is the Vice-President of Research and Technology at Water Europe and a member of the Steering Committee of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Knowledge Action Network at Future Earth. She is the Chair of the COST Action NEXUSNET and the coordinator of the H2020 project ARSINOE. She has spent 15 years in the USA, where she conducted all her studies and obtained her degrees from reputable institutions. She has published over 70 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings and her work is widely recognized with currently over 3380 citations, according to Google Scholar.
Senior Researcher, E3Modelling
Zoi Vrontisi, Senior Researcher, E3Modelling
Zoi Vrontisi has more than 15 years of professional and academic experience in energy and climate policy and climate risk assessment. She contributes as a senior researcher and project coordinator for several EU funded research projects focusing on the interlinkages between sustainable development and climate policy, the socioeconomic implications of climate risks, and just transition issues. She has a strong know-how in quantitative economic assessments with the application of sophisticated modelling tools, such as the large-scale CGE GEM-E3 model. In addition to her experience in E3-Modelling, she has worked for the European Commission (JRC), the Greek Ministry of Development, research institutes (E3MLab, NTUA) and the private sector. She was a member of the BoD of the Independent Power Transmission Operator of Greece and the Chairwoman of the National Center for the Environment and Sustainable Development of Greece. Zoi holds an Electrical and Computer Engineering 5-year degree from NTUA and a M.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Energy Policy from Imperial College and regularly publishes her research in high impact journals.
Moderator
Officer, Sustainable Resources Climate and Resilience, ICLEI EUROPE
Carme Machi Castaner, Officer, Sustainable Resources and Climate and Resilience, ICLEI EUROPE
Carme Machi Castaner is an ICLEI Europe Officer in Resilient Water Infrastructures since beginning of 2022, acting in targeted advice on green & blue solutions, analysis and application of methodologies, project development, international water experts’ partnerships in projects. Previously, she worked as a Specialist in Green Infrastructure at Typsa Engineering in Lima (Perú), for the Peruvian’s Authority coastal watershed restoration programs, collaborating in several projects in Brazil, highlighting consultancy service with Toyota Foundation of Brazil on nature-based strategies (nbs) for sanitation and local stream restoration, and Fluxus Ecological Design company, to conduct storm-water modelling and Green Stormwater Infrastructure design, and collaborating in the North Lakes Program co-founded by the World Bank for a lakes systems restoration in north-east Brazil.
She holds a Masters in Architecture Engineering, Post-Graduate Master in Urbanism and Strategic Planning (EMU), and PhD in Environmental Sciences, with one-year research at Cornell University in the United States. She is a native Spanish and Catalan speaker, fluent in English and Portuguese, intermediate in French and Italian.
Associate Adviser to WWF-UK, Senior Research Fellow at ECI, and founding Partner of Sayers and Partners LLP
Paul Sayers, Associate Adviser to WWF-UK, Senior Research Fellow at ECI, and founding Partner of Sayers and Partners LLP
Paul is a Chartered Engineer and a Partner at Sayers and Partners (SPL), a leading applied research consultancy specialising in the strategic management of the water environment and its associated risks and opportunities. Paul has over thirty years national and international experience in all aspects of flood and coastal risk management from real time forecasting and warning to long term climate adaptation (including the seminal Foresight Future Flooding studies early 2000 and the most recent UK Climate Change Risk Assessment flood projections). Paul’s international experience covers Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and North and South America, including extensive collaborations with WWF and the UK Space Agency on strategic (including Nature-based Solutions) in Asia, Africa and India.