The Regional Programme for Climate Change (PRAC), already published in the Official Gazette, comes into force today.
As a sectoral spatial planning programme, the PRAC is high strategic importance. The Azores are the only region in the country that considers this programme a territorial management tool enforceable to all public entities, demonstrating the Regional Government's ambition to combat the causes and effects of climate change.
Moreover, it contributes to enhancing the capacity of public entities and their managers in the adaptation, prevention, detection and fight against the effects of climate change. This will be achieved through the effective use of updated knowledge and data on the impact of these changes, namely regarding territorial planning and management, as well as on the mitigation of natural hazards.
This legal document intends to implement the Regional Strategy for Climate Change, created in 2011, which will mainly focus on two aspects: mitigation and adaptation.
In terms of mitigation, the PRAC provides for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, invest in decarbonisation and boost the efficiency of the economy, making it less dependent on external energy resources.
In terms of adaptation, the programme implements measures to protect property, resources and people and improve the resilience to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the interaction with other pressures, particularly socioeconomic, legislative and economic.
Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges that humankind is facing in the 21st century. Its impacts could reverse decades of development with particularly serious effects on island and dispersed territories, and for that reason the entry into force of PRAC evidences the Regional Government's commitment to this area.