Climate Sense

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overnance

and

olicy

land development and urban planning processes, where

the most elemental knowledge is ignored or misused.

The scientific community must coordinate its efforts

to improve knowledge of the climate and its evolu-

tion, as well as formulate very specific aims to improve

the numerical models and statistical techniques used

in prospective analysis. This, in turn, will result in

more accurate projections, a reduction of uncertainty

in results, and – more generally – optimized deci-

sion-making and planning processes that are more

sustainable, more harmonious with nature and adapted

to the changing climatology, as well as to the related

availability and vulnerability of natural resources. This

will enable humankind to face the climate change chal-

lenge more efficiently; with improved and specific

strategies, as well as plans for the mitigation of and adap-

tation to the impacts of climate change. Furthermore,

an even bigger effort must be made to apply and share

these improvements at the global level.

Because of its geographical location in the

Mediterranean, Spain is particularly vulnerable to

climate change. As such, it is actively participating in

a broad range of international climate change-related

initiatives including the Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC). In the European context, Spain has cooper-

ated with other Western European countries – via their

meteorological services – in initiatives such as the crea-

tion of the European Climate Support Network in 1992,

which later on became a EUMETNET programme. One

of the first tangible results of such activities was the

first report on European climate, which was presented

in Berlin during the first Conference of the Parties to

the UNFCCC.

Spanish concerns are also reflected in the coun-

try’s administrative efforts to provide capacity for the

analysis of the potential socioeconomic implications of

climate change, as well as to develop and coordinate

policies of mitigation and adaptation to minimize its

negative impacts. In 1992 the National Commission

for Climate Change was established, with the different

departments of the General Administration represented,

as well various social organizations at the national level.

Its main goal was to advise the government on the best

policies and strategies to face climate change. In partic-

ular it sought to facilitate the development – following

the recommendations of the World Meteorological

Organization – of a National Programme on Climate,

integrating all government actions related to climate

and climate change.

One of the first actions of the commission was to

establish a focus on climate as part of the national

research and development plan for the years 1996-1999.

The aim was to improve knowledge of the climate and

its future evolution in order to reduce existing incerti-

tude regarding how, when and to what extent climate

change will affect Spain. Such programmes have piqued

the national scientific community’s interest in different

resources. This does not mean it must become ‘less developed’ or

with a lower quality of life, but rather that it should approach devel-

opment in a different, more efficient manner. The world must also

unite in helping the developing countries to embrace the sustainable

use of resources while improving substantially the quality of life to

converge with the developed world.

The question is – why not transform this reactive attitude to

environmental challenges into a more proactive one, and thereby

transform this global challenge into a real opportunity? In doing so

we could transform it from climate change to a ‘climax for change’

and genuinely hope to face the urgent call for a sustainable solu-

tion to the impending environmental and economic crisis.

It is evident that we must ‘rethink everything’ by applying a new

and different logic akin to Einstein’s idea that: “We can’t solve prob-

lems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created

them.” As such, the UN Conferences of Rio and Johannesburg (at a

global level) and the Lisbon Treaty, the Socioeconomic Agenda and

the Sustainable Development Strategy (at a European level) have

demonstrated that the only logical approach to providing simultane-

ously for economic wealth, improved social cohesion and welfare,

and enhanced natural resources is one of sustainability.

The good news is that we have the means to make the processes

of development and globalization more sustainable. The bad news is,

that the purpose to do so is lacking. This fact is manifest in the current

lack of development of the necessary conditions for change, including

the sharing of access to the best available knowledge.

We must make greater efforts to share knowledge of meteorology

and climate sciences by extending cooperation and networking, as

well as by demonstrating the best ways to use such knowledge in

the planning and decision-making processes – as ultimately sustain-

able development is a ‘development based on knowledge’. Currently

unsustainable projects continue to put knowledge aside in favour

of short-term and in most cases abusive and speculative economic

interests. This attitude transfers significant costs to the rest of the

society now and in the future. This is particularly the case of many

Izaña Atmospheric Research Center

Source: AEMET