NEWS & EVENTS : FORUMS CLIMATLANTIC
Viana do Castelo hosted the 2nd Forum of the Sea
03.27.2014
Viana do Castelo hosted this Tuesday, March 25th, the 2014 Climatlantic Maritime Forum under the title "Transforming the sea economy in the engine for a new growth paradigm for cities". There fifty experts, businessmen, representatives of the Governments of Portugal and Galicia presented their points of view on logistics and maritime transport in the search for solutions and initiatives with the sea as a central element.
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The meeting had as an element of central debate: the ports and the Global Cities and the major challenges that were developed in 3 sections: Attractiveness, Integration sea-territory and Maritime Dimension
The presentation of the event was conducted by Maria Luisa Cid, Deputy Mayor of A Coruña in representation of the Mayor of A Coruña and President of Eixo Atlántico, and João Fonseca Ribeiro, General Director of Maritime Affairs of Portugal.
The first of the three sections, "Attractiveness", was presented by João Fonseca Ribeiro, who after a brief description of the "National sea strategy 2013-2020", where it has to be highlighted the incorporation of the concept of 'Blue growth' as a responsible use of marine resources, gave way to Fernando González Laxe, of the Institute of Maritime Studies of the University of A Coruña, who explained the new role of the port cities and the new challenges they face as how to give effective and competitive answer to the logistics required by the globalized trade and its consequent "containerization".
The section on "Integration sea-territory" was presented by Manuel Borobio, Director of the Institute of Territory Studies of the Xunta de Galicia. Luis Gabiola, Director of Commercial and Logistics Operations of the Bilbao Port Authority, showed as Bilbao and its port have changed over the course of these past centuries and especially since the nineties. He showed the way in which the port interacts with and integrates into the life of the city without losing its industrial character. Emilio Brogueira Dias, President of Rete (Association for collaboration between Ports and Cities), described the "umbilical relationship" that connects the port of Leixões with its town, Porto.
Finally Dominique Breuil, from Research EIGSI La Rochelle, presented the paragraph “Maritime Dimension” taking as example the port of La Rochelle and analyzing how the energies coming from the sea have to be made profitable respecting always the environment. Afterwards Raquel Caetano Ferreira, of the Angra do Heroismo City Council, Region of Azores, showed the excellence and the maritime resources of the Azores Islands, and to end, Manuel Matoses, of the Urban Planning Area of the Algeciras Bay Port Authority, spoke and highlighted the role of the sea as a “link and fundamental piece in the evolution of cultures”
In the closing event there were José Maria Costa, President of the Municipal Chamber of Viana do Castelo and Manuel Pinto de Abreu, State Secretary of the Sea, Portugal Government
Background Information
Climatlantic project is co-funded by INTERREG ATLANTIC AREA Programme. The overall aim of the “Climatlantic” project is to foster development of regional and local strategies aimed at reducing the carbon footprint in the European Atlantic Area. A Common Atlantic Strategy for Sustainable Urban Development and Reduction of Carbon Footprint has been developed by the project partners based on the work of Think-Tanks established around four thematic pillars/areas – mobility, energy, territorial management and social behaviour.
The Strategy identifies seven priorities that need addressing in the quest for sustainable urban development and carbon footprint reduction.
In parallel with the development of the common strategy, projects partners worked on a series of pilot demonstration actions to validate the priorities of the Strategy.
Finally, project partners are organizing different seminars and forums on the identified key areas for development of the Atlantic Area, being the sea dimension and the Maritime Forum one of them.
