This is according to new research and a metropolitan climate change adaptation plan recently unveiled at an internat-ional conference in Portugal.


According to newspaper Público, which attended the presentation of the Metropolitan Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (PMAAC- AML), Almada, more specifically the section between Cova do Vapor and Fonte da Telha is likely to be the hardest hit by extreme wind phenomena.


According to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), wild fires, flash flooding, rising sea levels, storms and high winds are some of the expected consequences of climate change, of which Portugal could bear the brunt as it barrels in from the Atlantic.


To counter the threat, the APA recommends reinforcing sand dune belts with the artificial replenishment ofsand, and that the campsites along the Caparica coast are moved further away from the shoreline.

“Portugal is now on the tornado map”, APA president Nuno Lacasta affirmed, adding this illustrates the situation of the country in face of ongoing climate change, and summarises the scenario for the coming years, as outlined by the Metropolitan Plan.


“We are not catastrophising, but trying to increase people’s awareness”, Mr Lacasta told the newspaper.


“Nowadays we experience massive gusts and storms tear across mainland Portugal; it is no longer just the Azores that experience hurricanes” he explained, recalling the last incident that recently “caused more than 50 million euros in damage” in Figueira da Foz.


According to the metropolitan plan presented last Wednesday, the 18 municipalities that comprise Metropolitan Lisbon (AML) need to start defining concrete adaptation measures, because medium- and long-term climate scenarios indicate that they will suffer the severest damage from climate change.

Between the years 2041 and 2100, forecasts are for a “gradual and very significant increase” in average air temperature, “more frequent and intense” heat waves, a “significant increase” in the frequency of summery days and tropical nights, and annual precipitation will be concentrated into shorter time periods, but will fall with greater intensity, the plan suggested.


Sérgio Barroso, coordinator of the PMAAC-AML plan, reiterated that the AML zone most affected by climate change will be the municipality of Almada, and described the section between Cova do Vapor and Fonte da Telha as “brutally critical”.