When my friend and colleague Gianmario and I visited the flooded territories in September 2022, in the Marche region of Italy, the testimony of many of the directly affected people was as follows: During the summer "we burn," in the fall we are underwater, and our lands are increasingly empty of their people.

This is the mantra that pervades the news throughout Southern Europe, and Portugal is no exception.

Portugal spends, on repairing damages caused by weather events, according to European statistics (https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/economic-damage-caused-by-weather#tab-chart_2), more than 336 million euros per year, on average. The cost per inhabitant is 32 euros, and the cost per square kilometer is over 3500 euros. The same analysis shows that insurance coverage is less than 5%. And so taxpayers pay. The climate is changing, and it is costing us more and more, with 230 lives lost each year in Portugal.

However, there is much that can be done to address this issue. Managing rivers as a system allows for the creation of groundwater recharge areas, biodiversity areas, material production, and at the same time, creating tourist routes. Creating small ponds, integrated with water networks, not only allows water accumulation but also enables energy production. Water can accumulate in small attached reservoirs. When renewable sources produce excess energy, water is pumped into the reservoirs at higher altitudes. When energy is needed, the water, which is in the upper reservoirs, through falling in the pipes that couple the different reservoirs, spins a turbine, thus producing electrical energy. Microturbines can be inserted into pipes, producing electricity or mechanical energy, without harming ecosystems, and the same can also be done in aqueducts. River expansion zones can be designed as phytodepuration basins and simultaneously produce raw materials such as hemp for beer and fabric production, rice, and aromatic herbs.

Everything should be transformed into income, wrote Bill Mollison, the father of Permaculture (which is a method for designing stable, balanced, self-sufficient agricultural systems capable of enduring over time).

To reduce the risk of fire, firebreaks can be created, managed by shepherds, who use them as pastures, which would encourage increased grazing. Goat yogurt has high added value, and a herd of 150 goats is enough to sustain a family. The model would allow for the creation of a network of cheesemakers, thus generating additional income and simultaneously reducing fire risks.

This climate change adaptation strategy is also a strategy for mitigating its effects: it is based on the increase of plant species, which, in order to live, capture carbon dioxide.

* Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and External Professor of Environmental Systems and Biomimetics at IUAV University of Venice