Gil Pessanha Penha-Lopes

University of Lisbon | UL · Faculty of Science

In Mediterranean climate regions, climate change is increasing aridity and contributing to the mortality rate of Quercus suber, reducing the success of reforestation efforts. Using and creating microclimates is a recommended climate adaptation strategy that needs research. Our hypothesis is that planting Q. suber in north-facing slopes and water li...

This paper explores the actual and potential contributions of community‐led initiatives (CLIs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As examples of self‐determined practical action for sustainability and social justice, CLIs prefigure many of the intended outcomes of the SDGs. Existing evidence shows that CLIs are already contributing, at lo...

Money is critical for a regenerative future. Transforming it is an unavoidable social, political, and economic endeavor that must be a global priority if we are to prevent future financial crises, reduce economic inequality and adhere to our climate agreements and sustainability goals. For this transition to occur, we urgently need new economic and...

The increased exposure to coastal flooding in low-lying coastal areas is one of the consequences of sea-level rise (SLR) induced by climate changes. The coastal zone of Guinea-Bissau contains significant areas of low elevation and is home to most of the population and economic activity, making it already vulnerable to coastal flooding, especially d...

Bangladesh is as a low-lying country, susceptible to various Sea Level Rise (SLR) induced impacts. Previous studies have separately explored SLR effects on Bangladesh's coastal ecosystems and livelihoods, across multiple spatial and temporal scales. However, empirical studies acknowledging local population's perceptions on the causal factors to dif...

This thesis aims to give voice to land-users to co-design future landscapes. This research questions the existence of patterns of preferences and opportunities and of points of collaboration which foster or hinder social-ecological systems’ adaptation to climate change. Understanding these patterns can highlight and enhance processes of activating...

Cities play a key role in responding to the great challenges of our time, but increasing poverty and inequality are putting the resilience of European cities to the test. UrbanA is a 3-year H2020 project led by a consortium of seven partners, including FCUL. It seeks to synthesize knowledge, empower participants, facilitate interactions and influen...

*** Poster submission for Ecocity World Summit - https://ecocity-summit.com/ ** ABSTRACT: Shifting from sustainable to regenerative practice combats climate breakdown, while increasing social wellbeing for all humanity. This work explores the role of urban transitions in catalysing a regenerative world, where community-led ecocities are the goal of...

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a nature-based solution that has gained importance in the context of international climate policy, such as in the EU Adaptation Strategy (2013), which explicitly encourages its adoption and which should continue in The European Green Deal. This study aims to analyze how the EbA concept has been adopted in strateg...

Adaptation Pathways is a decision support tool designed to create adaptation policies under different climate change scenarios. This tool has been used successfully in several sectors and contexts such as coastal and river adaptation, urban heat waves, floods and rural livelihoods but its use in natural resource management, has faced several challe...

In the beginning of 2020, it looked like serious climate action was finally going to take place after decades of procrastination, but we are now inevitably leaving the transformation path. Abruptly (and remarkably), the coronavirus outbreak silenced ongoing efforts to protect climate, while also partly bringing carbon emissions to a halt. A global...

This article suggests that to adequately tackle climate breakdown, urban planning needs to move beyond sustainability to incorporate regenerative development frameworks. Key to this is activating and increasing citizen participation in a fractal-like, multi scaled, community-led, bottom up planning process, where active citizens design, construct a...

Planning the adaptation of agriculture and forestry landscapes to climate change remains challenging due to the need for integrating substantial amounts of information. This information ranges from climate scenarios, geographical site information, socio-economic data and several possible adaptation measures. Thus, there is an urgent need to have a...

The social solidarity economy is an approach to the production and consumption of goods, services and knowledge that promises to address contemporary economic, social and environmental crises more effectively than business as usual. The paper employs the concept of commons ecologies to examine the practices, relationships and interactions among act...

Numa época em que as alterações climáticas ganharam relevância e causaram níveis de apreensão social sem precedentes, o objetivo do projeto ClimAdaPT.Local valorizou a integração da dimensão climática nos processos municipais de planeamento. Com base num inquérito por questionário aplicado em três rondas consecutivas, este artigo centra-se nas resp...

Coastal flooding (CF), enhanced by climate change, is one of the most significant impacts of sea level rise (SLR). Bissau city, home to ~25% of Guinea-Bissau population is already affected by CF due to tides and storms. It is anticipated that the situation will deteriorate in coming decades with the expected scenarios of SLR. This article evaluated...

From a systemic perspective, evolution and natural succession promote the creation of efficient biological structures and processes that capture and dissipate the solar energy, maximizing the entropy production. This ecological complexification results in better ecosystem thermodynamic performance indicated by lower temperature. In a brief period o...

In the beginning of 2020, it looked like serious climate action was finally going to take place after decades of procrastination, but we are now inevitably leaving the transformation path. Abruptly (and remarkably), the coronavirus outbreak almost silenced all ongoing efforts to protect climate, while also bringing carbon emissions to a halt. A glo...

Southern European countries face a panorama of rural landscape abandonment, ageing rural population and lack of opportunities for vibrant rural lifestyles. This lead the way for over-exploitative monocultural practices and widespread abandonment of traditional land management practices, intensifying the degradation of rural landscapes, suffering al...

The complexity of the sustainability challenge demands for collaboration between different actors, be they governments, businesses, or grassroots movements, at all levels. Nevertheless, and according to previous research, many tensions and obstacles to partnership still exist and results are far from meaningful. By investigating potential synergies...

This paper examines how community-led initiatives are deploying social solidarity economy in distinctive ways as a vehicle for local action consistent with delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. It employs the concept of commons ecologies to capture how such activities restructure relationships and interactions among SSE actors and organisa...

The UN Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (herein, Agenda 30) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer both a set of aspirations for the kind of future we would like to see for the world and a suite of targets and indicators to support goal implementation. Goal 4 promotes quality education and Target 4.7 s...

Presenting the state of the art of knowledge on community-led action on sustainability and climate change in Europe, by the ECOLISE meta-network of European community-led initiatives

Coastal areas in Bangladesh undergo different morphological changes not only just by the climate change induced different disasters and sea level rise but also human induced changes. Furthermore, being situated in tropical area, the country receives lot of rain during the monsoon period. This study has been conducted in two coastal unions namely Ba...

This essay aims at a contextualization and systematization of current alternative monetary narratives, experiments and movements (AMNEs), in search of the actions, collaborations and synergies that could provide the most effective pathways to transitioning the current dominant monetary system towards a more resilient and sustainable paradigm. Using...

This article draws from a pilot case of climate change adaptation in the city of Cascais, Portugal, to explore how a systemic account of the different perceptions on climate change risks and adaptation priorities can influence the design and implementation of robust and long-term climate adaptation strategies. Framed by the Multi-actor Perspective,...

Global urbanization leads to the loss of periurban farming land and increases dependency on distant agriculture systems. This provokes greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation and storage while disconnecting nutrient cycles, as urban organic waste is not recycled into the agricultural system. Urban food production based on composted...

Drylands are very susceptible to the effects of climate change due to water stress. One possible climate change adaptation measure is the construction of lakes to increase water availability for drinking and irrigation (food production) and decrease fire risk. These lakes can also increase local biodiversity and human well-being. However, other non...

Europe's climate change vulnerability pushes for initiatives such as the European Adaptation Strategy and the associated Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. What are the triggers and barriers, for which sectors and for which risks and how is adaptation funded? This paper examines 147 Local Adaptation Strategies in Europe. Key triggers were i...

This commentary relates findings reported in this collection to personal and collective experiences within ECOLISE, a unique experiment in creating a common platform for networking, collaboration, learning and policy influence representing multiple national and international networks of CBIs. The establishment of ECOLISE has raised numerous challen...

The case study research developed over the past 4 years (2012-2016) has provided a significant contribution to our knowledge regarding climate change adaptation at the local level in Europe, and across the world. By case study we refer to empirical analysis of climate change adaptation in real life contexts (Yin, 1994). Europe is equally a supra ca...

Adaptation pathways are developed to design adaptive policies to handle climate change uncertainty. Use of this tool varies across planning practices and adaptation challenges and adjusting the tool to particular practices can foster its adequate use. To gain insight into the use of adaptation pathways, we compared four initiatives (one each in Por...

A new methodology of climate change adaptation planning, integrating a strong dynamic and participatory component, was developed and tested in one of the most vulnerable coastal zones in Portugal (coastal stretch Barra-Areão, in the municipalities of Ílhavo and Vagos). The method, designated SWAP - Scenario Workshop & Adaptation Pathways, consists...

From April 2016 to January 2017, twelve pilot courses using the Evoneers’ Journey (EJ) Pattern Language Curriculum (PLC) developed as part of the SIRCle project took place in six European countries – Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The trainings involved 208 participants, 18 trainers and eight partner organisatio...

Resilience, Community Action and Societal Transformation is a unique collection bridging research, theory and practical action to create more resilient societies. It includes accounts from people and organisations at the front line of efforts to build community resilience, cutting edge theory and analysis from engaged scholar-activists, and commen...

This paper addresses the existence of a growth imperative within the design of our current monetary and financial systems, and thus as a key building block of our growth-addicted economies. It is concluded that the current fractional reserve system of privately created debt with positive and fluctuant interest rates, with a single dominant currency...

This book is inspired by the positive feedback received by the Adaptation Inspiration Book developed in CIRCLE-2, coordinated by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. This inspiration book is a culmination of four years extensive case study research carried out within the EU FP7 Project BASE: Bottom-up climate adaptation strategies towards...

Climate adaptation plan to the agriculture and forestry of the municipality of Mertola, in the southeast of Portugal. The plan was developed with a participary approach using SWAP methodology and was signed in a joint declaration by the president of the Municipality of Mertola Jorge Rosa, the president of the Natural Park, Pedro Rocha, the presiden...

This article describes a climate change adaptation planning process triggered by a group of researchers and stakeholders in a context where no collective responses or long-term plans for protecting a vulnerable coastal system had been initiated, despite local perceptions of vulnerability and risk. The case study shows the application of two methods...

National adaptation strategies (NAS's) are widely accepted as appropriate tools for countries to assess climate change vulnerabilities, mainstream climate risks, and address the issue of climate adaptation.  EU Member States differ widely in their progress in designing and implementing NAS's in their own territories, and valuable insights can be l...

Download article here: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss1/art13/ Abstract: Climate change may be a game-changer for scientific research by promoting a science that is grounded in linking the production of knowledge and societal action in a transition toward more sustainable development pathways. Here, we discuss participatory action-resear...

http://redeconvergir.net/public/catalise-guia-praticas-web.pdf

http://redeconvergir.net/public/catalise-caderno-recomendacoes-web.pdf

Anchored by a case study research, the paper asks whether rural socially innovative initiatives in Portugal can be considered sources of adaptability and increased resilience to land abandonment and land degradation in a vulnerable region to climatic changes. The article retells a systematization of experiences of a grassroots innovation in the Ale...

Permaculture is a design system for sustainable human habitats and basis of a worldwide citizen-led movement present in over 100 countries. For decades, permaculture practitioners have devised creative responses to changes in local climatic conditions. In doing so, they have developed a collective knowledge and experience invaluable to global effo...

Permaculture is a design system for sustainable human habitats and basis of a worldwide citizen-led movement present in over 100 countries. For decades, permaculture practitioners have devised creative responses to changes in local climatic conditions. In doing so, they have developed a collective knowledge and experience invaluable to global effo...

No âmbito do projeto de investigação Europeu BASE – Bottom Up Adaptation Strategies towards a sustainable Europe, foi aplicada ao troço costeiro Barra-Areão, nos municípios de Ílhavo e Vagos, uma nova metodologia de planeamento dinâmico e participado da adaptação costeira às alterações climáticas. O método consiste em juntar as partes interessadas,...

This report aims at investigating the participation process in climate change adaptation for 22 European BASE case studies. A description of participatory methods and a further analysis of 9 BASE case studies where there has been a deliberative adaptation process present are given. Based on the results presented, a set of recommendations to policy-...

All partners within the SIRCLE Project Consortium conducted a needs assessment in order to better understand the needs, expectations and aspirations of their target group regarding transformative training for social entrenpreneurship. This assessment will contribute to the Evaluation of Outcomes and feed into the design of the training namely by in...

Comparing costs and benefits of adaptation implemented by different actors 2 nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference

Between July 2013 and February 2015, BASE Portuguese team together with experts from the Municipality of Cascais conducted an economic analysis of several adaptation measure related with urban flooding for the municipality using complementary economic appraisal tools – such as MCA, PBCA, CEA - in order to prioritize, rank and assess strategies and...

As alterações climáticas têm tido enorme visibilidade nas agendas pública e política e a importância do envolvimento das populações nas estratégias de adaptação/mitigação é crescentemente reconhecida. Daí o papel atribuído aos municípios, cuja posição de proximidade os coloca numa posição privilegiada para garantir o sucesso de estratégias e progra...

O workshop Avaliação Multicritério de Medidas de Adaptação para a Agricultura e Florestas do Alentejo, organizado pelo CCIAM-CE3C-FFCUL no âmbito do projeto BASE, decorreu em 27 de Novembro de 2014 no Instituto Politécnico de Beja com agricultores, investigadores e outros agentes interessados no desenvolvimento do território alentejano e próximos d...

The aim of BASE Task 2.3 is to develop the BASE Evaluation Criteria for Climate Adaptation (BECCA). It is a framework and criteria set that can be used to evaluate the implementation of adaptation policies and measures. It is based on existing frameworks and criteria sets for evaluating climate adaptation conducted at international and EU, Member S...

Conclusions • This combination of methodologies created positive synergies between methodologies, stakeholder participation, adaptation process and pathway definitions. • Pivotal for the sucess of this research: i) Strong engagement of stakeholders, ii) recognized experts creating multicriteria and pathways, iii) experienced facilitators, iv) inten...

In the context of global concerns about climate change that stem from the alarming and unprecedented growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this study discusses the use of energy by large consumers of electricity in Brazil in the perspective of sustainable development, energy resources, and regulatory policies. It evaluates the commitment to emi...

This deliverable produces a comparative analysis of national adaptation strategies in a selected sample of EU Member States. It is split into 3 analytical parts. Part 1 explores the architecture of adaptation policy in different EU Member States through the lens of policy coordination, including knowledge sharing, and explores the tension between t...

The Participatory State of the Art on Adaptation to Climate Change in Alentejo on the Agriculture and Forestry sector was organized by FFCUL-CCIAM research group within the context of the European research project called BASE and brought together 36 researchers, experts and institutions on Agriculture and Forest and Climate Adaptation on the Alente...

Tema 1: Governança, planeamento e ordenamento das zonas costeiras Tipo de comunicação: comunicação oral Resumo As alterações climáticas vão agravar os impactos já sentidos da erosão costeira, colocando as populações que vivem junto ao mar numa situação de crescente vulnerabilidade – física, social e económica. Muitas destas comunidades costeiras, s...