The Embassy of Cyprus and Casa Mediterráneo co-organized the Climate Resilience Forum last Friday, June 19, in Alicante, an initiative framed within the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union and its priorities regarding the environment and risk management.
The event brought together delegations from 15 embassies (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Slovenia, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania) and key actors from the Mediterranean region to address common challenges posed by climate change and strengthen cooperation in risk governance, civil protection, and climate resilience.
One of the main topics of discussion was the creation of the Cyprus Regional Aerial Firefighting Station, considered the first tangible result of the Pact for the Mediterranean. The full implementation of the Pact is one of the main priorities of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The institutional opening was led by Andrés Perelló, director general of Casa Mediterráneo; Elena Rodríguez, director general of Integration and Coordination of General EU Affairs at MAEC; and the ambassador of Cyprus, Michalis Ioannou.
The plenary session featured interventions from Joan Borrell (Union for the Mediterranean), Prof. George Boustras (CRAFS – Cyprus Regional Aerial Firefighting Station, remote participation) and Octavi Quintana (PRIMA Foundation), who analyzed environmental threats in the Mediterranean basin and the joint responses needed to address them. Also participating were Raúl Mérida, commissioner for Recovery in the Catalan Government, and Javier Valenzuela, from the SG of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, who provided their regional and state perspectives respectively. The official closing was led by Juan Lugo, ambassador on a special mission for the Mediterranean.
In the afternoon, participants visited the Mutxamel Aerodrome to learn on-site about aerial response and fire coordination, from where aircraft of the European Civil Protection Mechanism operate.
During the visit, the authorities learned about the extinguishing protocols and the high-precision fleet of the company. The activity served to demonstrate how institutional cooperation, technology, and operational resources translate on the ground into a coordinated response to high-impact fires.
