Investment in hydrotechnical facilities are necessary and I hope that on Wednesday, at a government meeting, I will put forth a decision under which the restoration of all the riverbeds affected by floods can be financed, Romania’s Minister of the Environment, Watercourses and Forestry Mircea Fechet told the Climate Change Summit event on Tuesday.

„From time to time we have to identify solutions to mitigate the impact of the climate change. We will not be able to somehow stop these weather phenomena from happening again, because they will happen (…) Today, I sent an official info to each town hall affected by the floods, in Galati County and in Vaslui County, reminding them that we have money for afforestation. There is money available from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and we have asked them, as we did in the past, to approve a measure to forest those areas that could mitigate a future flood or flood in an area, understanding that that does not fully solve the problem. Investment in hydrotechnical facilities is needed. We are talking about considerable amounts of money to be directed to those areas. I hope that, on Wednesday [October 16, 2024] I will show up for the government meeting with a decision that will solve some of these problems, in that the reconstruction of all the clogged beds of the affected watercourses that need recalibration works of the riverbed section or unclogging, will be financed,” Fechet said.

He added that climate change affects each of us, regardless of whether we live in Bucharest or in an isolated mountain village in Romania.

„The thing we focus on the most is how we adapt to these climate changes, because one thing is certain: the frequency of such extreme weather events and their intensity can only increase in the future. Everyone also feels personally what it is like to stay without water during the hot season, sometimes for weeks, just as, unfortunately, many of Romania’s counties have already been affected by floods. The latest tragedies that happened in Galati County and Vaslui County demonstrate that where you have the biggest problems with water, in the sense that it is lacking, and the Prut-Barlad hydrographic basin is the most affected in terms of the degree of filling of the lakes, the most affected in terms of drought (…) There is no longer any doubt: climate change is already affecting each of us, regardless of whether we live in the middle of Bucharest or in an isolated mountain village in Romania and we are compelled together with local administrations, government bodies and the people, of course, to find solutions to adapt.”

The green transition, renewable energies, public policies and ESG are among the most important issues tackled at the Climate Change Summit event, organised between October 15-17 in Bucharest.

The debates in Bucharest bring together leaders from various fields, from biodiversity and circular economy, to public policies and natural resource management, to create a space for collaboration and action at regional and global level. Dozens of international experts and opinion leaders from various fields will debate essential topics, such as: financing the energy transition, the crucial role of technological innovations for sustainable cities, the importance of intersectoral collaboration between governments, the private sector and civil society, as well as public policies needed to combat climate change at global level.

During the summit, related events are scheduled in over 30 locations in Bucharest and elsewhere in the region.

The AGERPRES National News Agency is a media partner of the Climate Change Summit 2024, an event organised by Social Innovation Solutions together with BRD Groupe Societe Generale, as a founding partner.

The mission of Social Innovation Solutions (SIS) is to support individuals and organisations to understand the transformations of the future and to develop sustainable technology, public policy and entrepreneurial solutions.

SIS carries out several sustainability education programmes in Romania and in three countries in Central and Eastern Europe, working with over 15,000 SMEs and NGOs in Sustainability Academy, Transformer and Sustainability Hub programmes.

AGERPRES