On the 4th of February, Venice, partner of the LIFE Veneto ADAPT project, had its second twinning meeting, this time with the cities of Lisbon and Saldus, also selected for the “Call for Twinning”.
Representing Venice were the Project Manager and Head of the Environment and Civil Protection Department Massimo Gattolin and representative of the Environment Department Davide Lionello, who described to participants the most important support mechanisms in place for the 44 councils of the Venetian locality defined within the LIFE project.
For the Council of Lisbon, Maria Telhado, the head of the Environment and Energy Department took part, whereas for the Council of Saldus there was Energy Manager Edgars Augustiņš and Representative for International Cooperation Lana Radčenko. The call also saw Michele Zuin and Valeria Baruzzi of Coordination of Italian Local Agenda 21 in attendance, who outlined the aims of the Veneto ADAPT project. Moderating the online meeting was Alberto Rigon of the Comune di Vicenza, representative of the twinning project.
Lisbon, Saldus and Venice took turns to describe the state of progress in their actions and plans in terms of the mitigation and adaptation to climate change and the ways they are handling horizontal governance – between institutions on the same level – as well as vertical – between institutions on higher levels.
The meeting highlighted the similarities and differences between the different institutions and the strategic elements of common interest for the second meeting, expected to take place in spring, for their agreed priorities: involving citizens in multi-level governance to define policies in the fight against climate change, implementing measures for the mitigation/energy efficiency of public buildings, planning and implementing measures of adaptation against flooding/costal storms and defining key indicators and ways for intersectoral action.
