HEATSAFE directly tackles the need to adapt against climate change adverse effects in the whole Mediterranean area. The intensity of heatwaves is amplified in urban areas by factors such as the configuration of the city, the lack of vegetation or the materials of urbanized surfaces, so the strategy to mitigate their effects must be designed specifically for each territory. Sociodemographic conditions must also be considered, as significant correlation between exposure to extreme heat and socioeconomic vulnerability has been shown, leading to nearly double the mortality risk in some deprived districts. This local complex planning cannot be addressed without a clear methodology. In this sense, HEATSAFE will address the most suitable ways to adapt these territories to these effects by developing key activities in Spain, Italy. Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, and with the aim of replicating project approach in the whole Mediterranean area. HEATSAFE will improve the prevention, mitigation and management of risks arising from increased frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heatwaves in the Mediterranean basin through the co-development of local action plans and the implementation of demonstrative pilot actions; complemented by a long-term strategy and opensource tools to establish heat vulnerability maps across the MED area.

General Objectives

The project contributes to the Programme priority specific objective RSO2.4: Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience, taking into account eco-system based approaches. The project overall objective is to improve the prevention, mitigation and management of risks arising from climate change and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heatwaves in the Mediterranean through the co-design of local action plans and the implementation of demonstrative pilot actions, which will set the base for the development of open-source tools to assess heat vulnerability and of a long-term strategy that will establish the path for the whole MED area.