Teresa Ribera Calls For Immediate Change In Spain After Natural Disasters

Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, has called for every country to have weather alert systems by 2027 after a summer of natural disasters all over the world.

The summer of 2024 has been one of turmoil and distress for millions across the world as rising temperatures have seen natural disasters consume many people’s homes and livelihoods and left communities devastated.

No region of the world appears to have been safe this year with disasters happening all over including floods in Libyia, Greece and Spain, all the way to Hawaii and Canada where wildfires spread at alarming speeds.

These worrying events have made a lot of people stand up and take notice of both climate change and how we can help prevent anything like this from happening in the future, or at the very least, prevent as many people as possible from losing their lives.

Ribera has taken stock of what’s happened around the world and in Spain itself this summer, by calling for all countries to have alert systems in place and these would allow people to have notice of what is coming and allow them to evacuate or just prepare for what is coming the best way they could.

Ribera Calls For Immediate Worldwide Change

Speaking to The Guardian ahead of the UN’s climate ambition summit and sign a landmark treaty project the high seas.

She said: “[The] commitment for early warning systems in every country before 2027 is key after what we’ve seen in many parts of the world – even in rich countries that have a high level of institutional development, such as the US, Hawaii or Canada, where cities have had to be evacuated.

“Or look at what’s happened in Greece recently, or what happened in Madrid two weeks ago. You also have what’s happened in Libya and in other countries that have less institutional capacity.

Natural Disasters Have Rocked The World

“It’s obvious that that’s all had a very big impact on people’s lives and on the capacity to produce development or economic activity.”

When cruel storms and torrential rain hit the Madrid region in September, the residents were alerted to the emergency by a loud and booming alarm and a text message, informing them all to stay indoors, it was the first time such a method had been used.

This simple method potentially saved people from losing their lives, and as a result, similar should be placed all around the world, no matter the economic situation, although the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine makes things much more difficult.