The increasingly pressing effects of climate change are already forcing the creation of new mechanisms to protect the Spanish population. Global warming not only has consequences on health or the environment, but it also has a considerable impact on the social situation of people, as demonstrated by the super destructive DANA that hit Valencia and Albacete ago three weeks. The Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, announced a social protection plan for situations that will now be more frequent, according to scientific consensus.
It will have three parts, it was put forward during an intervention at the Joint Commission for the coordination and monitoring of the Spanish strategy to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): an analysis and diagnosis of the way whose climate change affects situations of vulnerability, a strengthening of social services to deal with situations such as that caused by DANA, and the integration of social protection measures in State actions against climate change.
“Global warming aggravates structural inequalities and with this plan, we will provide a social response to this challenge,” declared the minister. Two examples are enough, sketched by Bustinduy. Nearly half of the people killed by DANA were over 70 years old, even though they represent only 15% of the population of the 28 affected municipalities. Furthermore, among the more than 700 municipalities at risk of river flooding in Spain, 42% have a rate of population exposed to a risk of extreme poverty higher than the national average.
The government has deployed an aid plan of nearly 15 billion euros to finance the reconstruction of housing and support businesses, self-employed people and municipalities affected by DANA. This “shield” includes the transfer of 50 million euros to municipalities to strengthen their social services in order to deal with situations of “sudden poverty” expected after the floods, according to the Ministry of Social Rights.
A direct grant of five million euros was also allocated to the Third Sector Platform, which brings together 28,000 entities in Spain, many of which work on the ground; 700,000 euros for the General Council of Social Work and its State Intervention Group in the event of a social emergency; and another 490,000 for entities that care for lost or abandoned animals whose infrastructure has been damaged.
