The School of Engineering of the University of Navarra has hosted a roundtable in order to put climate change in the agenda and reflect with experts in this field. Leire Labaka, professor at the School of Engineering and moderator of colloquium, started by announcing the new line of research of Tecnun on the catastrophic consequences of Pandemics and Epidemics.

"In 2020 we will focus on the health aspect and its prevention measures. We will define the factors that facilitate the spread of the virus, as well as the indicators that measure the impact of the crisis," explained Labaka. Specifically, as he explained, the department Industrial Organization of Tecnun will start the study on the Coronavirus.

The colloquium was attended by the President of the Disaster Observatory and Director General of the Aon Foundation Spain, Pedro Tomey; Josu Benaito, Director of Health and Environment of the City Council of San Sebastian; Marta Olazabal, researcher at BC3, the Basque Center for Climate Change and Mari Luz Gomez, technician and head of various projects in IHOBE-Basque Government, and part of the Climate Action team giving impetus to the Climate Change Strategy 2050 of the Basque Country.

The roundtable is part of the Chair of Catastrophes that the Aon Foundation maintains with Tecnun and the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. The Chair is a pioneering initiative in Europe whose aim is to structure and systematically develop the research and study of catastrophes, as goal has done. Pedro Tomey emphasized this, referring to it as "a great step forward in the interest of promoting research on catastrophes, systematizing and disseminating knowledge and contributing to the creation of a network of highly qualified and experienced professionals who can contribute their knowledge in the service of prevention, response and mobilization in crisis situations caused by natural or environmental phenomena that are difficult to control".  

"From the Basque Government we have a strategy, a route that we will have to keep updating, but what is certain is that we will need the commitment of the whole society", explained Mari Luz Gómez. For her part, Marta Olazabal, who is also head of the research group on Adaptation to Climate Change, emphasized the need to integrate climate change into all activities. "We have to have a climate criterion to start the transformation, because we have a deadline and we cannot wait," she stressed.

Josu Benaito, the San Sebastian City Council's Health and Environment Director , added that also at the local level they have to focus on mobility and energy: "Let's get moving and help through legislation for green energy-efficient energy".

The event was attended by various members of public entities such as the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and Naturklima, companies such as Goiener, Laia, Ados and social entities including Emaus, the Red Cross and the Cristina Enea Foundation.