Regions for the climate: testing new solutions to flood and erosion risks on the French Basque Coast

• The Agglomeration Community of the Basque Country is a partner in the European Regions4Climate (R4C) project, which aims to test concrete cross-border solutions (environmental, social, technological, digital, governance) to climate change.
• More than 3.5 million euros will be invested in the French Basque Country to address the risks of flooding and erosion along the Basque coastline.

Several partners are involved in this project: the Basque Coastal Scientific Interest Grouping, the Rivages Pro Tech research centre based at the Izarbel Technopolis in Bidart, the University of Pau and the Pays Adour and AZTI, a technology centre based in the Basque Country.

The actions carried out locally will be of two types:

• Development of real-time flood risk monitoring tools, comprising the installation of coastal videometry systems and the development of numerical models aimed at predicting the overtopping of structures due to waves at two sites: one urban, the bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and the other natural, the beach of Erromardie.
• Active protection with the deployment of breakwaters and the reinforcement of natural wave energy dissipation barriers.

An essential cross-border dimension

La dimensión transfronteriza de este proyecto es esencial, ya que la costa francesa y española que forman el litoral vasco presenta un conjunto de retos comunes. Por ello, se llevarán a cabo acciones similares bajo la coordinación del Gobierno Vasco e en colaboración con los centros tecnológicos AZTI, y con el objetivo de reforzar la colaboración transfronteriza.

The cross-border dimension of this project is essential, as the French and Spanish coasts that make up the Basque coastline present a set of common challenges. Similar actions will therefore be carried out under the coordination of the Basque Government and Ihobe, in collaboration with the AZTI, Tecnalia and Zabala,s, with the aim of strengthening cross-border collaboration.

More than 3.5 million euros invested in the French Basque Country

The Regions4Climate project, which involves the CAPB, the Basque Coastal GIS, AZTI, UPPA and Rivages Pro Tech, will start in January 2023 and will run for five years. It is coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, brings together 44 partners from 13 European countries and has received a total grant of 24.5 million euros from the European Commission, with the French Basque Country receiving more than 3.5 million euros.