The Lisbon Port at a glance:
The Port of Lisbon is a major Atlantic seaport located along the lower Tagus River, where it is highly exposed to both coastal and riverine flooding. As a critical hub for regional supply chains and urban infrastructure, disruptions at the port can have far-reaching economic and societal impacts. The area is vulnerable to combined hazards, including storm surge, extreme winds, and heavy rainfall. Previous research has developed detailed flooding scenarios along the coastline that account for sea-level rise driven by climate change, with projections extending to 2100 and covering multiple storm surge return periods. These scenarios, such as flooding probability under a 100-year storm surge combined with projected sea-level rise in 2100, provide an important basis for understanding future risk and planning adaptation measures.
Key challenges:
- High exposure to extreme and multi-hazard events, including storm surge, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and river overflow, with high potential impacts on densely populated urban areas and critical port infrastructure.
- Limited predictive capacity and high uncertainty in assessing compound and cascading events, particularly storm–tide–river interactions and climate change effects, constraining risk-informed decision-making.
- Fragmented disaster risk management and governance, with limited coordination across authorities and sectors, increasing the risk of cascading failures in logistics, energy, and mobility systems.
The TOGETHER Way Forward:
- Improve awareness, knowledge, and early warning, with a strong focus on protecting people—especially vulnerable groups—during extreme weather and NaTech events.
- Strengthen risk assessment for NaTech events, accounting for climate and weather impacts as well as cascading effects across infrastructure, industry, and the environment.
- Enhance communication and coordination between authorities and operators, enabling more effective preparedness, response, and continuity planning.
Stakeholders involved:
- RS lead: Municipality of Lisbon
- Partners: Port authority, Civil Protection, Local disaster management authority, industrial operators, Fuel and chemical storage facility managers, National maritime authority and coast guard units, Meteorological and hydrological monitoring services