The Algeciras Campus Technology Foundation (FCTA) and the University of Cádiz (UCA), through the vice-rectorate of the Algeciras Bay Campus, celebrate tomorrow, Thursday, June 4th, the eleventh edition of the Meeting on Sustainable Development, an event conceived as a space for reflection and analysis regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The meeting will take place in the conference room of the I+D+i Building at the Algeciras Technology Campus, starting at 10:00 hours.
This edition focuses its content on SDG 13, Climate Action, a goal that directly addresses a territory like the Strait of Gibraltar, located in an area particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change due to its position as a point of connection between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
The inaugural event will feature the presence of the rector of the University of Cádiz, Casimiro Mantel; the mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce; and the president of the Association of Municipalities of the Campo de Gibraltar, Susana Pérez Custodio.
After the institutional inauguration, the inaugural conference will be given by Mercedes Martín, a meteorologist and oceanographer, presenter on Antena 3 Noticias and a graduate of the University of Cádiz, specialized in climate change, urban sustainability, and scientific communication. Martín will deliver the presentation "Learning to read a planet in transformation" in Classroom 3.2, from 10:30 to 11:15 hours.
The day will continue with a debate titled "Climate challenges in the Strait of Gibraltar: present and future," moderated by Mercedes Martín herself and scheduled between 11:30 and 12:30 hours. This forum will bring together four experts and representatives of local entities: Juan Antonio Patrón Sandoval, head of the Sustainable Development Area of the Algeciras Bay Port Authority (APBA); Pilar Cañete Pérez, Secretary General of the Association of Large Industries of the Campo de Gibraltar (AGI); Pablo Antonio Fernández Sánchez, professor of Public International Law at the University of Seville and coordinator of the Seventh Section of the Institute of Campo Gibraltar Studies (IECG), and Jesús Verdú Baeza, general director of the Algeciras Bay Campus and coordinator of the Technology Campus.
The program also includes, between 12:30 and 13:30 hours, a session for the presentation of communications and research projects linked to SDG 13, led by Dolores Coello, Director of the Environmental Commitment Secretariat at the University of Cádiz. All presented communications will have the possibility of being included in a publication edited by the UCA Publications Service.
The FCTA will award the best oral communication of the meeting with a prize of 500 euros. Additionally, as a novelty in this edition, the foundation has launched the photography contest "Look Sustainable #photographingSDG13," aimed at highlighting the social, environmental, and economic challenges of sustainable development through images. This contest has two prizes of 400 and 200 euros respectively, and a special prize of 100 euros. The awards for both categories will be presented during the closing event, scheduled between 13:30 and 14:00 hours.
The XI Meeting on Sustainable Development is funded by the Ministry of University, Research and Innovation of the Junta de Andalucía and in collaboration with the Algeciras Bay Port Authority.