As Spain’s Mediterranean port cities continue to get back on their feet in the wake of the torrential rains that fell in late October, cleaning up the rivers of mud that caused such devastation, the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte was battered by cyclone Chido on 14 December. The storm caused significant damage and what is feared to be an appalling death toll. Our thoughts are with the families and all those affected. We also stand in wholehearted solidarity with our members, including employees and councillors at Mayotte’s Departmental Council, managers and staff at the businesses of the Union Maritime de Mayotte, and representatives of the firm Marseille Architecture Partenaires, also based in Mayotte. Extreme climate events are becoming more frequent, with brutal impacts on port cities. Faced with these clear and present disasters, AIVP’s work may seem trivial. Yet it does play an important role in sharing knowledge and best practices, and helps promote development strategies that are compatible with current climate issues and the emergence of collective solutions. We must continue to stand together, and seize on any initiative that might enable us to limit the future impacts of climate change on our coastal regions.
