REGILIENCE brings the resilience community together to debate National Adaptation Plans (NAP) and Strategies (NAS) in theory and practice

On the 28th of June, REGILIENCE organised a workshop titled “National Adaptation Plans and Strategies in the Theory and Practice – Role of the National and Regional Governments” to discussed how present and future EU policies drive the necessary changes on the ground as well as lessons learnt from the processes of the drafting, implementation, and monitoring of the National Adaptation Strategies from several EU Member States. 

To kickstart the workshop Johannes Klumpers – Head of Secretariat for Climate Adaptation Mission at DG CLIMA – introduced the work done by the European Commission through the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, a new initiative bringing together efforts both financially and policy-wise to help regions and municipalities become climate-resilient.  

 After a thorough explanation of the European policy framework (see picture below), Mr. Klumpers moved on to describe the Mission on adaptation to climate change.

The mission specifically targets regions and cities, the main responsible actors of the many  actions that need to be undertaken to reach climate neutrality. The mission has three main objectives on top of gathering a better understanding of climate risks:    

  • Equip all EU regions with necessary knowledge; 
  • Help them develop their adaptation plan, aiming to support about 150 regions;   
  • Upscaling solutions to trigger transformation and develop enabling conditions aiming to support about 75 regions.  

More concretely, the Mission will support the regions in two ways:  

  1. by encouraging them to participate in Horizon Europe (and other research programmes) which can be reached throught the Mission innovation platform, the first entry point to access guidance and funding.    
  2. by engaging them through the Mission Charter, thought to provide some support to regions which are not yet using (or do not have capacity to use) EU funds.  

 

A practical example was offered by Tom Lamers, EU Affairs Adviser of the of the Green Metropolitan Region Arnhem-Nijmegen. Tom presented how the Climate Planning is structured in the Netherlands with a strong multi-level governance approach. The Green Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen is a region located in eastern Netherlands and is a cooperation of 18 municipalities, with an economic board representing the knowledge institutions. Its regional strategy has five focusing points: circularity, productivity, connectivity, green growth and leisure (climate adaptation is overarching in all five topics).  

The main policy instrument at national level is the DELTA PROGRAMME (which was started as a response to the dramatic sea floods of 1953). A commission was installed to prevent such natural disasters in the future. Its work resulted in a world-known infrastructure preventing floods in the north shore, and in one long term strategy on flood risk management, freshwater supply and spatial adaptation. The programme is structured into decisions (6 years periods), which are themselves translated into plans, which are concrete measures for implementation. DELTA is not a top-down but a cooperation between the national government, the provinces, the water authority, municipalities and knowledge institutions and enterprises.  

Spatial adaptation is a special sub-programme of DELTA. This is the context where the region sets up the planning measures for the built environment and rural areas (extreme heat, droughts, etc.). The sub-programme is also translated into a delta decision (2015) which includes plans and policies to make the Netherlands water resilient and climate proof by 2050. A DELTA plan on spatial adaptation was adopted in 2018 to set out goals ensuring compliance with the decision.  

The DELTA programme is structured by 40 work regions in the Netherlands. These actors can identify vulnerabilities to weather extremes, act as pilots for stress tests, and set out ambitions and policies to take necessary measures. They also work together with other supra-regions. The 40 work regions are mostly based on a structure based on water basins and rivers. For example, the Arnhem-Nijmegen region has 7 work regions active (making it a very complex structure). One of the first work region is the one around the city of Nijmegen. This work region started working in 2016 and drafted its adaptation plan in 2019 and action plan in 2020. Some big projects are already implemented (e.g. island 4 km long and 200 m wide in the river).  

In the Netherlands the adaptation strategy needs to be viewed as a whole – as an important interlink amongst all the levels. However, although multilevel governance seems to work quite well in the Netherlands, there are still some sectors which are difficult to engage (e.g. agriculture with the ban on pesticides).  

 

Branka Pivčević Novak, Head of Service for general Climate protection policy, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Croatia presented the national perspective. The national level has the role to create the right framework to allow changes on the ground, which is not always an easy task.  

Croatia used a co-creation process for reaching a consensus for the national adaptation strategy:  the role of the ministry was drafting the adaptation strategy based on the SEA process (2016-20) with the participation of scientists and experts from universities, media, civil servants, general public, etc. However, it is not always easy to reach a consensus when drafting complex documents which are meant to deal with issues where a lot of scepticism exists. In order to overcome this, the Croatian government involved experts from the meteorologic service, who elaborated scenarios able to show what could happen in the different areas of the country and sectors of the economy in the future if no action was taken. That data was used in workshops all over Croatia, this made people much more involved and interested. Unfortunately, due to economic constraints, this is not easily replicable. More and more work on the ground is done, and policy tools such as Environmental Impact Assessment are a good way to gather data and continue showing adverse effects of climate change.  

 

Finally, Christian Kind, Head of Programme Adaptation at adelphi gave an overview on the “Monitoring and evaluation of the German climate change adaptation and resilience efforts”.  Christian explained the German National Adaptation Process and showcased a detailed timeline of the National German Adaptation Strategy, first published in 2008 and being built upon ever since in a cyclic manner and with the help of the local level. In fact, municipal and regional levels are essential for adaptation however the design of plans saw a very limited active role for cities and regions. Needs are formulated and listened to, however only bit by bit. Barriers are the federal system (which has some advantages, but not in seeing the whole picture) and the fact that adaptation is competing with other important topics (e.g. poverty). It is very important for the national government to fund staff in municipalities in order to increase capacity (not for 1 or 2 years but permanently), funding investments (e.g. infrastructure), providing data (municipalities cannot do it by themselves + economies of scale) and supporting exchange and collaboration.  

The workshop ended with the Panel discussion “Lessons learnt of the Climate change adaptation and resilience planning, implementation and monitoring process” moderated by Vasileios Latinos Coordinator of Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience at ICLEI Europe, where attendees were able to feed the discussion by asking their questions to the speakers.  

 

It was concluded that there is more work to be done, but the geopolitical and economic situation is really rowing against us. The biggest effort should be on capacity building as we are still lagging as a society. Priorities are not there, actions that are planned are not efficient enough – what the EC is doing is good but we really need to invest in capacity building and stop seeing this as an expense but rather as a need.  

 

You can view the full workshop recording below:

By the Autumn, REGILIENCE aims to organize an online workshop, including the 4 projects REGILIENCE, Arsinoe, Climate Impetus and TransformAr, aiming to discuss how the different missions interplay (mainly Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change) and work together. 

REGILIENCE organizes a workshop on “Climate Adaptation – European Approach and Success Stories” as an event of the General Assembly of FEDARENE in León, Spain

On the 15th of June, REGILIENCE organized a workshop titled “Climate Adaptation – European Approach and Success Stories” as an event during the General Assembly of FEDARENE in León, Spain.

Regions and energy agencies from across Europe were invited to reflect on the implementation of climate adaptation and resilience measures and be inspired by best practices and experiences from their colleagues.

During the first part of the workshop, the REGILIENCE team introduced the mission on Climate Adaptation followed by an in-depth presentation by Johannes Klumpers, Head of Secretariat for Climate Adaptation Mission at DG CLIMA. He shed light on the Green Deal missions, addressing the EU Adaptation strategy and the objective of supporting at least 150 EU regions and communities towards climate resilience by 2030 as an initial step to achieve a climate resilient society by 2050.

Highlighting the focus on regions, the Mission aims to include all regions regardless of their past progress in climate adaptation actions and provide knowledge and support to facilitate the climate adaptation process. EU regulations require member states to provide national adaptation strategies (NAS) and plans (NAP) which can include further support for regional actions. The CLIMATE-ADAPT platform provides all current and past National adaptation strategy (NAS) and National adaptation plan (NAP) documents as well as a lot of helpful information.

Finally, Johannes Klumpers shared the fact that 248 applications have been received to become a signatory of the Mission Charter, whereas 118 signatories have been announced during the first mission to adaptation forum this June.

Gallery

The second part of the workshop focused on the presentation and discussion of successes and failures in resilience pathways. Some good practices and project examples of climate adaptation and resilience were highlighted:

  • The integration of climate and energy actions into the spatial plans of the city of Karlovac. Based on the city’s plans within the Covenant of Mayors Strategic Energy and Climate Action plans, REGEA supported the inclusion of energy and climate measures into the cities spatial plan. Together, they developed Croatia’s first green spatial plan with measures such as ban on the use of fossil fuels for heating, limitation of personal car use in certain areas or the requirement of car parks with green spaces and rainwater management. This process has empowered the City of Karlovac to take the first steps towards the implementation of an integrated and enforceable pathway towards both climate neutrality and resilience. This success already piqued interest in other Croatian cities which are following this process.
  • ClimaStory is a pedagogical support for collective reflection on climate change adaptation designed as a serious game. Based on a topographical map of a fictitious territory different stakeholders from a community play together to increase climate resilience. This raises awareness on the impact of climate change and illustrates the interconnections between different sectoral actions. The participants are able to make decisions regarding different sectors (Agriculture and forestry, Industry; Tourism, trade and crafts; Safety and health; Planning, management of resources and biodiversity; commerce, security, health, tourism) and try to find solutions together. For the moment, the game is only available in France but AURA EE aims to develop maps for each of the territories that want to participate and bring discussions that would help regions develop their Climate Adaptation pathways.
  • To contrast the negative effects that suppose artificially enclosing the land by dams in the Netherlands, the energy agency of Fryslân Province proposed and implemented the idea of creating small holes in dikes allowing irrigation and the natural flow of water and fish. This helped to restore the natural habitats of fish.
  • In lower Austria 23 dedicated Climate Managers are employed by the communities. To ensure that the climate adaptation is coordinated the Energy and Environment Agency of Lower Austria, eNu, employed 4 coordinators. They are supporting the local Climate Managers in their daily work and function as contact point. Additionally, the coordinators help with planning and implementing climate local measures with a better adaptation approach as well as being a first contact point for support.
  • Remarkable project is working on the development of a training material on climate plans with the aim to create a map with specific measures towards climate neutrality. The project includes several regions in Europe.

By the end of June, REGILIENCE will organize another virtual workshop on “National Adaptation Plans and Strategies in Theory and Practice – Role of the National and Regional Governments” aiming to assess how the EU and national institutions play an important role in the green transition at local and regional levels.

Learn more and register

What is climate resilience and why it is so urgent to strengthen it? – Opinion article

Opinion article_GuidoSchmidt

Even if humans are able to halt the emission of greenhouse gases, our planet will continue heating up over the next decades. The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s alerts about even higher temperatures, rising seas, fiercer storms, more unpredictable rainfall, and more acidic oceans than what we have experienced in the past years. The world’s ecosystems and biodiversity, our food, energy, and health systems amongst others will change, and if we don’t want to go extinct, we have to adapt to those changes which we cannot yet stop. This is called “climate resilience”.

Where is climate resilience happening?

Some countries, cities and organisations have invested early in climate-resilient development, mitigating already now the impacts of climate change. For example, the Netherlands adopted in 2007 a “Room for the River” strategy, founded on the principles of water safety and spatial quality. The idea is to live with water instead of fighting it: the strategy gives water more space to spread out when floods occur, reducing damage and loss of life. The country moved dikes inland, widened rivers, raised bridges, dug flood channels, and added river catchment areas.

New parks, public infrastructure, and recreational spaces were also created. Now the Rhine River can safely carry 1,000 cubic meters of water per second more than it could before.

Some cities are also frontrunners in climate resilience building. Rotterdam is turning open spaces into multifunctional infrastructure for stormwater management, as in the Water Plaza Benthemplein. Residents and visitors can enjoy the square on dry days, and the square helps protect the neighbourhood from flooding during days of heavy rain.

Milan is increasingly focusing on urban heat. To build resilience, the city is engaging communities through the provision of tailored information on cool routes, cool spaces and locations where drinking water fountains can be found (see EXTREMA). While this is a soft communication measure, it shows how serious the City of Milan is in providing high-quality infrastructure that mitigates climate risk.

The city of Hamburg has adopted its Green Roof Strategy in 2014 with the first Green Roof Symposium. Its goal is to green at least 70 per cent of both new buildings and suitable flat or gently pitched roofs undergoing renovation. The Ministry for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Agriculture supports the project with three million euros in total until the end of 2024. The strategy is based on four pillars: promotion, dialogue, policy and research.

Green roofs and facades have different positive ecosystem services and support several Sustainable Development Goals. They improve environmental conditions by decreasing noise, reducing fine dust particle concentration, lowering surface temperatures, offering retention and evaporation, limiting drainage system congestion and minimising risk of flooding.

Last but not least, the Portuguese ReDuna project aims to restore the natural capacity of the city of Almada sand dune-beach ecosystem to respond to sea-level rise and storms.

Why shall regions take more action?

While there is plenty that cities can do, regional governments – including provinces, districts and departments – have to take much more action to fund and ensure resilience beyond the urban boundaries.

Regional governments hold the political and economic power to decide, plan and even implement how land is managed (e.g., agriculture and forestry, transport infrastructure decisions and water management). In particular, regions shall protect the most vulnerable people from suffering the effects of climate change.

To promote new regional climate adaptation knowledge, strategies and showcases, the European Commission has launched the EU Mission “Adaptation to Climate Change”. This Mission is supported by four projects – REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr – which develop such innovative action in more than 20 regions across the EU.

If you want to make your region more climate-resilient, contact us or subscribe to our newsletter.

 

You can download the full article here.

REGILIENCE and the Spanish Climate Change Office organized a workshop on “Climate-resilient pathways: barriers and opportunities”

On 8 June, REGILIENCE “traveled” to Spain for a workshop on “Climate-resilient pathways: barriers and opportunities”. Together with the Climate Change Office (Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge) and six representatives from Spanish regions, several challenges and opportunities facing the implementation of climate-resilient action, including bottom-up approaches, were actively discussed.

All participants agreed that there is far insufficient citizen awareness about the need for climate adaptation and resilience action. Citizen surveys could provide a better understanding of perception and acceptance of adaptation measures, but they are not the norm, although in Catalonia’s bi-yearly survey climate change ranks as one of the top concerns. It was also mentioned that the interest in adaptation, mitigation and climate-resilience in general is growing among economic sector representatives; however, they shall demand rather sector-benefiting solutions without considering possible negative effects of (mal)adaptation on other sectors or geographic areas, e.g. by demanding more freshwater supply.

Several good practice examples of climate adaptation and resilience and lessons learned were highlighted:

  • A working group on impact and adaptation (Grupo de Trabajo de Impactos y Adaptación) was established by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITERD) and brings together national and regional actors and other stakeholders, facilitating exchanges on a regular basis and ensuring vertical exchange. It also addresses coordination for the engagement with the “EU Adaptation Mission” with those Spanish regions involved in the EU Mission on Adaptation.
  • The adoption of national/regional climate change related laws, as for example the 2017 Catalonian law requirement to include climate change as a component of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) procedures, as consequent action of justice can halt the development of non-climate-resilient investments, e.g. in large infrastructural projects (as a coastal highway).
  • The Spanish Citizens Climate Assembly, which just recently published its final recommendations, is an interesting experience to replicate at the regional levels. It has actively addressed adaptation as well as mitigation.
  • Working with platforms such as the Covenant of Mayors (e.g. on the Balearic Islands) brings on board almost all municipalities, leading to the adoption of climate-energy plans, while fostering valuable exchanges between the regional and local levels.

During the meeting, the following constraints or problems in fostering cooperation for climate adaptation were mentioned:

  • Lack of horizontal cooperation at the regional level, with climate offices not being involved in the adaptation measures carried out under the scope of different departments.
  • Lack of vertical cooperation between the local, regional and national scales that prevent the setup of a governance structure to properly manage coastal areas under risk.

By the end of the month, REGILIENCE is organizing another virtual workshop on “National Adaptation Plans and Strategies in Theory and Practice – Role of the National and Regional Governments”. The objective of this workshop is to assess how the EU and national levels play a part in the success and failure of the green transition at local and regional levels.

Learn more and register at: https://regilience.eu/national-adaptation-plans/

National Adaptation Plans and Strategies in theory and practice – role of the national and regional governments

About

The objective of this workshop is to assess how the EU and national levels play a part in the success and failure of the green transition at local and regional levels.

More specifically, how do the EU policies (present and future) drive the necessary changes on the ground as well as what we can learn from the processes of the drafting, implementation and monitoring of the National Adaptation Strategies from several EU Member States.

We will explore similarities and differences in the overall approach and foster mutual learning from the exchange of ideas and experiences. The follow-up discussion will focus on the following aspects:

  1. How have regional and local governance levels been involved in the planning process and the development of the NASs? Have regions, cities and municipalities been involved in the discussion, and/or have the local needs and potential been considered for the drafting of the targets and measures?
  2. How successfully are the NASs being implemented and monitored? How are they being integrated into local and regional plans and strategies? Are they resulting in concrete budgets and actions for climate change adaptation and resilience in the regions, cities and municipalities? What is their relation with the Resilience and Recovery Plans (RRPs)?
  3. If you had to do everything over, what would you repeat and what would you change the second time around?

Agenda

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REGILIENCE team meets in Vienna for the first time

The REGILIENCE team, made up of IEECP, ICLEI Europe, Fedarene, F6S, REGEA, FC.ID, adelphi, Fresh Thoughts Consulting and R-Cities, held its first in-person meeting in Vienna on 18-20 May 2022.

REGILIENCE team meets in Vienna for the very first time.
Vienna was specifically selected to host this event due to the fact that climate adaptation is at the core of its climate policy and an inseparable part of its Climate Protection Programme (KliP), first created in 1999 and last updated in 2009. The goal of the programme was to make Vienna a model city and reduce CO2 emissions. In 2022 the Smart Climate City Strategy Vienna was adopted to define climate mitigation and climate adaptation actions for Vienna becoming a climate resilient city until 2040. In the last decades climate change has deeply affected Vienna’s local climate, causing the local temperature to rise by more than 2 degrees in the last 40 years. This in itself has caused catastrophic events such as heavy rainfall, draughts, storms and high summer temperatures and is the reason why Vienna has launched the “Adapting to Climate Change” initiative in 2017.

As part of the trip, the REGILIENCE members had the unique opportunity to take a bike ride around the Danube. Vienna is a visionary when it comes to adaptation to urban flooding. The city has adopted a defense system during the 70’s and 80’s which can protect the city from flooding. The system allows for the sluice gates of the Danube to lift during a flood allowing the excess water, debris and tree branches to rush into a man-made side channel. 

Vienna has also been artificially raised with the help of soil excavated from the channel’s river. Biking trails, beaches and meadows have been created for people to gather.
During these sunny days, it was impressive to see how the citizens take advantage of the floodplain as a meeting point for recreation, sunbathing and socializing, increasing their quality of life and wellbeing.

Another thing which our REGILIENCERS were extremely pleased to discover was that the Wiener Linien, Vienna’s public transport operator, has converted tram and metro stations into greenhouses. They have used climbing flowers to create a completely new ecosystem – all of this in the heart of the city! Apart from being beautiful and looking like an urban oasis, the greenery creates shadow and cools down the commuters. The plants are also a habitat for insects and bees, promoting the health of the ecosystem.

The trip was very fruitful and informative. The REGILIENCE partners had the opportunity to leave their footprint to climate resilience as well – the whole trip was under the frame of CO2 reduction and sustainability. During the Management Board Meeting there was a strict no computers rule. Funnily enough, laptops and computers emit CO2 and using them excessively or leaving them turned on overnight can in fact add to global warming.

Other things, which our environment friendly team did was to hold its meeting outside and thus, not use electricity, air conditioning and projectors. The team also cycled everywhere, consumed drinking water from fountains, therefore reducing their use of plastic. They also ate local vegan food, delivered by bike, and stayed in a hotel close to the meeting venue, reducing the commuting time and the need for transport.

Vienna has been a unique experience! In 2020 the city was ranked as the greenest metropolis and is occupying the leading positions in regards to:

  • Parks and green spaces;
  • Public transport – available everywhere around the city;
  • Recycling;
  • Renewable resources.

Join REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, Climate Impetus and TransformAR for the 9th European Urban Resilience Forum!

The four sister projects – REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, Climate Impetus and TransformAR will attend the flagship ICLEI Europe event, host to local and regional governments seeking to shape a climate-resilient future in Athens, Greece on 14 and 15 September 2022. The event will be held at the Athens Technopolis.

This year the European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) will be organized by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability and the European Environment Agency (EEA), together with the help of REGILIENCE who will shape the programme assisting the core organizing Committee. Co-organiser will be the city of Athens.

2022_EURF_Header-main_1200px

“Southern and central European cities have faced extreme climate hazards over the last couple of years, such as the severe floods in Germany and the record-breaking heat waves and wildfires in Greece and Portugal! All these extreme events show that the need for preparedness against extreme hazards and for adaptation to the impacts of climate change is more relevant and crucial than ever.

The European Urban Resilience Forum 2022 is moving this year to Athens, Greece and will focus on a variety of topics – from the use of nature based solutions for disaster risk reduction to urban regeneration practices for healthy and prosperous communities and from social justice and gender inclusion to wildfire prevention and heat wave management! We look forward to welcoming participants in the Greek capital this September for another event, where cities talk to cities, while regions and communities are put in the spotlight and start preparing for the EU Adaptation Mission activities!”, says Vasileios Latinos, Urban Resilience and Adaptation Coordinator at ICLEI Europe and REGILIENCE Work Package leader.

The goal of the event is to serve as a unique exchange platform for city representatives, experts and stakeholders from local and regional institutions to discuss strategies, initiatives and actions for adapting to climate change, managing disasters and building urban resilience.

Some of the event’s highlights will be coastal resilience, tackling heat waves and wildfires, disaster risk reduction for safer and healthier communities, regional pathways towards resilience transformation, nature-based solutions for equitable development and many more!

Agenda coming soon, stay tuned!

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REGILIENCE took part in the Stakeholder consultation on Ecological transition

On the 22nd of March 2022, REGILIENCE contributed to the Hybrid Stakeholder consultation on Ecological transition – Which balance between social acceptability and environmental imperatives to build resilient communities from the point of view of cities and regions?

REGILIENCE took part in the Stakeholder consultation on Ecological transition

Climate risks are context related and climate action calls for tailored solutions. Local and regional authorities know best the local and regional challenges therefore they should be equipped with the instruments to pursue the solutions that best fit the local scenario. A resilient community is able to resist, absorb and recover from the effects of climate risks and other disruptions. Achieving resilience means more than just mitigating negative effects, it means developing an atmosphere where both society and economy can prosper.

The Committee of Regions (CoR) Rapporteur, Hanna ZDANOWSKA (PL/EPP), Mayor of Łódź and member of the Commission for the Environment, Climate change and Energy (ENVE) prepares a position on Ecological transition and strives for the highest possible quality input and widest range of different views for her opinion. REGILIENCE as frontrunner project of the EU Mission “A climate-resilient Europe” was invited to share the opinion and first conclusions of REGILIENCE and its sister projects – ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr from working with 22 different European regions.

REGILIENCE’s contributions to the Stakeholder consultation

During the stakeholder consultation session, Matthias Watzak-Helmer, REGILIENCE project manager and FEDARENE representative, shared the opinion of the four frontrunner projects of the EU Mission “A climate-resilient Europe”. He outlined the need to act now by mentioning exemplary hard limits to adaptation, the importance of intact ecosystems and biodiversity to buffer climate change impacts as well as the high level of support by European society for climate change actions. Social acceptance will grow if the necessity for the actions and the impact of non-action is explained.

REGILIENCE and its sister projects shared four key messages on how to adapt:

  • Climate adaptation requires informed decision-making and informed citizens to support the societal transformation!
  • Climate adaptation support must focus on most vulnerable regions and population as well as on those with less adaptation capacities! The most vulnerable regions often rely on (free) ecosystem services in their daily activities!
  • The knowledge of research about innovation and the understanding of (specific) risks especially on the limits of adaptation, failed investments (maladaptation) and the need for systematic approaches must be shared and transferred to the regions!
  • Local and regional capacities for resilience and adaptation need to be built up supported by actions for stakeholders to create awareness, lead to action, increase engagement and conclude in local and regional leadership!

About REGILIENCE

REGILIENCE will support communities and regions across Europe according to the addressed key messages on the way towards climate resilience by increasing local and regional capacities. Around 700 actions for all European regions will communicate on knowledge tools on financing, citizen resilience scan, adaptation and much more. Close cooperation with 10 vulnerable and low-capacity regions will support their way towards climate resilience. Spreading the word and sharing the most promising solutions will inspire policymakers, organisations and individuals to become part of the change.

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Four projects explore climate adaptation for vulnerable communities in EU Macro-Regional Strategies Week

Regilience - Four projects explore climate adaptation for vulnerable communities
Regilience - Four projects explore climate adaptation for vulnerable communities

March 16, 2022 – Four Horizon 2020-funded projects explored how to best assess and improve the climate-change resilience of vulnerable regions in a joint session on 9 March 2022, during the 3rd European Union Macro-Regional Strategies (EU MRS) Week. 

REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr are coordinating efforts to identify common goals, challenges and work areas, to achieve best possible outcomes for communities as part of the European Green Deal and the European Union’s Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change and Societal Transformation.

The session on ‘transformative action for climate resilient and adaptive regions’ was the first result of this collaboration to raise visibility of the projects, their participants and their goals.

More than 60 participants joined the session to hear a panel of experts present approaches and solutions that will be tested in various regions and communities by the four projects in the Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change and Societal Transformation.

The Mission, a first in the EU policy world, anchoring it in the research and innovation policy of the EU with a perspective until 2030, fosters the development of innovative solutions and will engage with and empower regions, cities and communities to adapt to climate change.

The Mission, the EU Adaptation Strategy and their importance for regional development as well as various solutions and support measures were presented by Johannes Klumpers, Head of secretariat at EC Directorate General CLIMA. He highlighted how public funding can accelerate the achievement of societal goals, which is key to getting citizens on board as active and engaged players.

He invited session participants to adhere to the Mission charter, to become part of a community of practice on adaptation to climate change and to join the First Mission Forum on 7 June 2022. He said the Mission’s goals are to help regions:

  • understand climate risks,
  • prepare plans/roadmaps,
  • build resilience and demonstrate adaptation.

Regional Testimonials

This keynote was followed by short video testimonials from selected project demonstration regions: French Guadeloupe is a demonstrator in the TransformAr project, addressing 2 key sectors, agriculture and tourism, which are highly impacted by climate change; the Latvian Zemgale Region is developing a GIS-based flood warning system as part of its work in the IMPETUS project; and Athens is alleviating heat pressure through nature-based solutions as part of its resilience strategy, supported by ARSINOE.

Opportunities through collaboration

By assessing and improving the resilience of regions, the 4 projects will help them prepare for future crises and reduce their associated risks. In this framework, new tools and methodologies help regions and communities to better understand, plan and develop strategies tailored to their needs, which will maximize their resilience to the impacts of climate change. A panel of experts explained the opportunities that result from the projects working together in a cluster, presented existing good practices, and expressed the motivation of partners to step up regional climate action.

Moderated by Vasileios Latinos of ICLEI (REGILIENCE), the panellists discussed: how to simplify resourcing and financing of adaptation; how to overcome the ‘adaptation gap’ and evolve towards integrated climate action that engages and empowers citizens, switching focus from post-catastrophe action to perspectives for resilience; and how to test specific adaptation measures that can be replicated in other regions as well as more systemic approaches to climate change.

  • Stefania Manca representing the Municipality of Genoa and the EU Agenda Partnership for Climate Adaptation commented that the 2017-2022 Partnership allowed representatives from cities and countries to exchange knowledge and feedback on funding schemes. She said a focus on insurance data and upscaling potential is useful, for example an EU Investment Bank toolkit and guidance for cities helps them assess benefits and enhance their ability to access financial instruments. Better planning and avoidance of maladaptations are also necessary, she added.
  • Chrysi Laspidou of University of Thessaly explained how the four projects are building upon and helping to materialise the EU macro-regional strategies by equalising regional climate-change preparedness levels and supporting their planning efforts. Change is happening through the systematic involvement of all actors and breaking out of sectoral silos, changing mindsets and co-creating adaptation pathways, identifying the financial instruments that will fund them.

“Covid has showed that we are not good at reacting: we need to be prepared. That’s what these 4 projects are doing, at different levels and with different countries – helping them to prepare and adapt to climate change.” Chrysi Laspidou, University of Thessaly, ARSINOE project lead.

  • Representing the TransformAr project were Laurence Couldrick of West Country Rivers Trust, UK and Alessio Satta of MEDSEA Foundation Sardinia, Italy. Laurence Couldrick emphasised the need to avoid tackling challenges within siloes such as ‘water’, ‘flooding’, ‘fires’, etc. and instead to take a more integrated and long-term perspective – for example reviewing farming practices that might appear beneficial for the short term but may not be viable in the future.How do people adapt and respond to droughts, flood risks, and so on? “We are starting these conversations, changing practices and looking at the role of citizens, communities and financing in this,” he said. The role of authorities and the need to involve them from an early stage of planning to ensure funds and methods match needs and expectations around post-disaster actions was raised by Alessio Satta. He highlighted the value of narratives to bring people on board and move from planning to action to overcome the adaptation gap.
  • On behalf of the IMPETUS project, Giovanni Luigi Brumat of Cantina Toblino – a viticulture cooperative in Trentino, Italy – explained the challenges faced by his community. “As well as climate data, we need more decision-making systems dealing with climate change,” he said. In the past 10 years, climate change events have been increasingly impactful. More understanding is needed of water consumption and how best to deal with scarcity, as well as how to access financing for solutions.The project’s ‘Resilience Knowledge Boosters’ will use new data handling and visualization systems to support informed decision making, and to come up with new solutions.

The 9 March session came hot on the heels of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which highlighted the need for adaptation strategies as climate change impacts become increasingly frequent and damaging to economies, health and well-being as well as to the environment. The EU MRS Week provided valuable big-picture context and understanding of the value added by a macro-regional strategic approach.

A REGILIENCE survey to understand common needs and challenges to adapt to climate change impacts is open, to gather experiences from vulnerable regions in different parts of Europe.

The impacts of climate change are increasingly frequent, resulting in economic losses, environmental degradation and affecting health and well-being of people all around Europe – and globally-, highlighting the need to find adaptation strategies on top of mitigation strategies. That was again highlighted recently in the latest IPCC report. The EU released a strategy in 2021, to help EU face these events and reduce the regions’ vulnerability.

Link from the event: https://eumrsweek.tw.events/


Background & contacts
ARSINOE – https://arsinoe-project.eu/

ARSINOE is a HORIZON 2020-funded project which aims to build an ecosystem for innovative climate change adaptation solutions. Starting from 1st October 2021 and for the next four years, ARSINOE will shape the pathways to resilience by bringing together the Systems Innovation Approach, addressing the growing complexity, interdependencies and interconnectedness of modern societies and economies, with the Climate Innovation Window, the European Union’s innovations marketplace for climate adaptation technologies.

Within the ARSINOE ecosystem, pathways to solutions are co-created and co-designed by local public authorities, universities, businesses, citizens and associations engaged in nine widely varied regions across Europe.
CONTACT: Lisa Pourcher (G.A.C. Group), lpourcher@group-gac.com

IMPETUS – https://climate-impetus.eu/

To help accelerate Europe’s climate adaptation strategy and meet the European Union’s ambitions to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, IMPETUS was launched in October 2021 with the objective: turn climate commitments into tangible, urgent actions to protect communities and the planet.

Working with local citizens, policy-makers and businesses in 7 demonstration sites around Europe, IMPETUS teams are analysing solutions, boosting knowledge and creating packages of adaptation measures that other communities can use as a pathway towards a climate-neutral and sustainable future.
CONTACT: Laura Durnford (ESCI), ld@esci.eu

TransformAr

The EU-funded TransformAr project will create products and services to introduce large-scale and disruptive adaptive Transformational Adaptation processes in vulnerable regions and communities across Europe. Relying on existing successful initiatives, the project will address water-related risks and impacts of climate change through six TransformAr lighthouse demonstrator regions and communities that will test solutions.

Transformational pathways are deemed essential for climate and social resilience to achieve rapid and far-reaching TA. Gathering 22 partners from 11 countries, the project’s findings will contribute to the EU’s strategy on climate change adaptation.
CONTACT: Jérôme Oudart (Euroquality), jerome.oudart@euroquality.fr

REGILIENCE – https://regilience.eu/

REGILIENCE – sharing the most promising solutions supporting communities and regions across Europe to become more resilient to climate change. Communities and regions are key catalysers where change can be driven, but guidance is needed for them to accompany and assist citizens and economies in adapting to climate change.

That is exactly what REGILIENCE, a project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, aims at. It will support communities, cities and regions in their efforts towards building climate resilient pathways, facilitating the identification and upscaling of the most promising solutions and adapting to their needs.

The 48-month project will be implemented by 9 partners and work closely with ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr to amplify the reach and impact of results, coordinate actions and maximise benefits for communities impacted by climate change.
CONTACT: Marine Faber Perrio (IEECP), marine@ieecp.org


Help us identify the 10 most vulnerable regions to climate change in Europe

Regilience - vulnerable regions

We would like to invite you to take part in a research study, part of the European project REGILIENCE – funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme – which aims to foster the adoption and wide dissemination of regional climate resilience pathways.

Through this questionnaire we aim to identify the 10 most vulnerable regions to climate change in Europe in order to understand their needs and challenges to adapt to climate change impacts. With your help the selected regions will gain access to REGILIENCE’s tailored engagement and support actions.

Moreover, the results from your answers will provide a deeper understanding of your needs that will be included in the design of future activities and tools within our project and will inform the project publication “Resilience planning & development needs of regional authorities and stakeholders”, which will be shared with all individuals participating in this survey.

The survey will take no longer than 20 minutes of your time. The questions will help us understand your experience with resilience to climate change.

Please, help us by filling out our survey: https://bit.ly/3rOTTmg