Comparing National Adaptation Strategies

Europe Adapts to Climate Change Change toClimate Adapts Europe Over the last few decades, European countries have focused on the questions of whether 1 No Report Strategies PEER Adaptation National Comparing human-induced climate change is real and how we can mitigate it. Now, not only has a human cause been confi rmed, but actual impacts of climate change have also been observed and more are anticipated. As a response to this, many countries have started to develop national adaptation strategies. This report, ”Europe Adapts to Climate Change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies”, describes how countries have undertaken this task, identifi es some research gaps and policy needs that still exist and indicates Europe Adapts the types of new information that will be required for the continued development of adaptation policies in Europe. The report concludes that the factors driving the development of adaptation policy vary to Climate Change across European countries, but a common element is that developments have been fast. At the same time, there is an urgent need for new climate adaptation research that connects innovative science with local, regional and sectoral policy needs. However, with a few exceptions, such research is yet to begin. The report identifi es a variety of opportunities to Comparing National address these research needs in an internationally co-ordinated fashion, allowing for better informed adaptation policy development. Communication and awareness raising will be Adaptation Strategies important to ensure public support for measures, and to help stakeholders to adapt. The report also summarises strengths and weaknesses of the current strategies in the countries studied. It points out that institutional barriers are likely to be more important Rob Swart, Robbert Biesbroek, Svend Binnerup, Timothy R. Carter, Caroline Cowan, Thomas Henrichs, Sophie Loquen, Hanna Mela, impediments to adaptation than the technical feasibility of specifi c adaptation measures. Michael Morecroft, Moritz Reese and Daniela Rey www.peer.eu ISBN 978-952-11-3450-0 PARTNERSHIP FOR EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH PEER Created in 2001, PEER is a partnership of seven large European environmental research centres. PEER members cover the full spectrum of the environmental sciences and combine basic with applied research anticipating societal needs. PEER members carry out their research in strategic and interdisciplinary multi-annual programmes, working with partners worldwide to solve complex environmental challenges. The vision of PEER is to be a world leader in integrating knowledge and expertise for sustainable development, in support of policy- makers, industry and society. www.peer.eu PEER member institutes Alterra CEH - Centre for Ecology & Hydrology The Institute for Applied Environmental Research United Kingdom of Wageningen University and Research Centre www.ceh.ac.uk The Netherlands www.alterra.wur.nl Cemagref - Centre for Agricultural and JRC - Joint Research Centre Environmental Institute for Environment and Sustainability Engineering Research European Commission 1 France http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu www.cemagref.fr NERI - National Environmental Research Institute Finnish Environment Institute Aarhus University Finland Denmark www.environment.fi /syke www.neri.dk Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ Germany www.ufz.de 1 JRC/IES did not contribute to this report. Europe Adapts to Climate Change Comparing National Adaptation Strategies Rob Swart, Robbert Biesbroek, Svend Binnerup, Timothy R. Carter, Caroline Cowan, Thomas Henrichs, Sophie Loquen, Hanna Mela, Michael Morecroft, Moritz Reese and Daniela Rey PEER Report No 1 PARTNERSHIP FOR EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Helsinki Page layout: Marja Vierimaa Cover photos: Natural England, GAW, Stuart Chalmers, SYKE and RWS The publication is available also on the Internet: www.peer.eu Rob Swart, Robbert Biesbroek, Svend Binnerup, Timothy R. Carter, Caroline Cowan, Thomas Henrichs, Sophie Loquen, Hanna Mela, Michael Morecroft, Moritz Reese and Daniela Rey 2009. Europe Adapts to Climate Change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies. PEER Report No 1. Helsinki: Partnership for European Environmental Research. This publication is printed on paper produced in an environmentally friendly way. Printed by Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy, Sastamala 2009 ISBN 978-952-11-3450-0 (pbk.) ISBN 978-952-11-3451-7 (PDF) © PEER 2009 Foreword The scientifi c evidence of a likely link between climate change and human activity provides a major challenge to policy-making. Mitigation and adaptation will affect our environment and our societies in many ways. The scale and complexity of the interactions between society and the environment represent an unprecedented challenge for research institutions. This is from a scientifi c point of view as well as an organisational one. Major progress in understanding the complex interplay of the processes of global change, mitigation and adaptation measures and their impacts can only be made through well- coordinated joint research across national and disciplinary borders. In November 2007, the Directors of seven of Europe’s large environmental research organisations, united in the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER), expressed their commitment to this twofold challenge. They decided to implement two joint research projects in 2008: 1) A comparison of national adaptation strategies in EU countries (this report), and 2) Climate change policy integration, coherence and governance (Mickwitz et al. 2009). The rationale for this choice was the fact, that over the last decades, climate change research has focused primarily on the climate system, impacts in general terms and on mitigation. The very rapid emergence of climate change adaptation policies in Europe poses new challenges, however. It must be recognised that the environmental, economic and social impacts of adaptation and mitigation policies will also be affected by many other policies, which makes climate policy integration and coherence essential. The PEER centres are strongly involved in multidisciplinary environmental research programmes funded by the European Commission and in national and regional research initiatives. This is an excellent position from which to compare the climate policies and coherence problems of different European countries, using common concepts, methods and data. With this approach, important differences as well as similarities can be identifi ed. Moreover, well-founded conclusions and recommendations to policy makers at EU and Member State level can be presented - not only as an academic exercise, but also in order to assess the implications they have for future policy development in the EU. This volume reports on the results of the project: A comparative analysis of National Adaptation Strategies in EU countries. After focusing mainly on mitigation for almost two decades, Europe was rather slow in picking up the challenge of adaptation. From 2005 onwards, however, climate adaptation strategies accelerated rapidly. This poses a great challenge to the scientifi c community, not to tail the policy development, but direct the way through targeted impacts and adaptation research. And while there are many differences between regions in Europe, the report also shows many commonalities. It focuses on six important cross-cutting dimensions: drivers of adaptation policy, the interactions between science and policy, communication and awareness raising, policy integration, multi-level governance, and implementation and evaluation. Most of the current strategies are still rather general, setting the stage for the next steps towards development and implementation of adaptation actions. The report gives an overview of the current strategies, provides suggestions for the next steps, and identifi es priority knowledge gaps. In my role as PEER chair it is my pleasure to introduce these projects to our stakeholders in the international scientifi c community and to policy makers. I also want to thank the many colleagues from various disciplines who contributed to the studies. Directly, as members of the two project teams. Indirectly, by identifying and mobilising the multidisciplinary knowledge in the PEER research reservoir for the purpose of these studies. The lessons that we have learned by doing this will be of great value for our future activities. As PEER, we are committed to further strengthening our research in these areas and providing sound and policy-relevant information to Europe’s decision makers. We also are looking forward to contributing to the further development of the European Research Area by sharing and exchanging our expertise and skills with other research institutions active in this fi eld. We cannot avoid climate change, but we can ensure that future decisions will be based on the best information available. This can minimize risks, and, in some cases, turn threats into opportunities. Wallingford, U.K., May 5, 2009 Prof. dr. Pat Nuttall PEER chair Contents Foreword List of fi gures 10 List of tables 10 List of text boxes 11 Acknowledgements 14 Executive summary 17 1. Introduction 25 1.1. What is climate change adaptation? 25 1.2. Scope and methods of this study 26 2. National Adaptation Strategies in Europe 33 2.1. International and European level policy efforts 33 2.2. Overview of national adaptation strategies in Europe 34 2.2.1. Countries in which a formal National Adaptation Strategy has been adopted 35 2.2.2. Countries in which no formal National Adaptation

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