Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Western Balkan Mountains

• “Climate proofing” EU action and promote adaptation in sectors that are particularly vulnerable. The Commission has encouraged all Member States to develop adaptation strategies that are consistent with national disaster risk reduction and management plans while including cross-border issues. Through the European funding scheme “LIFE”, EU financial support on adaptation and resilience focuses on building adaptive capacity, cross-cutting issues, cross- border and cross-sectoral adaptation (http://ec.europa. eu/environment/life/). The first LIFE calls for action grants, issued in 2014 and 2015 under the climate action sub-programme, included a series of themes of great relevance for climate change adaptation. The EC also supports the efforts of European cities towards the preparation of local adaptation strategies andplans, andhas invited themtomake a commitment through the “Mayors Adapt” initiative. This aims to increase support for local activities, providing a The Strategy consists of a package of thirteen documents, the main element being the Commission’s Communication, “An EU Strategy for adaptation to climate change”. The preparatory technical Impact Assessment accompanying the EU Adaptation Strategy document sets the context for the Strategy and presents possible enforcement options, ranging from non-binding measures to regulations (EC, 2013b; 2013c). Furthermore, guidelines are provided for the preparation of Member States’ national adaptation The 2013 EU Adaptation Strategy Package

platform for greater engagement and networking by municipalities, and raising public awareness about adaptation (http://mayors-adapt.eu). In order to support informed decision-making, the EC aims to fill the knowledge gaps on adaptation through a dedicated line in the “Horizon 2020” research and innovation funding programme (http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/). In addition, the European portal “Climate-ADAPT” (http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu), established in 2012 as a one-stop shop on adaptation information, has been improved through easier access to information and greater interaction with other platforms. To address adaptation of themost vulnerable sectors, the EC continues to integrate adaptation into EU policies. Dedicated guidance for mainstreaming climate change into sectoral budgets has been provided for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), the Cohesion Policy and the Common strategies (EC, 2013a), as well as for mainstreaming adaptation into cohesion policy and rural development. A Green Paper on the insurance of natural or man-made disasters was also issued, launching a consultative process open to stakeholders (EC, 2013d). Other Commission staff ’s working documents in the package explore the issue of adapting specific sectors and policy areas of interest to the Strategy, such as coastal and marine issues, health, infrastructure, environmental degradation and migration.

adaptation can be seen as a dynamic process through which countries and communities become more capable of preventing or managing the impacts of climate change by reducing risks, increasing resilience and addressing sustainable development needs. Regional and subregional level Global response actions need to be complemented with regional, national and local adaptation strategies that can address the numerous, varied and unavoidable impacts associated with climate change that will occur in spite of any successful mitigation actions. The UNFCCC requires that national and regional programmes contain measures for climate change adaptation. Since climate change is likely to negatively affect countries at temperate zones to the same extent as countries at lower latitudes, adaptation has proved to be a major issue for developed nations too (Ford et al. , 2011). The EU and its Member States have widely engaged in adaptation and started to tackle these challenges through the establishment of adaptation strategies at all levels.The European Commission (EC) officially adopted the European Adaptation Strategy in 2013, following the release of a Green Paper in 2007 and a White Paper in 2009 that respectively opened the way to more attentive consideration of adaptation issues in Europe and outlined the fundamental concepts of the future Strategy. The European Adaptation Strategy describes the objectives and a number of concrete actions to be taken by the EC in three priority areas in order to forge a more resilient Europe (EC, 2013), namely: • Encouraging and supporting adaptation action by the Member States • Ensuring informed adaptation decision-making processes and

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