Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Western Balkan Mountains

Key responsible actors The leading trends in decision-making for adaptation in the seven countries of the Western Balkans were determined by examining the key responsible actors in the relevant policy documents. Policy documents express the highest level of power in decision- making on climate adaptation. For this reason, it is necessary to analyse the level of involvement of different stakeholders in the drafting of these documents, their interests, mission and capacities. In most of the countries, the key responsible actors in drafting documents relevant to climate change adaptation were ministries for environment. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina appear to have neither an office nor an assigned staff member that regularly works on climate change issues. Only Montenegro has a separate Department for Climate Change, while Albania and Kosovo 1 have (sub)sectors for climate change. However, none of these departments or sectors have clearly indicated mandates in relation to climate change. Only in Croatia was the key responsible actor an institution other than the ministry: namely, two civil society organizations, which could contribute the interests of a wider audience, including non- experts and the general public, to policy design. Civil society organizations in other countries do not seem provide direct contribution to the design of the most relevant climate change documents. In

primarily on receiving information. They are not considered in the action plans. In Croatia, the adaptation regime recognizes the need for a multilevel approach to this issue: “multilevel governance is defined as decision-making through a dynamic inter-relationship within and between different levels of governance, steered not only by the public, but also by private and other interests” (Keskitalo 2010; Hooghe and Marks, 2001). A timely execution of this approach in other Balkan countries – and to some extent even in Croatia – could bring forward the mutual interests of all actors and offer effective adaptation. If the vulnerable groups were included in the action plans, their later involvement could be increased and secured. Politics of adaptation In recent years there has been a trend towards only engaging experts in adaptation (Sova et al. , 2013), which is mostly reflected in the adaptation actions of the Balkan countries analysed for this Outlook. In relation to the analysis from the vulnerability assessment above, it is clear that “non-experts” are only given a passive role and not included in decision-making with respect to the implementation of adaptation actions (with the exception of Croatia to some extent).

these countries, where the ministries play the key roles in drafting relevant documents, influence on the policies is kept somewhat centralized within the hands of government bodies, where the same institutions contribute to both the creation and implementation of policies. Vulnerability assessments Decision-making on the distribution of resources for adaptation depends on the vulnerability assessment, in the sense that it will determine who or what is eligible for resource allocations for future adaptation measures (Sova et al. , 2013). This applies in the Balkans, where populations identified as “vulnerable” have a chance to be included in the adaptation measures. According to the analysis of documents pertaining to climate change in the Balkans, adaptation measures refer mostly to policy changes from a technical aspect, rather than referring to any action directed towards vulnerable groups. Public involvement is generally limited to awareness-raising activities. In Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, 1 Montenegro and FYR Macedonia, communication strategies are mostly aimed at educating the public on the facts of climate change rather than at participation in or decision-making on adaptation measures. Even for vulnerable groups such as agricultural producers and farmers, participation is passive and focused

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