Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Western Balkan Mountains

Risk of epidemics due to appearance of new vector-borne diseases. Only Albania and FYR Macedonia are integrating integrating surveillance and protection systems for climate change-related communicable diseases that represent a threat to public health.

• Risk not addressed by existing policies Mayor’s Adapt (the Covenant of Mayors Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change) informs, mobilizes and supports local authorities to take action on adapting to climate impacts. Cities signing up to the initiative commit to: • contribute to a more climate-resilient Europe • develop local adaptation strategies within the first two years of signing, and • review the outcomes every six months. By joining, local/regional authorities can benefit from theMayors Adapt Helpdesk, from the Urban Adaptation technical Support Tool, from the exchange of best practices with other European cities as well as from information about funding opportunities. Currently, Daruvar in Croatia is part of this initiative. For more information, please visit http://mayors- adapt.eu Urban adaptation – Mayors Adapt Initiative GOOD PRACTICES

Key Policy gaps:

• Potential inter-sectoral conflicts to manage the risk of water shortages and the use of water • Lack of awareness of water scarcity in urban areas as a public safety issue triggered by climate change

Key Policy gaps:

Displacement of population

• Inadequate regional/national policy coverage for adaptation to new diseases • Lack of/limited institutional coordination across sectors • Lack of awareness of new diseases as public safety issues triggered by climate change Risk of water shortages, and water supply outages in major urban areas due to reduced river run-off. Water scarcity and outages in cities can turn into a public safety issue and cause health-related consequences. Several cities within BiH, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia are improving their water resources management practices (including water recycling and water- efficient appliances), and engaging in grey adaptation actions (modernizing networks, building dams and reservoirs, and wastewater treatment plants for residential areas) to reduce losses and secure water supply. Soft actions involve establishing information exchange mechanisms among the various institutions dealing with water resources. In the case of water scarcity, conflicts over the use of this resource may arise among different sectors such as hydropower generation, agriculture, drinking water, tourism, fish-farming, etc.

Risk of displacement of populations following flooding events. In the event ofmajor disasters, the EUCivil Protection Mechanism (covering Croatia, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, and Serbia) helps the population of the Western Balkans to deal with possible displacement. However, there is no specific integration of climate change adaptation in the provisions of post-disaster recovery. Nor do cities seem to have post-disaster reconstruction plans. However, several urban areas such as Dubrovnik (Croatia) can take advantage of a programme that provides shelters for the use of civil society associations, who are expected to join emergency operations during times of crisis.

Key Policy gaps:

• Inadequate policy coverage for adaptation and post-flood recovery • Lack of/limited institutional coordination across sectors • Potential lack of adequate vertical integration from EU to local administrations regional/national/local

Obrenovac, Serbia

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