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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
• “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
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
platform for greater engagement and networking by
municipalities, and raising public awareness about
adaptation ).
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
).
In addition, the European portal “Climate-ADAPT”
), 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
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
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.