Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the South Caucasus Mountains

under the limited budgets of municipalities. Local authorities consider urgent social or economic needs as higher priorities (e.g. social assistance, infrastructural projects, rehabilitation of schools, hospitals and roads, etc.) than climate change strategies, programmes and plans (including ones for mountain regions). This prevents local authorities from formal adoption and further implementation actions. This situation has been improved by recent awareness-raising campaigns, but the problem is still acute. Public awareness can significantly change

The National Programme on the restoration and expansion of forests in the Azerbaijani Republic (2003–2008), among others, considered forest restoration as part of broader climate change impacts which “increase the rate of pests and diseases, and reduce fertility and quality of seeds” (MoENR 2003). According to the ENPI FLEG programme, since the approval of the “National Programme on restoration and expansion of forests in the Azerbaijani Republic” anumber of forest restoration actions have been carried out on more than 71,634 hectares of forest land, and a large number of trees were planted (ENPI FLEG 2015). existing practice and create incentives for approval of local climate actions, even with existing limited budgets. This is true for Georgia, where, in a number of municipalities, adaptation related infrastructure projects, such as construction of dams or measures aimed at protecting against sea storms or river flooding, are implemented and financed or co- financed through local budgets. However, within an existing institutional context characterised by limited municipal budgets and a lack of public awareness, regional/municipal/ Azerbaijan CASE STUDY

local climate action plans and guiding documents developed by different non-governmental actors remain ineffective and non-feasible tools from an implementational viewpoint. Another option for implementation of climate strategies is donor funding. A common approach for donor-funded elaboration of local/municipal action sees “visibility” being combined with “feasibility”. In addition to a research and planning component, donor-supported projects, usually incorporate pilot activities, which can be considered as an initial implementation of the action plans/strategies or, in other words, “seed money”. It is noteworthy, that in the planning of climate change projects, non-governmental and international organizations often refer to the National Communications to the UNFCCC or policy documents. There is also variety in the status of strategies which are approved by national governments (see Azerbaijan case study). Such strategies and action plans or programmes usually have monitoring and financial mechanisms, as well as responsible government agencies, which are supposed to ensure the progress of their implementation.

Hirkan national park, Lankaran, Azerbaijan

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