WEBINAR: EU Climate Adaptation Strategy: Stepping up international action for climate resilience

25-26 February 2021. Virtual event accompanying the adoption of the new EU Climate Adaptation Strategy

The European Commission release the new and more ambitious EU Climate Adaptation Strategy on February 24th, 2021. (23 pp.)

STEPPING UP INTERNATIONAL ACTION FOR CLIMATE RESILIENCE (p. 17)

• Strengthening international collaboration for climate resilience is a key priority for the EU. Adaptation efforts need to be effectively targeted to reach the most exposed, vulnerable, conflict-prone or marginalised communities, leaving no one and no place behind.
• The new EU Adaptation Strategy promotes regional approaches, with a focus on adaptation in Africa and Small Island Developing States
• The Strategy will further advance a Green Agenda for Western Balkans and strong green partnerships with the EU Neighbourhood.
• The EU is already committed to helping Africa adapt to a more hostile climate, including through nature-based solutions like the Great Green Wall Initiative. Over the period 2014-2019, the EU mobilised approximately EUR 3.4 billion to support climate adaptation in the region. The EU supports, among others, the African Adaptation Initiative, the African Risk Capacity, and has launched the Africa Research and Innovation Partnership.
• The EU will provide targeted support to partner countries to help unlock existing and new financial resources towards climate adaptation. This includes supporting partner countries in accessing climate finance from international sources, such as the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, and collaborating with multilateral development banks, financial institutions and the private sector.

26 February 2021. Stepping up international action for climate resilience

Insights from the ongoing research within two EU H2020 projects RECEIPT and CASCADES will set the stage for an in-depth discussion on how re- mote climate change impacts may affect the resilience in Europe.

Recording forthcoming

RECEIPT REmote Climate Effects and their Impact on European sustainability, Policy and Trade - This project’s key deliverables include scientific narratives describing the impact on Europe’s food security and international development.

CASCADES CAScading Climate risks: towards ADaptive and resilient European Societies - The EU-funded CASCADES project seeks to understand the conditions under which climate risks propagate beyond their geographical, sectoral, and temporal location in ways that may affect European stability and cohesion.

• Christopher Reyer (moderator) is leading the Forest and Ecosystem Resilience Group at Potsdam
  
  
  Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Katy Harris is Senior Expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Director of Adaptation Without Borders.
• Maarten van Aalst is Director of Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and Professor at the University of Twente.
• Tessa Schmedding is EU Affairs Expert in the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Regional Office for Europe.
  
  Resource: UNDRR (2020), Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: Pathways for policy coherence in Sub-Saharan Africa  July 2020, 80 p.
• Bart van den Hurk is Strategic Research Advisor Climate Change at the Water Knowledge Institute Deltares and Professor at the Institute for Environmental Studies in Amsterdam.
• Bina Desai is Head of Programmes at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Taskforce on Displacement under the Warsaw Mechanism for Loss and Damage.
• Daniel Stadtmüller is Team Leader of InsuResilience Secretariat at the German Corporation for International Cooperation.