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Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (BALTADAPT)
Start date: Jun 10, 2010, End date: Sep 9, 2013 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The BSR countries are all threatened and concerned by climate change. It will influence precipitation amounts and patterns, lead to an increase in terrestrial and ocean temperatures and a rise in sea levels. The resulting changes will jeopardize the integrity of the ecosystem and increase risks caused by natural disasters. There are good experiences of adaptation in the region but they are somehow fragmented and do not acknowledge the fact that the Baltic Sea is a specific eco-region.The EU BSR Strategy recognizes this problem by calling for a BSR-wide climate change adaptation strategy, which should provide a framework to strengthen cooperation and information sharing within the region and help to create a coherent set of adaptation policies and actions from the transnational to the local level. Such an overarching framework, which is badly missing, would help to tackle what the Operating Programme of the BSR Strategy has identified as a major weakness: the “lack of transnational co-operation and joint planning in usage of Baltic Sea space and in minimalisation of risks caused by natural disasters”.BALTADAPT seeks to develop such a BSR-wide climate change adaptation strategy. This truly transnational strategy will focus on the sea itself and its coastline. While it is understood that such a strategy cannot be adopted by BALTADAPT, the project can ensure its preparation and clear the ground for its adoption. Complementing this main output, the project seeks to achieve the following results:• Improved knowledge base: A knowledge brokerage process between political decision makers and researchers leading to improved institutional capacity. The “Baltic Window” in the EU Clearinghouse shall be the hub for decision makers from the Baltic Sea Region.• Action plan: Providing the operational basis for implementing the BSR-wide Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and influencing policies, programmes and regulations. Together with the action plan, recommendations on funding mechanisms for financing climate change adaptation initiatives shall be given.In order to achieve this ambitious objective, BALTADAPT brings together just the right partners to create a knowledge brokerage process in this field, develop a strategy and set a framework for its future implementation. The partner consortium under the leadership of the Danish Meteorological Institute brings together a mixture of federal policy institutions tasked with dealing with the topic of climate change, and a group of research institutions at the cutting edge of applied science in the region. The German Federal Environment Ministry and Federal Environment Agency, the Finnish Environment Institute as well as the CBSS Secretariat are paying project partners. The project counts also with the direct support of the Danish Energy Agency, who is in charge of coordinating this priority area in the BSR Strategy, and the responsible Ministries in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and Sweden. Achievements: Adaptation strategies are needed to cope with the inevitable consequences of climate change. Baltadapt formulated a proposal for a Baltic Sea Region-wide strategy for adaptation to climate change as well as an accompanying Action Plan with recommended actions and proposed guidelines.The overall objective of the Baltadapt Strategy is a connected region with informed actors on all governance levels responding to climate change in a way that ensures prosperity, competitiveness, as well as clean water and rich and healthy wildlife. The strategy’s added value is received through cooperation and information sharing in the region, which will assist in the implementation of local, national, and EU strategies and action plans.By involving a multitude of policy makers and stakeholders in the development of the Baltadapt Strategy and Action Plan, the project has already been able to provide guidance and input to the national adaptation strategies in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.This process can now serve as a role model to other European macro regions developing climate adaptation strategies. The close cooperation with DG CLIMA throughout the project lifetime has been of mutual benefit to Baltadapt and the EC who could use the Baltadapt Policy Fora to get a Baltic Sea Region voice while developing the European strategy on climate change adaptation.As suggested in the Baltadapt Strategy, the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) as Horizontal Acton Leader of the EUSBSR HA “Sustainable Development” has initiated the establishment of a pan-Baltic working group on climate adaptation, which will base its cooperation on the policy recommendations made by Baltadapt.The Baltadapt Strategy and Action Plan build on a sound knowledge base that the project has compiled focusing on the areas of:• Regional Climate Information,• Gap-Fit-Analysis,• Sectoral Impact Assessments,• Vulnerability Assessment,• Stakeholder Dialogue,This knowledge base has been compiled in our series of Baltadapt Climate Info Bulletins and Baltadapt Reports which are accessible at http://publications.baltadapt.euWhat is more, Baltadapt has also significantly contributed to an improved knowledge base by developing the concept and providing the contents for a new Baltic Sea Region sub-section of the European climate change adaptation web portal “Climate-ADAPT”. As a one-stop-shop information portal compiling all available information on climate change adaptation in the Baltic Sea Region, it shall be the central hub for decision makers from the region. Providing this regional sub-section, Baltadapt supports European decision makers in adapting to climate change and helps users to easily access and share relevant information. The Baltic Sea Region sub-section is accessible via the address http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/transnational-regions/baltic-sea.
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  • 74.3%   2 123 817,25
  • 2007 - 2013 Baltic Sea Region
  • Project on KEEP Platform
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10 Partners Participants