Climate change adaptation

by Philipp Schmidt-Thome and Johannes Klein

According to the recent statement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the climate change is no longer avoidable. Therefore, it underlines the need for appropriate and timely adaptation measures. Spatial planning is identified as playing a key role in climate change adaptation. Two projects co-financed by the INTERREG IIIB programme have addressed climate change adaptation in the BSR. "Towards climate change adaptation strategies in the BSR" is the title of the publication that summarizes the results of the project "Developing Policies & Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in the BSR" (ASTRA). This pan-Baltic climate change adaptation strategy was developed under the lead of the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) in cooperation with several local and regional authorities and research. Preliminary cost-benefit analyses were also discussed with the aim of estimating the costs of adaptation versus non-adaptation. The stakeholder communication during the ASTRA project has built on the results of the "Sea level change affecting the spatial development of the BSR" (SEAREG) project, in particular the Decision Support Frame (DSF). While, the SEAREG project had concentrated on estimating the impacts of sea level rise and focused mainly on science-stakeholder communication aspects, ASTRA went a step further by starting to develop concrete adaptation plans. A number of meetings, workshops and seminars throughout the development process ensured a close cooperation of researchers and practitioners. Several cities have taken ASTRA results into account in the future land use planning: Parnu (Estonia), Espoo and Kokkola (Finland), Klaipeda (Lithuania) and Gdansk (Poland).