Irish Regions Office Website

April 07, 2009

White Paper on Adaptation to Climate Change

In June 2007, the Commission published a green paper on adaptation to climate change, leading to the launch of a consultation and eventually to the defining of an approach based on: early action in areas where current knowledge is sufficient; global perspectives; filling knowledge gaps; and setting up a European advisory group to analyse coordinated strategies and actions. A White Paper setting out a more comprehensive EU strategy of measures to deal with the issue in the long-term has been expected for some months as a complement to this focus. This paper was presented on 1 April and summarises the actual, likely and potential impacts of global warming and extreme weather on different economic sectors such as energy, transport, ecosystems, agriculture, tourism and health. Additionally it sets out a framework to prepare for a more comprehensive post-2013 strategy to help individuals, businesses, the EU and its Member States avoid "reactive and unplanned adaptation" in the future according to Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. The first phase of the strategy, which runs until 2012, will focus on key sectoral EU policies - the potential impacts of climate change, the costs of action and inaction and how proposed structural and technical changes might impact on and interact with policies in other sectors - to identify possible adaption measures which could be mainstreamed. With this resilience in mind, the Commission has recently unveiled discussion papers on agricultural; health; and water, coasts and marine ecology issues. Among the issues raised is the prospect of assessing the need to use equipment and wider use of ecosystems to improve water storage capacity, avoid usage waste and further regulate the standards of water in agriculture, households and buildings. According to the Commission, it is already clear that the impact of climate change will have varied regional implications, and most measures will need to be framed nationally, regionally and locally. It is also recognised that much work is required to ensure adequate sharing between Member States of information and research on climate-change impact and vulnerability, and best practices on adaptation. White Paper: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/pdf/com_2009_147_en.pdf

Posted by iroronan at April 7, 2009 02:57 PM