Baltic and European news
EU climate change adaptation strategy set out
2351, 02/07/07
The European commission published a long-awaited green paper on Friday that sets out how the EU should integrate strategies for adapting to climate change into domestic and foreign policy-making.
But the paper has dropped a call for the EU budget to finance adaptation measures. Almost all references to the potential for EU-level funding of adaptation - in agriculture, rural development and fisheries policies - have been deleted.
A suggestion that adaptation policy is "at the heart of Lisbon strategy", with "similar objectives" to the economic renewal plan, has also been dropped. Member states are no longer asked to contribute to a "Global climate alliance" to assist adaptation efforts in developing countries.
Publication of the paper has been delayed several times since autumn 2006. In all but the question of financing adaptation, the final version closely resembles a draft that emerged in mid-April (EED 30/05/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/23291). It argues that adaptation policies are as important as mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and that Europe will suffer if it does not act now.
The paper proposes four types of action at EU level: developing adaptation strategies and integrating these into EU policies; integrating adaptation policy third-country cooperation programmes; prioritising research; and setting up a European advisory group to coordinate action, especially in the long-term.
A commission-convened stakeholder conference on the issue opens in Brussels on Tuesday. It will kick off a public consultation that lasts until the end of November.
Last week several stakeholders pointed to land-use and biodiversity policies as key in the adaptation debate. The Institute for European environmental policy (IEEP) said earlier drafts of the paper failed to adequately emphasise these as ways to counter the impacts of climate change (EED 27/06/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/23492).
The final paper is unlikely to allay these concerns and if anything weakens the text on these points. An earlier proposal that adaptation should become an "explicit objective" of all EU agricultural and rural development policies has been dropped. And the impact on society of climate change via its effect on ecosystems will be a "significant" factor, rather than the "primary" one.
In other ways the paper is strengthened. It presents a more focused overview of the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystems, regions and economic sectors. It highlights business opportunities that adaptation could bring. And the roles of public authorities at national, regional and local level are set out in more detail.
An action plan for how industrial policy can contribute to adaptation is promised for early 2008.
Follow-up: European commission http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm, tel: +32 2 299 1111, plus press release
and adaptation green paper
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/green_paper/green_paper_en.pdf.
See also stakeholder conference programme
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/2007_07_03_conf/docs/prog.pdf
and participants list http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/2007_07_03_conf/docs/attendees.pdf.
See reactions from Etuc http://www.etuc.org/a/3784 and Copa-Cogeca http://www.copa-cogeca.be/pdf/cdp_07_41_1e.pdf.
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