Europe is now struggling with the impacts of climate change. The summer of 2022 was deeply worrying for Europe: the hottest summer on record, multiple instances of extreme heat, vast lands burnt (>700k ha), drought across many areas, and consequent severe impacts on energy generation and food production at a time when global markets are already struggling. Such events, including heat waves, floods and storms, have caused over €145 billion in economic losses in the European Union (EU) over the past decade. Several lines of evidence suggest that Europe is not well adapted to the impacts of climate change and increasingly ill prepared in the face of worsening impacts.
Under pressure and in need of transformative approaches, European actors can learn from countries and communities around the world with three decades of experience on climate change impacts and adaptation measures. This is in fact recognised in the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change “Forging a climate-resilient Europe”: “The EU can also learn from others: many of our international partners have long been on the frontlines of climate change and have valuable experience that can help Europe become more climate resilient.” Furthermore, this strategy also notes that “The EU is well equipped to conduct structured dialogues to share solutions, and is keen to learn from others” and that “there are significant knowledge gaps and innovative approaches where the EU could benefit from existing experience, for instance on community-led and nature-based adaptation”.
In this context, bringing valuable experiences and insights from climate adaptation practitioners from around the world to European actors can inform and drive ambition for a climate-resilient Europe.
This event (jointly organised by IIED Europe and IIED as a side event at ECCA 2023) aims to create bridges between the 17th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA17) and ECCA 2023, by showcasing and sharing the findings and key messages from CBA17 with European scientists, policymakers, and practitioners. The CBA conference series aims to bring together a community of practitioners who are collectively seeking to reimagine institutional, technical and financial solutions that enable transformative outcomes, through the agency of communities driving climate action.
CBA is a space for the adaptation community of practitioners to come together to share how to put the principles for locally led adaptation (LLA) into practice, recognising the complexities, innovations and challenges that must be overcome.
The goal of this side event is to create a space for dialogue between different regions and communities, where they can learn from each other, and share similar challenges and barriers to climate adaptation. The event will also be an opportunity for regions and communities in Europe to share what is or is not working for them with the panelists and the audience, and learn from regions outside of Europe that have been at the forefront of climate impacts for decades now and, as a consequence, have developed robust and innovative climate adaptation solutions that can be deployed effectively in similar local contexts.
By bringing adaptation solutions and insights from the countries and communities most experienced with dealing with the impacts of climate change to European stakeholders, this event aims to inform the implementation of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change and the respective Mission, and, ultimately, contribute to a climate-resilient Europe.
About attending
When?
Wednesday, 21 June 2023, 14:20 – 16:00 (GMT+1)
Where?
Academy Meeting Room, The Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, D02 HH58
How can I register for this event?
Please register using this link.
Where can I contact the organisers with questions?
If you have any questions about attending, please e-mail Alexandre Fernandes (alexandre.fernandes@iied-europe.org)
The photo caption and credit: Vegetable farmer watering plants at the organic farm in Boung Phao Village, Lao PDR (Asian Development Bank, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)