Two New Reports on Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Baltic Sea Region

Today, on the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, two reports assessing the state of play towards implementation of the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Baltic Sea Region are being launched by the CASCADE project. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-Générale for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) “Community Safety Action for Climate Adaptation and Development” (January 2019 – December 2020).

The material for the Sendai Framework in the Baltic Sea Region report has been collected through discussions with the National Focal Points for the Sendai Framework (or other national representatives responsible for Disaster Risk Reduction) in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden. The discussions focused on national and local strategies, international cooperation, risk assessments and warning systems. The aim of the report is to provide an overview of the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the BSR – focusing on challenges, good practices and potential paths for strengthening the work.

In the words of one of the Focal Points: “There is a tendency to stick to the known risks that are related to cases we have already seen – we are starting to look more at climate change risks, but the time horizons are a bit challenging… –  risks developing slowly over time”

This shows that there is a need to work more on integrating climate change risks into the existing risk assessment methodologies – both on the national and local levels. The aim of the CASCADE project is to adapt existing risk assessment methodology to the climate change context and tailor it to the local level.

The report The Role of Local Governments in Adapting to the Climate: Overview of regulatory requirements and support mechanisms in the Baltic Sea Region is compiled by the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, with the support from the CBSS Secretariat (EU Strategy’s for the Baltic Sea Region Horizontal Action Climate coordinator Valdur Lahtvee). The report focuses on legislation and support mechanisms on the local level for Climate Change Adaptation and puts forward recommendations for future work.

Both reports will be presented and discussed in the first transnational Policy Dialogue meeting in the CASCADE project at the XV UBC General Conference on 16 October in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Find the reports here.