Information on national adaptation actions reported under the Governance Regulation

Romania is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe, covering a total area of 238,397 km2. The country is crossed from north to the southwest by the Carpathian Mountains (peak altitude of 2,544 m). The Danube, the second-longest river of Europe, flows from west towards east along 2,857 km, bordering the country in its southern part and flowing further into the Black Sea, forming the second-largest and best preserved delta of Europe (the Danube Delta – a biosphere reservation and a biodiversity World Heritage site). Romania’s relief major units are proportionally distributed, being estimated to: 35% mountains, 35% hills and plateaus and 30% plains. The climate of Romania is temperate-continental with influences of the Atlantic Ocean in the western and central parts of the country, the Mediterranean Sea in the South-West, the Scandinavian-Baltic region in the north-east and east, Black Sea in the east and transitional between the oceanic and continental in the south.

Under the Köppen classification, the climate types found across the Romanian territory are:
1. Tundra climate (ET), characteristic to the alpine areas (above 2,000-2,200 m) of the Southern Carpathians;
2. Subarctic continental climate (Dfc), with a cold summer and no dry season; this climate type is specific to high elevation areas (1,700 to 2,000 m) of the Eastern, Southern and Western Carpathians;
3. Humid continental climate (Dfb), without a dry season and with a warm summer; this climate type is well represented in the Eastern Carpathians (especially in the areas below 1700-1800 m), in the eastern parts of the Transylvanian Depression, but is also specific to some low elevation areas of the Southern and Western (e.g. the Apuseni Mountains) Carpathians;
4. Temperate (oceanic) climate (Cfb), without a dry season and with a warm summer; this type of climate is representative for the western hilly regions of the country, as well as for the Transylvanian Depression, the Moldavian Plateau and the Subcarpathians;
5. Humid subtropical temperate climate (Cfa), similar to Cfb, but with a hot summer; this climate type is specific to the Romanian Plain, some parts of the Western Plain and to the Dobrogea Tableland;
6. Cold semi-arid climate (Bsk), with a hot and dry summer and a cold winter; it is specific to the Danube Delta, as well as to the Razim-Sinoe lagunar complex.

Due to its geographical position within Europe, large parts of the Romanian territory belong to the vast Euro-Siberian subregion of the Palearctic realm, whereas other parts of the country (such as Dobrogea and the eastern part of the Romanian Plain) pertain to the south-western sector of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Overall, the basic floristic stock of Romania consists of Eurasian, European and Central European elements, with added species belonging to 5 out of the 11 biogeographical regions of Europe respectively, continental (53%), alpine (23%), steppe (17%), Pannonian (6%), Pontic (1%).

In Romania, the natural and semi-natural ecosystems represent about a half of the country's territory, whereas the other half comprises agriculture ecosystems, constructions and infrastructure. The major types of natural ecosystems found in Romania include: forest ecosystems, ecosystems of meadows, freshwater and brackish ecosystems, marine and coastal ecosystems and underground (cave) ecosystems.

The climate of Romania is changing and becoming more extreme. Observational data over the 1901-2020 period (from 29 weather stations with long-term time series) provide evidence of an ongoing warming at both annual (with 1.3°C over the entire period) and seasonal (especially in summer, winter and spring) timescales. An increasing frequency and duration of hot extremes (such as tropical days and nights, heat waves) was also observed throughout the country. The warmest year in record was 2019 (with an average temperature of 12.1°C) and the coldest 1940 (with an average temperature of 8.1°C). The year 2020 is the second warmest year over the period 1901-2020 (with an average temperature of 11.9 °C). The absolute minimum temperature record of Romania is of -38.5°C/January 25th, 1942 (at Bod, in the Bra?ov Depression), whereas the absolute maximum temperature record reached 44.5°C/August 10th, 1951 (at Ion Sion, in the Baragan Plain). In terms of precipitation, the observed trends over the 1901-2020 period show no major changes in the annual amount of precipitation. At seasonal scale, some regions of Romania (e.g. the Transylvanian Depression, the Apuseni Mountains) exhibit an increase in autumn precipitation, whereas others (such as the Danube Delta, the Banat Region) show decreases in winter and spring. The highest annual precipitation amount ever recorded in Romania was of 2,398.0 mm/1941 at Vf. Omu station (2,504 m a.s.l., in the Bucegi Mountains), while the largest monthly precipitation was of 588.4 mm/June 2011 at Bâlea Lac station (2,100 m a.s.l., in the Fagara? Mountains). The record of the maximum daily precipitation amount at national level reached 224.0 mm/ July 12th , 1999 at Stâna de Vale (1108 m a.s.l., in the Apuseni Mountains). The wettest year in Romania over the 1901-2020 was 2005 (861.2 mm) and the driest 2000 (391.4 mm).

Romania has a population of 20 million people and GDP of 189 billion US dollars. The Annual Average Losses (AALs) are estimated to be approximately 2.2 billion US$ and 335,000 affected people for the whole country, which are 1.2% of the GDP and 1.7% of the population of Romania.

Officially, the urbanization rate in Romania is roughly 55%, a level that is somewhat low compared to other parts of Europe. This rate has remained fairly constant for the past two decades, thus mirroring the situation in many other Eastern European countries shifting from a centrally planned economy to free market conditions.

Recent research by the World Bank has pointed out, however, Romania has been suburbanizing, with the areas immediately around major cities growing by 300,000 even as there has been significant migration out of the country entirely. Because central government demographers still categorize some of these regions outside the urban core as rural, this shift has not yet made its way into the official population statistics. If this were done, the urbanization rate could rise to 65.2%. Population losses and location shifts manifest themselves in changing densification rates in Romania’s growth pole cities while the density levels in these cities are declining across the board, in some cases by as much as 48%. (Source (https://www.worldbank.org/r[…]carbon-green-growth-program).

The main causes that led to the decrease of Romania's population by 17% in the period 1990-2020 were migration abroad (labour migration, in particular), rising mortality rates and declining birth rates during this period. In 2020, 20.95% of Romania's population consisted of Romanians under the age of 20, while 59.9% of the population was between the ages of 20 and 64 years old, 11.1% of the population was between 65 and 74 years old, 8.05% of the population was over 75 years old5 . Life expectancy in 2020 was 79.75 years for women and 72.54 years for men. The average life expectancy in 2020 was 77.44 years in urban areas (74.09 years for men, 80.6 years for women) and 74.41 years in rural areas (70.69 years for men, 78.60 years for women) . The number of Romanians who emigrated abroad in 2018, 2019 and 2020 varied between 192,631 and 233,736 people, which represented approximately 1% of Romania's population. Population migration has a negative influence on the development of economic activity in Romania, because the largest part of the people who go abroad for a job are young and active people.

New studies have been carried out for assessing the impact of heatwaves in Romanian urban areas. A new finding is the strong response of mortality caused by Circulatory System Diseases to high urban and low rural temperatures for women. Our findings suggest that women are statistically more vulnerable than men to thermal stress under the same climate hazard and exposure (either urban or rural ones) and this should be added to the list of more known vulnerable categories such as children, old people and people cu chronic diseases, in order to effectively adapt to climate change.

The energy sector is the largest emitter of GHG, accounting for 70% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (excluding LULUCF) in Romania. It has also contributed 70% of the overall GHG emissions reduction since 1989. The sector naturally has the full attention for mitigation. Three quarters of the energy sector’s GHG emissions are from power and heat generation and non-transport fuel consumption.

Economic growth and energy consumption in Romania has been decoupled since 1998, and the energy intensity of the economy, measured by primary energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product, has been decreasing.

Romania has substantially lower per-capita energy consumption compared to high-income EU countries. A significant increase in energy demand is expected if the economy continues to grow.

Transport statistics show a marked rise in mode share of private cars and a significant decline in rail mode share of passenger transport. Rail mode share is lower than the EU average, having been above average in 2000. Without intervention to provide better transport alternatives and encourage their use, as car ownership grows, car use is also likely to grow. Reasons for the decline in rail passengers are linked to the decaying state of the Romanian railway system.

The modal split for freight movements in Romania (in terms of ton-km) has also changed in recent years. This shows a marked fall in rail freight mode share in recent years, together with a marked rise in road freight mode share. Also notable is the much larger waterborne freight mode share since 2009.

Urban transport forms a major part of overall transport movements in Romania.

Reduced precipitation, droughts and the associated reduced runoff may affect river navigation on the major waterways such as the Danube. This is something already being seen, according to the Lower Danube River Administration, with reduced water depths, meaning that the number of days requiring implementation of navigation restrictions is increasing.

With a current population of 20 million, the average water availability in Romania amounts to 2000 cubic meters per capita per year. A significant inter-annual variation exists in water resources availability. In the driest years the water availability has fallen to 20 BCM. There is also a significant variation within Romania, with the basins of Jiu, Arges-Vedea, Buzua-Ialomita, Siret, Prut-Barlad, and Dobrogea-Littoral facing the most serious scarcities of water. Currently, water demand is based on industry (67%), agriculture (18%), and municipal (15%) use. Irrigated area in Romania has decreased from 2 million ha in the late 1908s/early 1990s to approx. 0.8 million ha (considered irrigable with functional infrastructure), as economically unviable schemes were closed down.

About 70% of the water supply for domestic use is sourced from surface waters, compared to 95% dependence on surface waters for industrial supply.

Romania’s hydropower potential is estimated at 36 TWh/year, and currently the total installed hydropower capacity amounts to 6,400MW. Hydropower generation accounts for 32% of Romania’s total electricity generation, and 16% of the total energy use.

The total area of agricultural land in Romania is 15.9 million hectares, of which around 13.3 million ha (approximately 56% of total territory) is currently being used. Around 1.5 million ha of utilized agricultural area is covered by economically viable / marginally viable irrigation systems, although only about 800 000 ha is currently functional. Compared to other EU Member States, the ARD (agriculture and rural development) sector in Romania is extensive, occupying 59.8% of total territory and providing a home to 44.9% of the total population. A relatively high proportion of national Gross Added Value (32.4%) and employment (41.5%) is also generated in rural areas.

The ARD sector in Romania is also diverse and complex with much variability in socioeconomic context and human / institutional capacity. Rural areas in Romania are characterized by low quality infrastructure and relatively undeveloped basic services (health and education systems, finance and credit facilities etc.) compared to the urban areas. The ARD sector is comprised of two distinct and clearly defined sub-sectors with: i) around one half of the agricultural land managed by a small number of very large-scale, capital intensive and technologically advanced farms, and; ii) the other half of agricultural land occupied by communities of very small-scale farmers practicing more traditional farming methods and producing goods largely for their own consumption. There are a total of 3.86 million agricultural holdings in Romania, of which 96.6% fall into this “small-scale, subsistence farm” sub-sector. These small farms provide an important socio-economic buffer and basic livelihood for a significant proportion of the rural population. They also have an important role to play in maintaining the vitality of rural communities and providing important social, cultural and environmental services to the wider Romanian society.

Romania’s forests are roughly 27 % of the country land surface . Most of Romania’s forests are secondary forests and are distributed across the mountains, hills, and plains of the country.

The forest sector and wood industry contributed 3.5% of GDP (INS CON 105D), and the forest sector was 7% of national exports. The forest sector is also an important employer in rural areas, formally employing approximately 140,000 people.

There are an estimated 850,000 forest owners in Romania, including individuals, indivisible communes, and churches, owning small and large tracts of forests. Approximately 40% of the area under private ownership is managed by smallholders.

The economic development of Romania is strongly linked to the worldwide economic development and to that of the European Union one, as it occurs in special complex international environment affected by the global economic-financial crisis and pandemic.

The financial sector is also significantly exposed to climate-related risks: about 50 percent of the loan portfolio of the country’s banks is with companies affected by transition and physical risks, especially in the agricultural sector.

Meteorological observations are synchronized and integrated on a European and on a global level. Romania participates in various fields of climate-related monitoring, on national level and in European and global programmes. Romanian experts exploit observing systems for the monitoring of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) which describe:
• Atmospheric climate (including measurements for some atmospheric constituents such as ozone);
• Black sea climate;
• Terrestrial climate.

In Romania, monitoring activities have been synchronized with the European research area and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) programmes (especially from the Region VI) and with GCOS on global level.

The National Meteorological Administration (NMA) is the main organization which performs systematic observations on atmospheric climate and, to a lesser extent, on parts of sea and terrestrial climate. These observations are gathered, validated and transferred in the National Meteorological Network (NMN). The NMN is organized in 7 Regional Meteorological Centers which consists of 166 operational weather stations, all of them being automatic weather stations (MAWS) and 24 of them are functioning autonomously. Observations at 63 rain gauging stations are made on a voluntary basis. 68 weather stations perform an agrometeorological measurement programme. Radiometric measurements are performed at: 112 weather stations (global radiation); 9 weather stations (diffuse and net radiation); 156 weather stations (effective sunshine duration).

The programme of meteorological upper-air measurements is carried out at the Aerologic

Observatory of Bucharest-Afuma?i, including two daily radio soundings (at 0000 and 1200 UTC). Daily wind soundings with PILOT balloon are also carried out at the station Bucharest Afuma?i at 0600 UTC.

The operational National Meteorological Integrated System (SIMIN) was established in 2003. Within SIMIN the national radar network has been upgraded. Now, the national meteorological radar network consists of 7 Doppler weather radar systems. The radar information from all equipment is combined into a unique product – the national radar mosaic (available in 3 versions every 10 minutes). The radar information from Romanian network is useful for the neighbouring countries, too.

Observations from meteorological satellites refer to receiving and processing in real time digital images and data from geostationary satellites METEOSAT-7 and MASG-1 in 3, and 12 spectral channels, respectively. The operative running of EUMETSAT/SAFNWC model started in February 2005, obtaining 8 of the 12 nowcasting products, every 15 minutes, which are transmitted to the National Forecasting Centre.

Romania contributes to free data exchange under national law (Romanian Law of Meteorology) and international regulations (e.g. ECOMET rules). NMA participates in the international meteorological data exchange with a number of 23 stations in RBSN (Regional Basic Synoptic Network) and 14 stations in RBCN (Regional Basic Climatological Network) which are included in RBON (Regional Basic Observing Network), as they are declared in OSCAR/Surface platform. Also, NMA has submitted and updated climate data to the portal European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA & D) (http://www.ecad.eu/).

In addition to the monitoring activities of the NMA, systematic observations are also recorded by National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management for hydrological-related climate indicators and Black Sea climate. The GeoEcoMar institute performs climate relevant measurements of oceanographic, marine ecosystem and geological indicators in the Black Sea. Institute for Marine Research (Constanta) also performs measurements of climate related indicators of Black Sea climate ecosystems. The GeoEcoMar and Institute for Marine Research contribute to EuroGoos and Black Sea GOOS. National and local agencies for environmental protection gather data related to atmospheric constituents and pollutants.

Climate modelling, projections and scenarios:

A new activity branch of regional climate modelling for high resolution climate projections and climate predictions (monthly- seasonal) has been developed recently in Romania at the NMA.

The main objective is to bring added value fine-scale information on climate projections estimates (and uncertainty) at sub-regional scale, that is the scale needed for impact assessment, preparedness and climate change mitigation. Fine scale is also needed to better represent climate extremes and changes in their location, intensity, frequency and duration. A sum of new climate services based on NMA's regional modeling (high-resolution) products are prepared and still this aspect can be far more exploited in the near-future.

Among the main achievements to date are: - i) a new operational chain of seasonal prediction downscaling at fine resolution for Romania (twice a week - providing monthly forecast and monthly - providing 6 month forecast). The seasonal prediction downscaling chain is fully operational down to visualisation of output uploaded on NAM internal Platform and derived products, offering information-support More research directions are ongoing around these, and potential climate services foreseen; -ii) the realisation of first high-resolution dynamical climate projections for Romania (5km - RCP8.5), accomplished now for the time horizon 2040 (Azure-2 Microsoft project); - iii) user-oriented scenarios for Romania were performed at high resolution: a combined land-use (Volante project) / emission RCP8.5 scenarios was implemented and run to investigate the range of response to land use management in the time horizon 2050 (Azure-1 project); - iv) this year we start developing oriented use of the high-resolution modeling chain towards new climate services. In the frame of PED-Uefiscdi project together with project partners we aim to provide a climate service aiming to identify, validate (laboratory) and provide a generalised tool for assessing maize ideotype suitable for Romania under climate change, near-term (2050).

These operational developments implied and continuously require related research activity. The research focus is actually on: - i) new developments and extensive validation of the modelling chain results to constantly increase the prediction skill and reliability of regional climate projections; - ii) seasonal predictability actual concern issues e.g.: large-scale and regional prediction sources for the region; improved estimates of the uncertainty; accurate initialisation of extended predictions as a main prediction skill-source; specific focus on accounting for the main regional forcing that is a potential source of predictability: land-cover and its dynamics, the Black sea and Romania's lakes temperature; snow layer dynamics; regional O3/ aerosol/ GHG variability; iii) research on new learning techniques able to provide support in computer-demanding issues of the modeling e.g. ensemble members selection for uncertainty reduction; iv) assess changes in regional climate extremes ranges and mechanisms and optimise the communication and dissemination of related uncertainties and probabilities as a broad support in various planning; v) oriented research for regional climate services and products (agro-climate; hydrology; coastal - published).

In the SUSCAP project, four climate parameters (i.e. maximum, mean and minimum air temperature and precipitation amount) from 10 regional climate models, provided by the EURO-CORDEX initiative, were adjusted using as reference the ROCADA gridded dataset . The adjustment was performed on a daily temporal resolution for the historical period (1971–2005), as well as for climate change scenarios based on two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The adjusted RCMs are provided without any restrictions via an open-access repository in netCDF CF-1.4-compliant file format. The BC climate models are archived at the 0.1° spatial resolution, in the WGS-84 coordinate system, at a daily temporal resolution .

National and International collaborations: the regional modeling activity is linked to international networks e.g.: PANNEX (Pannonian Regional Climate Group) with periodic exchange on methods and results; CORDEX consortium (with foreseen upload of downscaling simulations over Romania into the CORDEX databasis). At national level we aim to develop collaborative work with stakeholders and potential users of these products to develop user-oriented climate scenarios and predictive information (energy, urban development, vulnerable areas, flooding, drought, heat waves, etc).

Also, statistical analyses of observations, reanalysis data, and results based on the ensembles of numerical experiments with global and regional climate models are systematically performed to continuously update the knowledge about climate variability and change in Romania.

Climate modelling has been developed in recent years in NMA. The methodologies are in-line with most recent research and operational activity in regional climate modeling Centers at International level, with the broadness allowed by local computing resources. The regional modelling chain is based on the RegCMV4.6 model developed through international cooperation at ICTP, that is a state-of-the art model part of the CORDEX ensemble. This model was adapted and optimised for high-resolution runs over Romania: an optimal model configuration for Romania was determined using Machine Learning/Genetic Algorithms that allowed to identify the best cross-physical parameterisations choice for the domain. This optimised configuration was used for climate scenarios’ downscaling, where the regional model was coupled to three global models: Ec-Earth, MPI, CNRM and produced refined projections (5km) and uncertainty estimates on the time-horizon 2040.

For seasonal prediction new forcing is updated in the physical parameterisations: sea surface temperature (actually from coastal stations and marine platform) was implemented and validated (anomaly initialisation method), and is ongoing for snow layer depth and soil moisture initialisation (remote sensing). The prediction chain performs the dynamical downscaling of the SYS5-ECMWF ensemble forecast over Romania, currently for a reduced ensemble member (4) meanwhile with alternate procedure for optimal selection under investigation.

Off-line coupling of the regional climate modeling chain was performed with hydrological models and applied at very high resolution (3km) in flood prediction. Ongoing is the coupling with Phenological models (DSSAT and auxiliary models) for agro-climate projections (Prepclim project). Other off-line coupling is performing prediction of storm tracks (density, persistence) for the 1-6 months and prediction of drought indices SPEI for the following 6 months, using locally developed software.

Apart from the high-resolution downscaling chain NMA makes use of all state-of-the art available information from projects such as COPERNICUS, ESA and applies specific post-processing of output from global centers, actually: SYS5-ECMWF, JMA, NCEP-CFS, in the support of extended prediction. This post processing performs predicted anomaly reconstruction (scaling model-variability into local climate observed-variability), shifting it to a same reference climatology among various models and reconstructing the predicted full-field relative to local climate.

Uncertainty: The uncertainty is estimated from perturbations of the large-scale initial and lateral boundary information in the SYS5-ECMWF system. In situations where the spread is not relevant, we apply perturbations in regional model physics.

Challenges: the main challenge is the computing resources and storage. Both extended prediction and regional climate scenarios are big consumers and require ensemble simulations to cover the uncertainties in these simulations. This even more becomes challenging when talking about high resolution as required for impact assessment and extremes analysis.

Analyses of climate variability and change use a variety of multivariate statistical techniques and statistical downscaling procedures to project the climate signals on finer scales appropriate for adaptation goals. NMA has developed datasets from climate models at the level of Local Administrative Units (LAUs) to serve local administration in planning adaptation to climate change and sustainable development.

Romania is at risk from a range of hazards, including natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, floods, and droughts), epidemics/pandemics, and technological accidents. Higher temperatures and increasing rainfall variability cause more intense and frequent flood and drought events, affecting water supply, agriculture, energy, and transport. The potential damage to natural, physical, and human assets from natural disasters can curtail economic growth, jeopardize fiscal sustainability, and affect the well-being of Romania’s population—especially in poorer counties.

Romania is prone to a range of natural disasters, epidemics/pandemics, and technological accidents. 101 catastrophic events were recorded in the country between 1900 and 2021—including 53 floods, 11 earthquakes, 20 extreme temperature events, 11 storms, and two major droughts—affecting over 2 million people, and causing nearly 5,000 deaths and more than US$17.2 billion in losses and damages. Notably, Romania is among the EU countries at highest risk of earthquakes and floods from fluvial and surface water. More than 75 percent of the country’s population lives in areas susceptible to earthquakes, with Bucharest widely regarded as the most seismically risky city in Europe.

The potential risks and damages from flooding and seismic events are on the rise due to climate change and aging infrastructure. The government liability from losses in the event of a major disaster could exceed 0.4 percent of GDP, considering the vulnerability of the residential building stock (estimated to account for more than 50 percent of potential losses) and of public assets. Romania needs to substantially reduce exposure to disaster and climate risk in both the private and public sectors, incentivize the uptake of household and public-asset insurance, and consider making use of sovereign-level financial instruments (e.g., contingent financing and catastrophe bonds). As of 2020, Romania’s building stock comprised more than 5.5 million buildings—with residential buildings accounting for more than 90 percent of the total, followed by educational and commercial buildings. Most public assets are owned or managed by local authorities, which thus have major role to play in strengthening disaster and climate resilience. Disasters also affect people’s livelihoods and well-being, pushing families into poverty. The Social Vulnerability Index shows that high levels of vulnerability correlate with low disaster resilience in peripheral rural areas, which are especially exposed to risk from earthquakes and floods. Urban areas also show signs of social vulnerability.

Disaster impacts are also increasing due to the concentration of people and economic assets and climate change. Forest fires, droughts, landslides, strong winds, and extreme heat also pose significant threats, with climate change likely to increase the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters. At the same time, adaptation readiness in Romania is relatively low, as highlighted in the SCD 2018 and the ECA CCAP. The MunichRe NatCat database estimates €12 billion of losses (99 percent of which were not insured) and almost 1,322 fatalities in the country since 1980 due to climatological and hydrometeorological events. Notably, natural disasters and climate risk disproportionately affect Romania’s poorer counties.

Climate change is causing greater variability in precipitation, leading to increasingly severe flood and drought events and attendant water security challenges. This will significantly increase the challenges of Romania’s water sector to safely provide water for consumption, agriculture, and energy production, and to protect the society, economy and environment from flooding. Water security is at stake already under current climate condition. The existing water infrastructure assets, including many reservoirs and flood defences, have significant shortcomings, and may collapse under the strain of a changing climate. Both infrastructure and institutions for managing water resources, and especially water-related risk, need urgent modernization and reinforcement.

Challenges in the water sector enhance vulnerability in energy and agriculture. More severe and frequent droughts will impact hydro and nuclear power generation, which account for around 30 and 20 percent of electricity generation in Romania, respectively. Enhancing energy-sector resilience calls for improving the management of water resources and the efficiency of hydropower generation infrastructure, diversifying energy sources, reducing demand pressure through energy efficiency measures, and investing in additional capacity to offset potential hydropower reduction during dry periods. Moreover, the agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of fragmented land holdings, inadequate agricultural extensions services, lack of modern and efficient irrigation/drainage systems that could reduce dependency on rain-fed production, and poorly developed ICT systems to share information and provide advisory and support services to farmers, particularly smallholders who struggle to access such services through traditional market channels.

Although Romania’s vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters is relatively high, its readiness to adapt remains low. Romania has been strengthening its legislative and organizational framework for disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response. However, the investment required to support effective climate policies and disaster risk reduction remains limited, with missed opportunities to maximize adaptation and the inclusion co-benefits achievable when improving public and private assets. Preparing for catastrophic events requires better cross-institutional coordination, and increased horizontal and vertical capacity. In addition, the social protection system is not well placed to adapt to climate-induced shocks, lacking capacity to integrate data on poverty and natural disasters to identify vulnerabilities. Coordination between the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) sector and the social protection system is limited, as shown by the lack of early-action trigger disbursement mechanisms to support communities in case of need.

Significant climate changes are still expected during the next decades in Romania. Soon (2021- 2050), the most pressing consequences are those related to the increase in the average monthly temperature (by more than 3 °C during the summer) and the reduction of the average monthly precipitation amounts (8-9% during the summer), under the most pessimistic scenario, with implications in electricity generation, agriculture, and water resource management. Projections also show that changes in average temperature and precipitation occur along with changes in the statistics of extreme events. The number of days with heat waves will also increase, especially in the southern, southeastern, and western regions of the country, so an increased vulnerability to heat. The intensity of the precipitation will increase throughout the country, but more pronounced in the mountain areas, which can favor flash floods. The impact of increased precipitation intensity is higher in urban areas where the soil is sealed from the atmosphere to a high degree. Averaged snow depth and snow extent have been further reduced and these trends will continue in the future. The increased evapotranspiration and the downward trend of precipitation amount in summer, corroborated with the reduction of snow depths in the cold season, the change of liquid/solid precipitation ratio in winter and changes in the seasonal cycle of river flows will favor a tendency towards reduced water supply, especially in warm season, in river basins from Southern and Eastern Romania. This pattern of change will intensify competition between different water users, such as those in electricity generation, agriculture, industry, tourism, and households. Climate vulnerability together with the climate exposure is a component of the impact of climate hazards on human systems and ecosystems. In this context, the climate-related hazards due to temperature increase (e.g., heat waves, wildfires, droughts), and precipitation modifications (droughts, episodes with extreme precipitation, floods) affect all socio-economic sectors in Romania. However, climate change will not have the same impact for all population categories. Some communities will have to face greater challenges than others. For instance, climate impacts will be stronger for those living in climate-sensitive areas, such as large urban agglomerations, floodplains or plains most affected by drought. Moreover, climate-related vulnerability is amplified by poor infrastructure but also it changes with age, sex, poverty level and chronic diseases of people. Vulnerability to climate change in Romania was analyzed for some sectors, such as energy, transport, urban environment, water resources, agriculture and forestry.

The National Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy and it’s Action Plan for the period 2016-2020, Decision 739/2016;

Romania's Sustainable Development Strategy, Decision 877/2018;

GD no. 754/2022 – National Action Plan implementing the Strategy;

The National Flood Risk Management Strategy, Decision 846/2010;

The Flood Risk Management Plans, Decision nr. 972/2016;

The law on civil protection nr. 481/2004;

Emergency Ordinance on the National Emergency Management System nr. 21/2004;

The Government Decision on risk type management nr. 557/2015;

National Strategy for the Prevention of Emergency Situations, Decision nr. 762/2008;

Law on compulsory insurance of housing against earthquakes, landslides and floods, nr. 191/2015;

The 2021-2030 Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan;

The National Rural Development Program;

The National Disaster Risk Management Plan (adopted through Decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations)

The National Strategy to reduce drought effects, prevent and combat land degradation and desertification on short, medium and long term;

The National Strategy for Forests 2030, Government Decision no. 1.227/2022.

Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests is the overall coordinator of adaptation policies in Romania.

NMA (National Meteorological Administration) is responsible for monitoring the meteorological parameters – such as air temperature and pressure, precipitations, humidity, wind speed and direction,. Also, NMA performs weather forecasting, climate outlooks and, projections. using climate model results and develops climate services related to climate hazards for agriculture, water management and tourism.

The National Administration "Romanian Waters" manages the waters of the public domain of the state and its infrastructure consisting of accumulation lakes, flood protection dams, canals, interbasinal diversions, water intakes and other specific works, as well as the national hydrological water quality monitoring infrastructure.

IGSU provides services related to management and emergency prevention, to keep risks under control and to ensure the safety of the human communities, through a multitude of response activities, such as fire prevention, first aid services , rescue of people and limitation of damage caused by floods, landslides, seismic movements, epidemics, snowfall, or drought.

The National Directorate of Forests - Romsilva manages the state-owned forest fund, in order to increase the contribution of forests to improving environmental conditions and ensuring the national economy with wood and other forest products and specific forestry services.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (MEWF) is the national authority on climate change. It coordinates the integration of environmental protection requirements in national law and sectoral policies, including setting up judicial, institutional, administrative or financial instruments in order to stimulate the integration of CC in sectoral policies according to GD no. 38/2015. MEWF also has the responsibility of reporting to international and European institutions on climate change.

The institutions that have attributions in the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and revision of the adaptation policies are represented by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests and subordinated institutions respectively ANM, ANAR, ROMSILVA, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and subordinated institutions, Ministry of Internal Affairs through the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU). Other institutions that collaborate with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests in the field of climate adaptation are the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization.

Also, at national level in 2014, the government adopted the Decision no. 1026/2014 for the reorganization of the National Commission on Climate Change.

Continuing the good practices in April 2022 it was established the Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change by adoption of Government Decision 563/2022. The members of this Body are the ministers of different Ministries of the Romanian Government, and it is led by three vice-presidents, the president being the Prime Minister of the Romanian Government.

The Local Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) have 41 offices throughout Romania at the county level. These report to the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) but are also subordinated to MEWF and may report straight to it. They are responsible for the implementation of the environmental policy and legislation.

The Romanian Municipalities Association (RMA) is represented in the Committee of the Regions in Brussels, and has a representative office there. RMA also supports and assists municipalities that have signed the Covenant of Mayors in their effort to fulfil their duties. It is an associated member of ICLEI. RMA will often fundraise for implementing projects that help their constituents complete the inventory or prepare the CC action plans. Without RMA’s in fundraising and contracting expertise, many municipalities would have difficulties in submitting their CC action plans.

The organizations representing other territorial units have expressed minimal or no interest in CC issues, including the Romanian County Councils Association, Romanian Cities Association and Romanian Commune Association. There is currently little coordination between MEWF, those associations and local authorities.

There are a few non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in environmental policies, but few that focus on CC. Terra Mileniul III, who is also the founding member of the Federation Climate Action Network Romania that is comprised of 13 Romanian NGOs and is the focal point under UNFCCC article 6.

REC Romania also develop CC projects and help improve knowledge of CC challenges and energy efficiency opportunities for local authorities, NGOs and other target groups. Greenpeace Romania also carries out awareness campaigns on climate change.

Romania transposed the Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment through Law no. 292/2018 on assessing the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment.

The authority responsible for the environmental assessment procedure is the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests and the subordinate institutions represented by the environmental protection agencies across the country.

All institutions that develop plans / projects / programs which could generate significant environmental impacts must submit and go through the environmental assessment procedure.

The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) collaborates closely with other institutions responsible for risk management.

Government Decision no. 557/2016 regarding the management of risk types establishes the assurance, at national level, of the risk type management. As follows, the IGSU is closely working together with central and/or local public administration authorities such as the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (through its subordinated institutions), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Energy or the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration.

The National Meteorological Administration (NMA) is the main organization which performs systematic observations on atmospheric climate and, to a lesser extent, on parts of sea and terrestrial climate.

NMA participates in the international meteorological data exchange with observations from a number of 23 stations in RBSN (Regional Basic Synoptic Network) and 14 stations in RBCN (Regional Basic Climatological Network). NMA freely provides a gridded daily climatic dataset over Romania (ROCADA) for nine meteorological variables (DOI: 10.1007/s11069-015-1757-z) The access to the meteorological data from the National Meteorological Fund is made free of charge or for a fee in compliance with the legislation in the field of meteorology and the internal regulations of the National Meteorological Administration.

In terms of adaptation priorities, the National Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy focuses on measures and actions for 13 priority sectors respectively, industry; agriculture and fisheries; tourism; public health; buildings and infrastructure; transport; water resources; forests; energy; biodiversity; insurance; recreation activities; and education. The proposed actions and measures tackle different types of risks and climate related events such landslides, soil erosion, storm damage, drought, floods, disease outbreaks, or the lack of access to water resources.

The main challenges, gaps and barriers to adaptation are represented by the lack of financing and institutional barriers. Due to the fact that the cooperation between different actors is dysfunctional, many of the financial sources are being lost or cannot be accessed. Another problem regarding adaptation to climate change is related to the lack of personnel that works in this field.

At present, in order to attract funding and to implement effective and efficient adaptation measures, the Romanian governmental institutions are working on establishing good relations between the different actors that have a significant role in the field of climate change adaptation.

Romania has completed its 2030 National Strategy for Sustainable Development(2030 NSSD) adopted by the GD no. 877/2018 by adopting in June 2022 the GD no. 754/2022 – National Action Plan implementing the Strategy. Through its 2030 NSSD Romania establishes its national framework for supporting the achievement of 2030 Agenda goals and implementing the set of 17 SDGs. The strategy supports Romania's development on three main pillars, economic, social and environment.

Continuing the good practices within implemented within the sustainable development area, in April 2022 it was established the Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change by adoption of Government Decision 563/2022. The members of this Body are the ministers of different Ministries of the Romanian Government, and it is led by three vice-presidents, the president being the Prime Minister of the Romanian Government. The three vicepresidents are, as follows: - the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (who can replace the president) - the head of the Climate and Sustainability Department within the Presidential Administration - the Minister of the Environment, Waters and Forests - the President of Romania can also be invited This Committee has the role to analyze the climate actions at national and sectoral level to ensure: - the coherence of the implemented mitigation sectoral policies with the national climate commitments and the appropriate contribution to achieving the EU and its Member States joint targets - monitoring progress towards the fulfilment of these commitments - proposes annual priority policies consistent with existing commitments - analyses the implementation of the National Integrated Energy Climate Plan and the objectives of the Long-Term Strategy for the GHG emissions reduction (LTS – Long Term Strategy) analyses the budgeting of the climate actions - analyses and proposes indicators to monitor the implementation of the climate policies and targets achievement - proposes the communication of a unified and coherent message on the topic of climate change

The NAS 2016-2030 mentions the need to update current building and infrastructure codes and norms in view of climate change and extreme events. The NAP also sets out a series of actions with respect to the human environment, infrastructure and urbanism, such as: improving the integration of climate change considerations in sectoral planning processes; providing capacity-building to local authorities regarding the integration of climate change considerations in spatial planning documents and processes; investing in climate resilient infrastructure; and modifying building codes and norms.

Also, also all projects, plans and programs are subject to the environmental assessment procedure.

Romania is making efforts to develop national and regional disaster risk reduction strategies and plans to ensure a proactive, multi-sectoral, multi-hazard and a whole-of-society approach, acknowledging the strong connection between disaster risk and climate change. Based upon the integrated national risk assessment results, GIES developed the National Plan for Disaster Risk Management (approved through a Decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations) and the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (currently under consultation in order to be approved through Decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations). Both are live documents, that will be upgraded and improved according to the new data obtained from the national and sectorial risk assessments, as well as the results of the monitoring and implementation mechanism.

In order to better address multi-hazard and multi-risk, as well as climate change and urban risks, GIES has initiated a project, financed through a loan from the World Bank, seeking to improve the current national methodology for disaster risk assessment and to assess a series of multi-hazard and multi-risk scenarios. The results of these activities will provide a better understanding of climate change impact on disaster risk and will fundament measures to tackle both issues.

Moreover, the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction promotes the development of sectoral- and local-level disaster risk reduction strategies and plans that take into account the disaster risk management and climate change adaptation as a whole, and addresses the need of the central and local authorities to better understand, to take informed actions and to make good use of the already available tools in order to raise resilience.

However, information regarding progress in the implementation of these actions could not be found.

The Territorial Development Strategy of Romania (Strategia de Dezvoltare Teritoriala a României, URL: http://www.fonduri-structurale.ro/[…]/7hctm_Anexe.pdf, date accessed: 16/05/2018.) adopted in 2016 mentions measures related to climate adaptation, for example, protecting cities, rural areas, and natural habitats from climate risks, preventing natural disasters, and developing urban green space and green belts surrounding urban areas.

The strategy is the document that is the basis of the entire spatial planning system (territorial planning and urban planning) at the national level and underpins: regional, county and local strategic documents (territorial development strategies, land development plans, regional development plans), operational documentation (urban planning), other national development strategies with territorial relevance and impact.

While there is still scarce evidence on the engagement with the private sector, several important projects have taken off or have been finalised recently, with the relevant involvement or benefitting the private sector.

In general, stakeholders, including some from the private sector were actively involved in the development of the National Adaptation Strategy 2013-2020 included the research sector (represented by several research institutes) and an NGO active in tackling climate change. Furthermore, during a self-assessment exercise carried out by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in 2013, the Romanian authorities reported that the private sector, various interest groups and the wider public were duly informed and consulted during the process.

One important measure recently carried out is the investment in the construction of the Metro Line 5 in Bucharest, to enable the public transport network to reach new neighbourhoods in Romania's capital city, providing easier access to the city centre for the people who live there, reducing road traffic, and subsequently the air pollution, the greenhouse gas emissions and the urban heat effect, among others. Bucharest's metro system is being extended to reach the Drumul Taberei area, including Valea Ialomitei and Râul Doamnei, with the construction of a new line stretching to the neighbourhood from the existing Eroilor station. It aims to shorten the time it takes to travel on this route by about 21 minutes. This is an important benefit to the 335 000 residents of Drumul Taberei and the surrounding areas – of which more than half are expected to use the line. The lead implementer is Metrorex, the national metro company.

Under the European Climate Initative (EUKI), a consortium of partners from Romania and Germany will undertake a project (EDAPHIC-BLOOM DANUBE) to assess the climate change impact in terrestrial vegetation and soils in the Lower Danube Plains & Danube Delta and towards Setting up a Cluster for Sustainable Development of the Lower Danube Plain and Danube Delta (involving Romanian central and local authorities, universities and research institutes from Romania and Germany, SME-s and NGO-s).

Furthermore, an important project is under implementation under the Operational Program for Administrative Capacity (Cohesion Fund, € 7,6 million jointly with the waste management component), aiming to strengthen the evidence base policies and develop simplified procedures for reducing the administrative burden of the business sector in implementing climate action. Under the same Operational Program, the RO-ADAPT project is underway with the main objective of building capacity for (primarily) climate adaptation policies, which will benefit the private sector.

Regarding the monitoring, reporting and evaluation (MRE) methodology related to reducing climate impacts, vulnerabilities, risks, and increasing adaptive capacity, according to the environmental approval of the NAS and NAP for the period 2016-2020, the responsible entities were reporting annually to the Ministry of Environment Water and Forests the registered progress regarding the actions included in the NAP.

The NAP includes several metrics or benchmarks, mostly process-based, for the implementation such the type of action, objective, timeline, responsible institutions, result indicators/unit measures, and estimated resources and their source of financing.

The progress registered by the responsible entities for the measures included in the 2016-2020 NAP was reported annually to the Ministry of Environment Water and Forests.

Over the period 2016-2020, the following studies have been started as follows:
1. Periodic update of climate scenarios using regional climate models for climate adaptation in Romania and impact assessment in the agriculture sector
2. Assessing the impact of climate change in the water resources sector based on the regular updating of climate change scenarios in Romania
3. Continuation of studies such as "Identifying the main potentially deficient areas in terms of water resources, at national level, in the current regime and in the perspective of climate change", in the context of the effects of climate change
4. Carrying out an analysis to assess the specific levels and types of irrigated agriculture that can be sustained in each of the river basins, taking into account the impacts of climate change.
5. Analysis of scenarios on the effect of climate change on the forest and the need to adapt forestry operations to new climatic conditions
6. Simulating the future distribution of species in the context of climate change and prioritizing areas where changes in the composition of forests can take place to adapt to climate change
7. Ongoing research into genetic resources and the implications of climate change for forest genetic resources
8. Revision of the network of genetic resources for forest species
9. Continue research to better understand the effects of climate change on forests and to identify scientifically sound solutions for practical action against forest pests, forest drying and invasive species evolution
10. Ongoing research to understand the impact of the effects of climate change on forests to mitigate the effects of landslides, droughts, and support the process of water resources management.
11. Development of environmental monitoring activities by conducting research studies of factors with the potential to adversely affect public health

Under the EU 2014 – 2020 budget, Romania has committed € 2.419 million for climate change adaptation and risk preventions measures (approx. € 575 million under the Cohesion Fund and € 1.844 million under the European Agriculture and Rural Development Fund). This level was increased by including measures financed through the European Regional Development Fund, leading to a final decided amount of approx. € 2,98 billion (excluding multi-thematic allocation).

To date, € 1,59 billion out of the € 2,98 billion climate earmarked funds have been spent, which represents 67% of the money committed for climate expenditures.

From the 2016-2020 NAP, over 11 main studies have been started with each one of them being in a different phase of implementation.

The overall estimated costs for the studies are as follow:
1. Periodic update of climate scenarios using regional climate models for climate adaptation in Romania and impact assessment in the agriculture sector – 0,3 mil. €;
2. Assessing the impact of climate change in the water resources sector based on the regular updating of climate change scenarios in Romania – 0,3 mil. €;
3. Continuation of studies such as "Identifying the main potentially deficient areas in terms of water resources, at national level, in the current regime and in the perspective of climate change", in the context of the effects of climate change – N/A;
4. Carrying out an analysis to assess the specific levels and types of irrigated agriculture that can be sustained in each of the river basins, taking into account the impacts of climate change – N/A;
5. Analysis of scenarios on the effect of climate change on the forest and the need to adapt forestry operations to new climatic conditions – 0,5 mil. €;
6. Simulating the future distribution of species in the context of climate change and prioritizing areas where changes in the composition of forests can take place to adapt to climate change – 0,5 mil. €;
7. Ongoing research into genetic resources and the implications of climate change for forest genetic resources – 0,5 mil. €;
8. Revision of the network of genetic resources for forest species – 0,5 mil. €;
9. Continue research to better understand the effects of climate change on forests and to identify scientifically sound solutions for practical action against forest pests, forest drying and invasive species evolution – 2 mil. €;
10. Ongoing research to understand the impact of the effects of climate change on forests to mitigate the effects of landslides, droughts, and support the process of water resources management – 2 mil. €;
11. Development of environmental monitoring activities by conducting research studies of factors with the potential to adversely affect public health – 2 mil. €.

By signing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Romania assumed the responsibility to implement dedicated measures at all levels and to monitor their results using the DesInventar database and the Sendai Monitor Report. These tools should reflect the progress towards reducing impact and risks at national and local level. Even since the Sendai Monitor Report is being used since 2018, the data collection is not consistent and there is a need to standardize the process and to address specific institutional challenges in order to ensure the final results mirror the efficiency of the strategies and action plans in place.

This need is currently being addressed by the GIES, by developing a national database for disaster loss and damage, starting from the UNDRRs DesInventar platform, as well as a national procedure for data collection and processing. This national mechanism will provide more accurate data and will ensure comparability between different data sets, thus offering a better view of the progress on reducing disaster risks.

Several aspects are highlighting the progress in increasing the adaptive capacity in recent years:
• The growing number of cities taking action under the Covenant of Mayors (16 cities currently, growing from 11 cities as of 2018);
• The reorganisation of the National Commission for Climate Change (NCCC).via the Governmental Decision 26/2014, as a framework that enhances inter-ministerial coordination towards meeting Romania’s climate objectives.
• The creation of a climate working group created under the Presidential Administration and the ongoing work ongoing in an Inter-ministerial Committee for Sustainable Development.
• The relative high rate of mainstreaming and implementation of climate actions in the sectoral measures financed via the European Structural and Investment Funds.
• The strengthening of join action on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation at national level.
• Recent incipient actions of the finance and banking sector to take into consideration climate risks in their risk assessments.
• The ongoing implementation of adaptation measures, including capacity building measures that are part of the national climate action plan 2016 – 2020.

From a total of 35 main studies from the NAP for the period 2016-2020, Romania has started 11 of them in different fields as follows:

One study in the field of agriculture and rural development, three studies in the field of water and drinking water, six studies in the field of forestry and one study in the field of public health and emergency response services.

All the studies stated above are targeting research and innovation and are addressing the barriers to adaptation.

The results obtained within the RO-RISK project have been used, where appropriate, to improved the sectorial risk assessments and to better understand interlinkages between sectors and risks.

Starting since 2020, GIES made efforts to address most of the challenges identified during the RO-RISK project: improvement of national risk assessment methodology to better include multi-hazard and multi-risk, as well as climate change and urban risk; development of a national methodology for disaster loss assessment to ensure proper and standardized evaluation of economical values of damages; development of a national database for disaster loss and damage accessible to all relevant stakeholders. Moreover, a series of multi-hazard and multi-risk scenarios will be assessed in order to get a clear view of the cross-sectoral issues and to upgrade the national plans and strategies on DRM/DRR.

As mentioned before, at present Romania is revising its National Adaptation Strategy while also working at a new National Adaptation Plan. Moreover, at present, the authorities are working on a new Strategy for Disaster Risk Management.

The Action Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change of the Municipality of Alba Iulia is the strategic document developed at the local level within the initiative of the Convention of Mayors Regarding Climate and Energy 2030, resulting from the continued collaboration of the Local Energy Agency of Alba - ALEA with the local authority, a document that frames the vision and the municipality's measures to mitigate the risks it currently faces from a climate and environmental point of view and the risks expected to increase in frequency and intensity in the future, in the short and medium term.

NMA within transnational collaboration between 14 partners from 9 different countries to the CAMARO-D project, developed an innovative transnational Guidance For Sustainable Land Use Planning (GUIDR) as a practically oriented decision support tool for the relevant stakeholders and decision-makers (http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/camaro-d).

NMA and 14 partners from 9 countries involved into an transnational cooperation (CAMARO-D) signed a common Declaration for Cooperation for the further develop various kinds of cooperation, acknowledging the importance of the coordination within the Danube river basin, taking into account the need for concerted actions and for promotion of the thematic field “protection of water resources and prevention of floods” for the general public while fostering the cooperation in the field of strategic policy.

In the framework of the project “Joint Disaster Management risk assessment and preparedness in the Danube macro-region”, NMA collaborated for improvement of coherence and consistency among risk assessments undertaken by the countries at national and local level, and especially in case of disasters intensified by climate change in the Danube macroregion. In the framework of the SEERISK project a Common risk assessment methodology for the Danube Macro-region and a Guideline for climate change adaptation and risk assessment in the Danube Macro-region were elaborated (http://www.seeriskproject.eu/seerisk/).

Into the DRIDANUBE project, ANM created a network of communicators (beneficiaries) by using questionnaires responses, contributed to estimating the impact of the drought phenomenon both in Romania and in the agricultural areas of the partner countries in the Danube region. This transnational cooperation led to improve the response to drought emergencies (strategy) and better cooperation between operational services and decision-making authorities in the Danube region at national and regional level (http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/dridanube).

Into SUSCAP project, farmers, crop breeders and policymakers worked together to identify region-specific adaptations to improve future crop resource use efficiency and productivity (suscap.meteoromania.ro).

At present Romania doesn’t have a specific framework only for adaptation but, as an example regarding the water management and floods, and agriculture, Romania has established certain policies and action that tackle this problem, at national level through the national strategies and policies and at sub-national level through specific actions, studies and measures implemented in certain areas.

However, the National Strategy for DRR and the subsequent sectoral- and local-level strategies/plans will provide an opportunity to include all the relevant DRR and CCA in a single strategic document, thus ensuring a better overview of the challenges and synergies to address both issues through integrated measures.

The line ministries, different authorities, alongside and in some cases in collaboration with certain private actors are developing plans, programmes and projects that are being applied at local, regional or national levels.

One important example of collaboration is represented by the The National Commission on Climate Change or the different working groups regarding both the elaboration and preparation of plans, strategies and programmes.

Under the RO07 Adaptation to Climate Change Program through the EEA Grants 2009-2014, the Local Environment Protection Agencies from three Romanian counties (Mure?, Bra?ov and Sibiu) have developed a set of guidelines on climate change adaptation, which further underpinned their local adaptation plans.

Constant collaboration is taking place between the local environment agencies on issues relevant for adaptation, whereby they share information and knowledge in respect to measures and actions taken in their area of responsibility, and their monitoring or measurement.

A consultation is also underway between the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and the National Meteorological Administration, with a view to develop hazard and risk maps and subsequently action plans at regional level to address the nexus of adaptation and disaster risk reduction actions, with focus on recent but impactful climate hazards like urban heat stress

Tulcea City Hall and the National Environmental Protection Research and Development Institute from Bucharest launched, on Friday, the "Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Plan in Tulcea" project, which will be completed by the end of the year. The project financed by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, through the "Environment, adaptation to climate change and ecosystems" program, set out to establish measures to improve the capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The deadline is November 2023 . The climate change mitigation and adaptation plan in the municipality of Tulcea" has a total budget of 584,832 lei, of which 85% represents the non-reimbursable European funding, and 15% the funding granted from the national budget.

Strategies and Action Plans for mitigating and adapting to climate change for Sibiu and Media? for the next eight years have been adopted.

The "Climate change - Action plan for mitigation and the necessary measures for adaptation in Sibiu county" project carried out by the Sibiu County Council, in partnership with the Babe? Bolyai University in Cluj, has ended, with all the proposed objectives being achieved.

It was financed through the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, run by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests through the RO-Environment Program "Environment, Adaptation to Climate Change and Ecosystems".

The value of the project was over 600,000 lei, within the timeframe December 16, 2021 – December 15, 2022.

The main objective was to create two action plans to mitigate climate change and, at the same time, to identify the necessary measures to adapt to these changes at the level of the municipalities of Sibiu and Media?, but also to raise awareness of their effect at the level of the authorities, the inhabitants and of all the factors involved in Sibiu County.

The Strategy and Plan for mitigating and adapting to climate change of the Municipality of Media? has reached the stage of public consultation. This important strategic document of the Municipality of Media? was developed within the project "Climate change - Action plan for mitigation and the necessary measures for adaptation in Sibiu County (SC-PAAMA-CJS-2021)", implemented by the Sibiu County Council, in partnership with Babe? – Bolyai University, Cluj – Napoca, and is financed by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, as Program Operator for the RO-Environment Program, financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021. The Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy and Plan includes a concrete analysis of the impact of climate change on sectoral areas, such as: agriculture, biodiversity, forestry, infrastructure, construction and urban planning, transport, energy, industry, management waste, health, education, as well as tourism and recreational activities. The purpose of this strategy for the Municipality of Media? is to contribute to increasing the climate resilience of natural and human systems and to orient social and economic activities towards climate neutrality. To achieve this goal, the general objectives of the strategy proposed for the Municipality of Media? are:

Promotion of operational measures aimed at ensuring climate neutrality at the level of the municipality of Media? for the 2050 horizon;Promotion of operational measures aimed at increasing the capacity to adapt to climate change of the municipality of Media?;Ensuring the fund of data necessary to manage the relevant aspects for mitigating and adapting to climate change in the municipality of Media?;Public awareness, increasing responsibility and support for measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the municipality of Media?;Strengthening administrative and management capacity for climate change mitigation and adaptation;Effective cooperation between all categories of factors involved (administration, business environment, civil society) to improve the effectiveness of measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. At the same time, the Strategy also proposes a series of concrete actions to achieve the strategic objectives.

For the sustainability of the project, the research team from the Babe? Bolyai University Cluj Napoca - Faculty of Geography has produced a Guide to good practices and awareness regarding mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Sibiu County. It contains information related to the impact of climate change on priority areas in Sibiu County, best practices for mitigating and adapting to climate change relevant to Sibiu County, as well as recommendations for local authorities in developing the strategy and action plan for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

According to several environmental NGOs, public awareness on environmental matters is estimated to be at a good level, especially regarding forests and illegal logging and, to a lesser degree, biodiversity conservation, climate change and sustainable energy. However, behavioural patterns towards sustainable choices were still lagging behind awareness, the improvement of which requires enhanced implementation of EE and ESD. NGOs are active in environment and sustainable development areas at the national and local levels contribute extensively to promoting non-formal and informal EE and ESD.

In the SUSCAP project (suscap.meteoromania.ro), in order to know the opinion of the farmers on the effect of climate change perceived in their current activity, adaptation to climate change, and also the need for specific climate products and services useful in carrying out their work, one questionnaire based on open questions were addressed to farmers cultivating wheat for consumption and for seeds. Twenty-one farmers for consumption and for seeds answered the questionnaire during interviewing period (March to June 2022).

The questionnaire addressed mainly the knowledge on adaptation measures to climate change and ozone air pollution in agriculture used in current agricultural practice, respectively measures to reduce the impacts on wheat crops.

According to SDS 2030, decision-making on sustainable development is going to be assisted by the Consultative Council for Sustainable Development established by GD No. 114/2020. SDS 2030 also proposes to establish a Coalition for Sustainable Development involving large groups (e.g. of young people, NGOs, private sector organizations, local authorities, trade unions, employers’ associations, research, development and innovation institutions, the academic community, the mass media, religious organizations, farmers, senior citizens and families), based on sustained, permanent dialogue. With all the established bodies and structure planned through the SDS 2030, Romania covered involvement of all key stakeholders in future-decision making on sustainable development.

As previously mentioned, there is no legal framework that obliges private entities and stakeholders to report directly to the line ministry responsible for the adaptation component, information on the plans/programs/projects carried out at the subnational level.Information regarding the adaptation actions at the sub-national level are presented on official channels such as the official websites of the various institutions that implement such actions. (e.g.Covenant of Mayors website, official UE websites that provide funding for adaptation actions Mission on Adaptation, National Administrative Teritoriale Units – websites etc.)

The Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, Programme Operator for the RO-Environment Programme financed under the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, launches the call for the small grant scheme (SGS-1) "Development of climate change mitigation and adaptation plans in municipalities"

The total amount allocated from the budget of the RO-Environment Programme for the small grants scheme "Development of climate change mitigation and adaptation plans in municipalities" is EUR 1.000.000, representing: EUR 850.000 (85%) - the contribution of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, i.e. grant; EUR 150.000 (15%) – national contribution.

Through the small grants scheme for "Development of climate change mitigation and adaptation plans in municipalities", the RO-Environment Programme aims to increase the capacity of local authorities to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The RO-Environment Programme will also strengthen the capacity of public entities responsible for the implementation and enforcement of European legislation and environmental strategies, i.e. in the areas of: ecosystems and biodiversity, by supporting the restoration of peatlands/wetlands, chemical pollution and hazardous waste, by increasing the capacity to address waste pollution risks, adaptation to climate change, encouraging the implementation of adaptation and mitigation plans, and integrated geographic information for the environment and the EU (improved information tools for responsible decision-makers).

Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change - The Mission focuses on supporting EU regions, cities and local authorities in their efforts to build resilience against the impacts of climate change. 10 Romanian municipalities have signed, by now, the Mission Charte.