Communicate climate change and the needs for adaptation

This should be undertaken within and outside the responsible authorities in order to raise awareness, enhance acceptance and motivate to take adaptation actions. Wirth and Prutsch (2013) identify several aspects to be taken into account when communicating climate change adaptation.

Sharing information is, among others, an essential pre-condition for good adaptation. Information on climate change, impacts and possible adaptation actions should be bundled and refined in user-oriented ways to reach different audiences. Good practice examples from other countries might further foster the adaptation process and allows learning.

Various formats for communication exist and can prove useful such as personal consultations, internet communication/platforms and mass media to spread information on climate change, impacts and possible adaptation actions.

A national web-portal gathering tailored information on climate change and climate change adaptation in the national language may reveal to be an excellent tool for disseminating relevant information. Such platform should be connected with other existing portals on sectoral policies (e.g. biodiversity, water) and disaster risk prevention/management.

Links to existing national web-portals can be found on the Climate-ADAPT country pages .