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News Archive

  • Vegetation response to water deficit in Europe

    31 Oct 2020

    Monitoring vegetation response to water deficit due to droughts is necessary to be able to introduce effective measures to increase the resilience of ecosystems in line with the EU’s nature restoration plan. Between 2000 and 2016, Europe was affected by severe droughts, causing average yearly vegetation productivity losses covering around 121,000 km2.

  • Forest fires threaten Europe’s nature as world suffers worst year on record

    30 Oct 2020

    In what was possibly the worst-ever year for forest fires around the world, the European Commissions Annual Report on Forest Fires in Europe 2019 shows that over 400,000 hectares of Europe’s natural land was burnt and an unusually high number of nature protection areas were affected by wildfires.

  • EU reveals exceptional nature, environment and climate action projects

    22 Oct 2020

    The EU’s LIFE programme has announced the winners of the 2020 LIFE Awards. The LIFE Award for Climate Action goes to the Hungarian project FIRELIFE, which focuses on providing information to teachers, social workers, farmers, and forest fire prevention experts to enhance forest fire prevention across the country.

  • Climate change undermines the safety of buildings and infrastructure in Europe

    14 Oct 2020

    Higher temperatures will accelerate corrosion of buildings, and will expose infrastructure to higher stresses, thus undermining the safety of constructions. Researchers of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change and members of the scientific network established by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, co-authored two studies, suggesting a review of the EU standards for structural design.

  • The Netherlands in 2120, a vision to adapt to climate change

    14 Oct 2020

    Wageningen University & Research has drafted a vision on what it believes a climate-proof Netherlands could look like in 2120. Green cities, circular agriculture, and more forests, water and swamps are feasible in 100 year from now. Similar vision building will be used for European purposes as well in the future.

  • When floods strike, the EU LIFE programme is there to help

    12 Oct 2020

    In Europe, floods are on the rise due to climate change. These extreme weather events often result in human tragedy, loss of life and economic losses. The environment also suffers with wildlife habitats being destroyed and water bodies being polluted. Several LIFE projects are working hard to alleviate the situation.

  • Europe urgently needs to step up adaptation to climate change impacts

    12 Oct 2020

    Despite the increasing awareness of climate change impacts and the need to adapt, many of Europe’s cities and towns are struggling to handle the impacts of heatwaves, severe droughts and destructive floods. Two new European Environment Agency (EEA) reports stress the urgent need for action to improve adaptation and resilience at local and national government levels.

  • Climate risk drivers, hazards, and consequences in the Baltic Sea Region

    09 Oct 2020

    The EU project Community Safety Action for Supporting Climate Adaption and Development (CASCADE) reports an overview on the climate risks drivers, hazards and consequences in the Baltic Sea Region. The report illustrates cascading consequences of climate hazards for the region by collecting local examples.

  • New LIFE climate action projects: applicants seek nearly €500 million in EU funding

    07 Oct 2020

    In response to the EU LIFE programme’s 2020 call for climate action projects, the European Commission has received 258 new proposals. This represents a 55% rise on last year’s figures. It also shows a growing commitment to tackle and adapt to climate change. Applicants come from all Member States and the proposed projects have an estimated total cost of approximately €978 million.

  • Horizon 2020 projects added on Climate-ADAPT

    02 Oct 2020

    Three ongoing and four recently finalized Horizon 2020 projects have been added to Climate-ADAPT’s catalogue of highlighted Research and Innovation Projects. The recently published projects include: CASCADES, CLARITY, ClimeFish, NAIAD, SOCLIMPACT, ThinkNature, and URBAN GreenUp.