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Paris Agreement Overshooting – Reversibility, Climate Impacts and Adaptation Needs

Overshooting the Paris Agreement temperature thresholds could have serious consequences, especially for vulnerable regions and sectors facing potentially irreversible effects. A full consideration of the impacts and adaptation needs under the overshooting scenarios thus requires a risk threshold perspective integrating emission pathways, terrestrial system feedback, regional to local impacts and context-specific vulnerabilities

Method to assess climate risks to real estate

Together with various real estate parties, the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and Climate Adaptation Services are working on a standard approach to assess the physical climate risk for real estate portfolios. A standard approach is desirable to create a level playing field in which there is transparency about the method and data used, and the assumptions underlying them.

Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network

Preventing, preparing for and responding to disasters requires strong cooperation, coordination at many levels and a combination of skills and expertise. The Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network aims to strengthen the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in all these aspects

Transboundary water knowledge exchange hub

The Transboundary water knowledge exchange hub serves as a knowledge exchange and discussion space where water practitioners directly share their experiences, case studies and their ideas related to transboundary water cooperation, as well as to share upcoming opportunities and events. There is an invitation to join if people are: Working on transboundary water management on global, regional, national or basin level; Researching topics adjacent to transboundary cooperation, international water law or water diplomacy; Advocating for greater cooperation between countries on transboundary water resources The objectives of the Community are: to facilitate the translation of knowledge into actions for improving transboundary water cooperation and management create an interactive space for knowledge exchange among transboundary water practitioners outside of virtual events connect professionals on a global level to facilitate creation of new knowledge products foster the culture of peer-to-peer learning

Using water to cope with heat waves in cities

Investments in water supply services and infrastructures can help cities in their efforts to become more resilient to the negative effects of global warming and of heat waves. These measures can consist in different packages of grey interventions such as :   Building, repairing and maintaining fountains for drinking and cooling   Cooling by water spray (fountains and recreational water features, such as splash pads and spray parks)   Cooling by wetting streets   Repairing historic drinking fountains and installing new ones creates more opportunities for people experiencing the negative effects of heat in the city

Water sensitive urban and building design

Water in cities is increasingly recognised as a valuable resource. About 30 % of Europe’s population is affected by water stress during an average year ( EEA, 2021 )

Adaptation of groundwater management

Groundwater is an essential source of freshwater, accounting for about one third of the total world’s available water. However, groundwater resources are being rapidly used up at an alarming and unsustainable rate

Floating or elevated roads

Road transport infrastructure prone to flooding needs to be flood proofed to reduce the potential negative impacts of these events on transport routes and ensure connectivity of the road network, accessibility to or - if necessary - evacuation from flooded areas. Available options to reduce the negative impacts of flooding include use of appropriate design and materials, structural protection measures (flood protection barriers) and regular careful maintenance

Floating and amphibious housing

Floating and amphibious houses are built to be situated in a water body and are designed to adapt to rising and falling water levels due to river floods and storm surges. Floating houses are permanently in the water, while amphibious houses are situated above the water and are designed to float when water levels rise

Adaptive management of natural habitats

Biodiversity provides a wide range of ecosystem services (provisioning, regulation and maintenance, cultural services) which are essential for the human well-being. Among the others, these services play an important role in regulating the climate, thus making a key contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation

Awareness raising campaigns for stakeholders’ behavioural change

This adaptation measure encompasses actions that promote awareness in order to encourage individual and societal behavioural changes to address the altered conditions under climate change and to promote adaptation measures. Not all stakeholders are aware and informed about their vulnerability and the measures they can take to pro-actively adapt to climate change

Agroforestry

The EU Commission defined agroforestry as land use systems in which trees are grown in combination with agriculture on the same land. In agroforestry, woody perennials are deliberately integrated with crops and/or animals on the same parcel or land management unit, without the intention to establish a remaining forest stand

Groynes, breakwaters and artificial reefs

Groynes, breakwaters, and artificial reefs are grey adaptation measures commonly implemented to counteract erosion and wave action in coastal areas (or in some case in rivers).   A groyne is a shore protection structure built perpendicular to the shoreline of the coast (or river), over the beach and into the shoreface (the area between the nearshore region and the inner continental shelf), to reduce longshore drift and trap sediments

Establishment and restoration of riparian buffers

Riparian buffer strips are linear bands of permanent natural or semi-natural vegetation adjacent to streams and rivers. A general, multi-purpose, riparian buffer design consists of a strip of grass, shrubs, and trees between the normal bank-full water level and more intensively used land, such as cropland, roads, built-up areas

Storm surge gates and flood barriers

Storm surge gates and flood barriers are fixed installations that allow water to pass in normal conditions and have gates or bulkheads that can be closed against storm surges or high tide to prevent flooding. They can close the sea mouth of a river, the sea mouth of a waterway or a tidal inlet

Cliff strengthening and stabilisation

Coastal cliffs can be differentiated according to their morphology and structure: cliffs can be loose – sand, silt, clay, marl and chalk – or hard, made of limestone, sandstone, granite and other rocks. Loose cliffs are more prone to erosion and landslide than rocky cliffs, which  are more characterised by rock or block fall

Restoration and management of coastal wetlands

Coastal wetlands (tidal marshes, or salt-marshes ) are saltwater and brackish water wetlands located in coastal areas . Coastal wetlands also include areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres ( Ramsar Convention )

Water reuse

Access to an adequate supply of water is central to a sustainable future, especially considering climate change is expected to exacerbate water scarcity problems in several European regions. The reuse of water is considered as an adaptation measure as it reduces the pressure on water resources and increases water security and resilience

Seawalls and jetties

A seawall is a structure made of concrete, masonry or sheet piles. It is built parallel to the shore at the transition between the beach and the mainland or dune, to protect the inland area against wave action and prevent coastal erosion

Water restrictions and water rationing

In dry regions or regions that face water shortages due to recurring droughts, water restrictions and water rationing are commonly applied soft measures. Water restrictions limit certain uses of water, for example irrigation of lawns, car washing, filling swimming pools, or hosing down pavement areas

Improved design of dikes and levees

Dikes and levees are hydraulic structures that are built to retain water: Dikes usually run parallel to a water body (such as a river or a sea) and have water only on one side. Dikes were first built to reclaim land from the sea and thus protect land that would naturally be underwater most of the time

Adaptation of flood management plans

According to the European Environment Agency, the consequences of pluvial, fluvial and coastal floods in Europe will overall worsen as a result of increases in intensity and frequency of flooding events due to climate change ( EEA, 2016 , 2020) By 2050 in a business-as-usual scenario, there could be a nearly fivefold increase in the annual economic losses resulting from floods in Europe ( SWD(2019) 439 ). Floods can be caused by: (i) heavy rainfall or meltwater, when the infiltration capacity of the soil is exceeded; (ii) rivers, when discharges overpass the capacity of water courses and water exits from usual riverbeds, spreading across the land, (iii) or storm-surges responsible for coastal flooding

Sector Engagement for C3S: Translating European User Requirements

Climate change will have a wide range of impacts such as rising sea levels, increase risk of flood, drought and heat waves. Organizations need to plan for the impact and challenges that our changing climate will bring therefore having the appropriate tools and data to make evidence-based decisions is essential

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