Reduction of soil consumption and surface unsealing in urban areas
Description Urbanization is transforming land formerly used by agriculture or as a natural area into artificial and sealed surfaces. The impermeabilisation of surfaces, as a consequence of increasing urbanization, leads to loss of essential surfaces for rain water infiltration. The climate change brings the increase of extreme weather events including heavy rains. As a consequence, […]
Adaptation through integrated land-use planning
Description Integrated land-use planning involves the allocation of land for different uses balancing economic, social and environmental values at national or sub-national levels. It is the process of supporting decision makers and land users in selecting the best combination of land uses to meet multiple needs of people, while safeguarding natural resources and ecosystem services. […]
Measures to reduce urban runoff
Description Extreme precipitation events are the climatic drivers of urban runoff and urban flooding, and are expected to increase in the future due to climate change. Urban runoff does not only depend on the intensity of rainfall events but also on the degree of soil permeability. In the natural environments the meteoric waters are washed […]
Green roofs
Description Green roofs are multi-layered extensions of a building roof, partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a drainage layer. Green roofs serve several purposes for a building and the surrounding environment. Primarily, they slow down storm-water runoff by increasing evapotranspiration that also decreases the air temperature. There are two […]
Climate proofing of building codes
Photo by Scott Blake Description The building sector is challenged by a number of climate change impacts, including increase in temperature, higher frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events and sea level rise. Rising temperatures and extended heatwave periods can increase urban heat islands, internal and external thermal discomforts and the demand for energy […]
Climate smart pest management
Prepared by: dr.sc. Milan Pernek, Head of the Division for Forest protection and Game Management, Croatian Forest Research Institute Description Mass tree mortality caused by a sudden increase in pest population can have extremely detrimental effects on forest ecosystems, which is reflected in biodiversity loss, lost carbon sinks and severe disturbances in ecosystem functioning. Climate and environmental […]
Adaptation of transport infrastructure and services
Description The transport sector is challenged by a number of climate change impacts, including temperature change, increasing extreme weather events and sea-level rise. Rising temperatures and extended heat-wave periods can increase rail buckling, pavement deterioration and thermal discomfort for passengers in vehicles. Weather extremes generating floods or landslides can lead to both short-term and long-term […]
Early warning systems
DESCRIPTION Early warning systems (EWS) are usually key elements of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and aim to avoid or reduce the damages caused by hazards. To be effective, EWS need to actively involve the people and communities at risk from a range of hazards, facilitate public education and awareness of risks, disseminate […]
Rehabilitation and restoration of rivers
DESCRIPTION Rivers and their floodplains are subject to many human uses that can alter their hydrology, morphology and connectivity. Many European rivers and floodplains have been significantly modified over the past decades, for example by straightening the river course to allow navigation, draining floodplains to gain agricultural land or to allow for urban development, building […]
Disaster Risk Reduction using eco-system services – Eco-DRR
Description Disasters, whether large or small in scale, cause great destruction, as well as human and economic losses, and with that hinder the progress towards sustainable development. According to data of the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Office (UNDRR, 2019), over the past decades the number of disasters has been in constant increase throughout the world, […]