Climate change and resilience in the Western Balkans

Climate change and resilience in the Western Balkans – the latest from UNEP Western Balkans Climate Resilience Workshop Vienna, 11 May 2016 UNEP Vienna Programme Office – Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention 1

Why mountains matter 2

Environmental challenges in mountains Extractive industries Transport Hydropower/ Infrastructure Tourism Climate change Waste 3

UNEP’s portfolio on mountains Climate change Env. Governance EBA Mt. Flagship Project, REGATTA, Cc and adaptation in the Alps, Climate change in the Carpathians etc. Carpathian Convention, transboundary institutional mechanism: Caucasus scientific network, ICSD (Central Asia), Africa Ecosystem Management ECOPOTENTIAL – use of Earth of Observation in Protected Areas, Great Apes Partnership Survival (GRASP) Chemicals and waste Global Mountain Waste Outlook, extractive industries/mining (South East Europe) Environment under Review Assessments, Atlas, policy briefs, UNEP-Live, etc. Global Mt. Partnerschip, SDGs/Post-2015 and mountains, collaboration with global MEAs (UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD) 4

“Climate change action in developing countries with fragile mountain ecosystem from a sub-regional perspective” Duration: 2014 -2017, Total: 1. 75 Mio. EUR co-financed by Austria (UNFCCC FSF) Objective: Support to mountainous developing countries to integrate mountain specific climate change adaptation into relevant development policies/plans/strategies from a sub-regional perspective - Understand climate change vulnerabilities and impacts (synthesize information) - Analysis of relevant policies and frameworks and bottlenecks - Trigger policy action from a sub-regional perspective - Inter-regional exchange of experiences with other mountain regions (in particular regional mechanisms: Alpine and Carpathian Convention and HKH/HICAP) Main Outputs: Ø Participatory assessments (synthesis) related to climate change and adaptation Ø Establish (inter)-regional cooperation platforms and support development/review of sub-regional climate change action plans/strategic agendas etc. in context of relevant institutional mechanisms Targeted regions: East Africa, Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, Andes 5

Partners (not exhaustive): Launch of “Mountain Adaptation Outlook series” high-level side event COP 21, Paris, Int. Mountain Day Current state (synthesized) of knowledge and information related to climate change and adaptation in targeted mountainous sub-regions: 2015: Balkan, Caucasus 2016: (Tropical) Andes, East Africa, Central Asia 2017 (planned): Hindu Kush Himalayas, Carpathians UNEPs inter-regional project “Climate change action in developing countries with fragile mountainous ecosystems from a sub-regional perspective” (funded by Government of Austria) Identified priority action towards promoting/development of mountain agenda on the sub-regional level (implementation of Rio+ 20 outcome!) Participatory governmentally owned approach (East African Community, Interstate Commission for Sustainable Development, etc. ) With support of the Government of Austria and further cofinancing support by Government of Norway 6

Objectives of the Assessments • • • State and trends of climate change Vulnerability of mountain ecosystems to climate change Climate change adaptation policies and strategies Policy gap analysis Priority areas for future action 7

Launched at COP 21 in Paris, 2015 8

The Western Balkan Mountains 9

Climate change in the Western Balkan Mountains • Western Balkans Mountains a hotspot for climate change • Increase in temperature above the world average • Increase in extreme heat days • Decreased precipitation • Heat and less rain combine to make the region drier 10

Key risk sectors covered: • • • Water Land resources Agriculture Forests and biodiversity Energy Transport, infrastructure and communication Mining Tourism Human health 11

Key risk sectors: Water 12

Key risk sectors: Agriculture 13

Examples of policy coverage of sectoral risks 14

Gap analysis • Whether the policies adequately cover the climate change risks Findings: • Lack of mountain focus • Most sectors lack coverage on some or all scales (local, national, sub-regional etc. ) • Need for increased coordination • Lack of forward looking policy responses • More Specific gaps are presented per sector 15

Created through a participatory approach National experts from the Western Balkans countries participated in workshop in Budva, Montenegro 6 -8 July, 2015 To validate findings and provide further input Also, questionaires responded to by national focal points 16

Next steps Building on Series of Regional Mountain Adaptation Outlooks: Interregional Regional/ national o Share of experience and knowledge between mountain regions (following same methodology used for outlooks) o Establish (inter)-regional cooperation and dialogue and foster development of projects based on experience exchange: Mountain cluster within GAN Network? o Support development/review of sub-regional climate change action plans/strategic agendas etc. in context of relevant institutional mechanisms (e. g. High Andean Initiative, EAC, ICSD) to guide further coherent development of activities & initiatives o Catalysing concrete follow-up action (project ideas, etc. ) promoting climate change adaptation in mountains using financial and technical assistance programmes and facilities 17

Road infrastructure in the Western Balkan Economic growth is expected to bring a massive growth in infrastructure and transportation needs • high vulnerability to climate change; • high pressure on land usage; • high fragmentation of landscapes;

Climate Change impacts on Road Infrastructure Higher temperatures can cause pavement to soften and expand, leading to rutting, blow-ups, potholes, stress on bridge joints; Climate change expected to increase frequency of phenomena that pose severe danger to road infrastructure such as: • • flooding landslides wash-outs wildfires The need for adaptation measures, especially in the transport sector, is urgent;

In the pipeline Project: “Enhancing Environmental Performance and Climate Proofing of Infrastructure Investments in the Western Balkan Region from an EU integration perspective” Project Objective: To reduce vulnerability of road infrastructure to climate change in the WB by mainstreaming EU best practices on climate proofing infrastructure and green infrastructure Total Budget: 1, 7 Million Expected Duration: 2016 -2019 Planning and capacity building for climate resilient road infrastructure in WB

The project aims to: • Strengthen national capacities to understand respond to emerging climate related risks through strategic integration of climate proofing measures and green infrastructure into infrastructure development; • Establish regional and national frameworks for integrating climate proofing measures and green infrastructure into infrastructure development; • Create an enabling environment for investments in and funding opportunities for climate proofing and green infrastructure in the WB; Adapting to present and future climate conditions Broad concept of climate proofing- including green infrastructure

Green Infrastructure as an adaptation measure Green infrastructure is multifunctional and can be a cost effective tool for climate proofing Environmental benefits + Climate change adaptation and mitigation benefits + Ecosystem based risk reduction = Safer and more resilient road infrastructure example: use of protection forests in Austria

Thank you for your attention! 23