Chișinău, 30 October 2019

EU4Climate workshop on climate change adaptation

Ruslan Havryliuk (National Ecological Centre, Ukraine) and Dr. Roman Corobov (Eco-TIRAS River Keepers, Moldova) have advocated for more direct involvement of civil society in the planning and implementation of mitigation and adaption measures at the Regional Workshop on Adaptation Planning and Mainstreaming of Climate Risks into National and Sectoral Planning Processes.

The Forum representatives Havryliuk and Corobov drew the attention of the workshop participants to the role of civil society in tackling climate change and highlighted the importance of adaptation for all six EaP countries beyond 2020. Furthermore, they informed the participants that Working Group 3 “Environment, Climate Change, Energy Security” of the EaP CSF suggests to tackle the issue of climate change as a cross-sectoral issue. Dr. Corobovan, as an expert on climatology and climate change, commented on the methodology and approaches towards assessing vulnerability. He emphasize that vulnerability assessment is a mandatory and indispensable element of any adaptation process. The Forum representatives called on the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to work more closely with the non-governmental organizations included in the national platforms of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.

The EU4Climate project envisages the development of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) for the Eastern Partnership countries. This is an ambitious goal for EaP legislative and governmental levels. Considering that all countries have expressed an interest in supporting the project to develop adaptation plans (Moldova for its revocation), the Forum’s working groups of the National Platforms should be involved in the process of their preparation and consider issues at their meetings. NGOs should pay attention to the possibility of attracting funding to their countries to implement climate change adaptation projects.

Since the consequences of climate change will affect every country and each of its inhabitants, mitigation and adaptation measures are most effectively realized under the auspices of civil society. Good examples are the large-scale forest planting carried out in Moldova in spring and autumn, or the Dniester River day, annually organized by the non-governmental organization “Eco-Tiras” (Chisinau). The Forum representatives presented their ideas of a joint Moldova-Ukraine project on the topic: “Strengthening of public and civil society participation in the promotion of transboundary adaptation to climate change in the Dniester River basin”.

The EaP countries should pay more attention to the exchange of experience and knowledge on climate change adaptation. One of the most important issues on the EaP level is strengthening of transboundary cooperation. Overall, consideration should be given to comparing the progress of the EaP countries on climate change adaptation to ensure the most effective implementation of the EU4Climate project.