WATERADAPT

Over the past few decades, Europe has had to cope with difficult weather conditions and climate-related natural hazards, particularly those related to water: heavy rainfall, water stress, rising sea levels, salinization of groundwater, flooding, etc. These phenomena affect both coastal and mainland areas and are interdependent. Their frequency and intensity are expected to increase as a result of climate change. European regions may be affected at the same time by all these risks. It is therefore necessary to move from a sectoral approach to a holistic approach to local water management, and from thematic management to global planning, so that all public policies - urbanization, GHG emissions, etc. - contribute to the management of water-related risks. All types of regions face the same challenge: acquiring in-depth knowledge, assessing vulnerability and providing smart solutions to strengthen global resilience. In response to that situation, the European Commission adopted its strategy on adaptation to climate change (2021) which defines the conditions for climate resilience by 2050.
In this context, seven regional and local authorities (DK, FR, IT, NL, SK and AL), supported by an EU network and think-tank as advisory partner, are joining forces and pooling their experience to develop the WaterAdapt project which aims to improve the implementation of policies at regional and local level in the field of water adaptation, in order to strengthen their overall resilience.
Interregional learning is being used to: 1. improve knowledge tools about water-related risks and draw on good practices from other partners; 2. establish a better link between planning and operational action in the territorial adaptation to water-related risks; 3. strenghthen the capacities of partners and their regional and local stakeholders.