Planning to tackle climate change

Topics: Climate change ,

Published: Jul 02, 2007 Last modified: Apr 13, 2011

'While the worst effects of climate change may not hit Europe for many years we must prepare now. Climate change will have profound effects on our natural resources and will also change the way we go about our daily lives. We will not only lose biodiversity but also large parts of our territory, for example low-lying coastal areas and river basins as sea levels rise,' said EEA Executive Director, Professor Jacqueline McGlade, at the ESPACE initiative in London on Friday.

Few European countries are seriously imbedding climate change in to planning systems.

EEA Executive Director, Professor Jacqueline McGlade

ESPACE (European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events) is a four-year European project promoting the importance of adapting the entire planning process to the impacts of climate change.

Professor McGlade said that few European countries are seriously imbedding climate change into planning systems. 'While national strategies to adapt to climate change do exist in several European countries there are huge gaps. As we look out across Europe we see very little happening on adaptation despite the stark warnings from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Planners and planning authorities have a vital role to play.'

She also praised ESPACE for being one of the first transboundary projects for raising awareness on the need for spatial planning systems to adapt to climate change, establishing trans-national and sub-national networks and contributing to EU policy development.

A Green Paper on adaptation will be published by the European Commission on 3 July 2007.

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