Climate change mitigation - Why care? (Croatia)

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing modern society. Despite the fact that greenhouse gas emissions from Croatia account for less than 0.1 % of global emissions and the country has some of the lowest per capita emissions in Europe compared to other Kyoto Protocol Annex I countries, the effects of climate change will not be avoided.

It is estimated that climate change in Croatia will mainly affect the sectors of agriculture, fisheries, hydropower and tourism. These sectors account for 25% of the Croatian economy, employ almost 600.000 people and represent a total annual GDP of 9 billion €. During 2000–2007, due to extreme weather conditions (drought, frost and hail), the agricultural sector suffered estimated losses of EUR 176 million per annum on average. This is equivalent to 0.6% of GDP or 9.3% of the Gross Value Added (GVA) generated in agriculture, forestry and fisheries [1].

Since increase in extreme weather conditions frequency and intensity is expected in the future due to climate change, it is necessary to develop, based on climate models, an estimate of certain climate parameters (precipitation, temperature) for  Croatia and their impact on the above sectors.