Governments and local authorities globally, in the face of risks associated with a changing climate becoming more tangible, are seeking solutions to safe guard the long-term prosperity of their people and their livelihoods from instability.

 

The Polish Government, as part of its wider efforts to curb and mitigate the effects of climate change, has brought together a consortium of organisations, including the National Research Institute of Environmental Protection, the National Research Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, the Institute of Ecology in Industrialized Areas and sustainability consultancy firm Arcadis, to develop plans to mitigate damage from severe weather to its larger cities.

 

The consortium will work with 44 cities, whose populations are each above 100,000. These cities house around 30% of the country’s population and generate around 50% of its GDP. To safeguard the cities, the consortium will work together to identify and analyse the kinds of adaption and mitigation challenges each city may face, draft a host of plans which require local authorities to meet the challenges, indicate sources of funding and raise awareness for the need of adaptation.

Pawel Salek, Deputy Minister of Environment and the Government’s Climate Policy Representative, remarks about the contract, “Cities are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. The Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change in Urban Areas aim at make cities more resilient and at adapting them to the changing environment.”

 

back to news