SUCCESSFUL START AND MANY INITIATIVES TO COME
The National conference on topic “Implementing innovative measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Bulgarian municipalities” was held on 26.04.2024 with the aim to discuss how to prepare our cities for the risks of urban flooding and drought, urban heat island effect, urban landslides – i.e. how to preserve the health and lives of the citizens, how to protect urban infrastructure and urban nature.
During the past three years, eight municipalities in Bulgaria, in partnership with the National TrustEco Fund, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) and the Western Norway Research Institute (WNRI), have been working to improve the capacity of local authorities to analyze their policies in the field of climate change adaptation in an urban environment, take decisions and implement pilot measures to adapt to urban-specific threats and risks, occurring as a result of the climate change.
These are first measures in implementation of the National Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Environment. Threats and risks for each of the eight settlements have been reported and analyzed and thus the selection of measures (whose implementation has already been completed) has been made.
The implementation of the concrete measures having started, the joint expert team of the municipalities of Burgas, Varna, Kardzhali, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sliven, Sofia and Stara Zagora focused its efforts on the discussions of possibilities for improving the policies, legislation and educational programs. These discussions involved the participation of experts, universities, professional chambers.
This was namely the aim of the conference – to present the philosophy and practical implementation of the project in front of a wide range of stakeholders, as well as to continue the discussion on key issues, related to the policies, legislation and education in the field of climate change adapatation.
The conference was also attended by mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities that are members of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. We are grateful for their participation and contribution to the expansion of the community of the local authorities, who have become ready and are already implementing adaptation measures.
A common understanding has been reached that the model, created under the partnership project, could be applied in the other municipalities in Bulgaria. This will require even larger institutional initiatives for improving the capacity of the local authorities, all relevant institutions and professional communities.
The conference was held within the framework of a project of the National Trust Eco Fund, financed by the Environment Protection and Climate Change Program of the European Economic Area. It was attended by representatives of the Norwegian partners under the project, ministries and agencies, municipal administrations, National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, professional community of architects, urban planners, higher education institutions, non-governmental organizations implementing climate action.
