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Workshop addresses security risks related to climate change

On 12 October 2020, the CBSS Secretariat (PA Secure and HA Climate) and the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) Sustainable City Commission co-organised an online workshop within the EUSBSR 11th Annual Forum: Reducing security risks related to the climate change and mainstreaming climate agenda in EUSBSR after 2020.

There are several current climate change-related security risks that have been identified in the region. The CASCADE project is looking into these and searching for models, tools and recommendations, such as risk assessment methodologies focusing on climate change risks, tailor-made for the local level, and specifically for the BSR. The workshop participants discussed the results of the CASCADE project, looked into the new EUSBSR  Action Plan and the ways of integrating climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction into it, the also explored the potential for policy dialogues on climate change and risk reduction and on the opportunities for climate change cooperation in the region.

The workshop resulted in the following recommendations/solutions:

The CASCADE project demonstrates, the importance of strengthened political and public support for  Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as well as improving the work in DDR by:

  • Tailoring the Sendai Framework to the regional context and its challenges;
  • Strengthening multilevel and cross-sectoral cooperation to enable a common, coherent approach in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation;
  • Developing stronger coordination mechanisms for effective planning of implementation and cooperation as well as information exchange;
  • Increasing the systemic support from the national level for local-level planning;
  • Improving guidance and support (incl. financial);
  • Integrating climate adaptation across all policy areas and relevant sectors.

Cooperation on macro-regional climate change issues can be strengthened by:

  • Establishing strong leadership to approach the climate agenda holistically, using a common language, benchmarking performances and exchanging practices.
  • Utilising existing institutional capacity and forums to strengthen the climate agenda in the EUSBSR, in order to meet the EU climate policy goals.
  • Having a focal point that will be responsible for driving the climate agenda in the BSR and ensuring efficient facilitation of raising climate issues through different strategic instruments.
  • Building a consortium of regional organisations with relevant experience and stakeholder groups that would ensure proper implementation of climate objectives.