Agronomy

Research Organisation Partners

• University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty
• University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engeneering
• University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine
• University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism

Abstract

Slovenia is developing a climate change (CC) adaptation strategy in which regional development agencies will play an important role. Although theSlovenian Environment Agency has prepared calculations of trends in meteorological variables and CC projections up to the end of the century, thereis still no regional analysis of all the specific impacts of CC. Such an analysis would systematically identify the most important consequences foreach statistical region (hereinafter referred to as region). In addition, the projections may be difficult to understand for regional decision makers.Therefore, the main objective of this project is to develop baselines that will later enable an assessment of the sectoral vulnerability of regions to CC.This will form the basis for the formulation of appropriate CC adaptation measures in regional action plans.

The methodology will include a review of existing studies and data on CC and sectoral vulnerability in the regions, with a focus on CC impacts suchas high temperatures, droughts, floods and landslides. The following sectors were selected for closer examination: drinking water supply, forestry,agriculture, health and tourism. After the review, a further sectoral analysis by region adhering to the IPCC methodology for determining vulnerabilitywill follow. However, due to limited resources, this will not lead to a final assessment of vulnerability in all sectors. Instead, it will at least provide thebasis and recommendations for identifying which regions need a more specific vulnerability analysis for which sectors. In part, we will also draw onthe results and methodology of the national sectoral vulnerability assessments, which are expected to be produced at the same time. Thespecificities of each region, including their governance capacities in the area of CC adaptation, will be identified through a policy analysis focusingon the 2021-2027 generation of regional development programs and interviews with key decision-makers in the region. The basis for this analysis isthe study on the foundations for the preparation of risk and opportunity assessment due to CC for Slovenia, which was prepared by the BiotechnicalFaculty of the University of Ljubljana in 2014. Although the regional development programs were not specifically analyzed at the time, this was oneof the first cases in which CC was considered at the regional level. The analysis of the regional development programs determines the extent towhich CC is taken into account in the analytical part of the development plan for the region as well as in the objectives and development priorities.The measures from the implementation part of the program are analyzed in detail. This analysis also takes into account additional sectors(economy, energy, infrastructure and transport) that are not specifically included in the vulnerability analyzes. In addition to the measures included inthe rural development plans, projects relevant to CC adaptation that are not funded through development plans but through transnationalcooperation programs are also identified for each region. As the regional development agencies are key actors in the elaboration of the adaptationstrategy, an important step of the project will be to identify the level of awareness and knowledge about CC. This includes how much importancethey attach to it, how they assess it and how they incorporate it into development planning and the implementation of measures at regional and locallevel.

At the end of the project, the regional development agencies will have region-specific sectoral baselines in which the main impacts of CC and thevulnerability of each sector have been identified, or in which specific areas have been identified that require more detailed analysis in the next step. Atraining plan for key regional stakeholders will also be developed. 

Researchers 

• 36716 - Tjaša Pogačar 
• 55851 - Zala Žnidaršič 
• 28550 - Naja Marot 
• 28495 - Matjaž Glavan 
• 31232 - Rozalija Cvejić
• 10801 - Andrej Bončina 
• 27615 - Andrej Ficko 
• 28501 - Matija Klopčič 
• 57390 - Žiga Malek 
• 57231 - Nina Stubičar 
• 11062 - Zalika Črepinšek 
• 27570 - Maja Turnšek 
• 30714 - Marjetka Rangus 
• 19443 - Nataša Atanasova 
• 15622 - Primož Banovec 
• 15249 - Barbara Čenčur Curk 
• 24253 - Timotej Verbovšek 
• 30640 - Andreja Kukec 
• 38867 - Tanja Carli 
• 56419 - Tanja Rejc 
• 57069 - Ajda Mlakar 

The phases of the project and their realization

WP1: Identification of the impacts of climate change for each statistical region (M1-M10)

WP2: Identification of sectors in each region that will be significantly affected by climate change, and determination of the exposure (and vulnerability) level of each sector and its adaptive capacity (M3-M24)

WP3: Assessment of the integration of climate change impacts into regional development programs (M4-M20)

WP4: Assessment of the current awareness and knowledge in the field of climate change adaptation (M12-M22)