• The Black Forest area in Germany. Forest management strategies have been developed  to increase the capacity of the forests to tackle on-going climate change and improve the areas resilience to heavy storm events.

• Local stakeholders concerned about the effects of climate change on the area (changing climate will directly influence reproduction, mortality and growth of the forests, and will have different impacts on different tree species)L

• In 1999, the 'Lothar' storm destroyed large productive  forest areas.

• The project MOTIVE

  (Models for AdapTIVE  Forest Management under Climate Change): simulation tool currently used to examine the effects of storms and climate change for several scenarios.

• Allows them to evaluate management strategies that  were developed in close collaboration with local stakeholders.

• The Bavarian government's Climate Change  Programme 2020:  encompasses several ecosystem-based initiatives.

• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions + aims to enable areas that are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change to best adapt to these impacts by 2020.

• Trees can be altered based on height and location in order to be most residence against serious storms.

• To implement the adaptation component of the Bavarian Programme, EUR 84.7 m was made available from German national funds for the  period from 2008 to 2011, of which EUR 7.5 m  is reserved for mountain forest protection and EUR 15 m for the forest redevelopment  programme.

• An addition EUR 350 m has been  provided for the next four years to specifically address the conditions in Bavaria with tailored  measures that address the fields for example;  water, forests and forestry, agriculture, and health.

  
  

  #2 Desalination for water supply (Barcelona/ Regional)

• The aims of this is to respond to water scarcity and droughts by increasing water supply.

• The droughts that have occurred have been “coped” with through boat imports.

• The desalination process is energy intensive and expensive, so countries try and find other alternatives in order to make potable water.

• However, with few choices, Spain constricted a desalination plant following am extended drought.

• This plant can deal with 200 000m3/ day and has been fully functional for 20% of Barcelona’s drinking needs since July 2009.

• Named “desalination plant of the year in 2010”

• The project has received funds from Generalitat e Catalunya and Barcelona county as well financial assistance from the EU Cohesion Fund. In 2012, the plant was privatised and is now managed and operated by ACCIONASA (Spain) and BTG Actual (Brazil).

• This is an example of a “grey action” due to technological and engineering solutions.

• This is an example of an “accommodate” strategy as they are accommodating for the drought.

  
  

• Use of new plant material to adapt to increased temperatures and changing hydrological regimes

• Adjusted silvicultural and management programmes including shorter rotation and harvest periods to reduce impacts from storms

• Improved forest roads

• Development of forestry machinery that can operate on non-frozen waterlogged ground

However, currently there are very few adaptation measures to mitigate the increasing threat of forest fires

This is a green action, designed to try to retore the floodplains of the Danube in Austria. The reduction of the wetland area of the Danube has in turn caused the risk of flooding and pollution in the area to increase significantly. The total floodplain of the Danube has been reduced by 68%, therefore efforts to restore the area are necessary and vital to the landscape, and to reduce the risk of further climate change implications.

• Since 2000, WWF secured an agreement to restore an area of 2236km2 of floodplain, and to form a 9000km Lower Danube Green Corridor. This area is designed to reduce flood risk, improve biodiversity, and improve water quality.

This is a national scale, green action, that will in turn help to adapt to climate change, as the restoration of these floodplains should reduce flooding in the local area, and also serve other ecological benefits for local biodiversity. Furthermore, 19% of the areas that are proposed to be restored were said to have a 'very high' restoration potential, meaning that the task in some areas is simple, and also will be very meaningful

One way the Spanish government aims to reduce vulnerability of plants to droughts is by implementing reforestation programs that feature a variety of tree species. Having forests consisting of multiple species means that if a disease affecting a specific tree species arises due to a drought, then the other species will not be affected.

Increasing temperatures & drier conditions are factors that will likely contribute to an increased number of forest/wild fires. To try and reduce the impact of this the government have taken a number of steps such as ; ensuring forests are not too dense to limit spreading, improving fire-fighting technology/techniques and appropriate selection of trees that are more resistant to the fires.

The Pan-European involves the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) and the European Drought Observatory (EDO).

The EFFIS provides the European Commission services and European Parliament with up-to-date information about wildfires in European. This enables affected countries to be given up to a week's notice of potential danger from forest fire, enabling communities to prepare and, if necessary, evacuate, in order to limit loss of life. and infrastructure.

The EFAS was developed at the Joint Research Centre and provides flood warnings across Europe up to 10 days in advance as well as an overview of ongoing and forecast floods and useful information for preparation and management of aid during a flood crisis. This again enables communities across Europe to prepare for such an event.

The EDO was also developed at the Joint Research Centre and provides Europe-wide drought indicators based on precipitation, soil moisture, and photosynthetic activity of vegetation cover, and up to 7 day forecasts of developments in soil moisture levels. This early warning enables communities across Europe to prepare for drought, by, for example, conserving water, so that the impacts of the vent are less severe.

The benefits of a single Pan-European system include that countries get an 'extra layer' of warning from a supranational body, as well as from their own authorities and also that the impacts of multilateral hazards can be predicted across the entire effected area, rather than in individual countries. This can help to make predictions more reliable on a continental scale.

• In 2000, WWF secured agreement to restore 2 236 km2 of floodplain to form a 9 000 km Lower Danube 'Green Corridor'. This corridor is intended to attenuate floods, restore biodiversity, improve water quality, and enhance local livelihoods.

• The protection and restoration of existing floodplains is vitally important and must take into account the highly dynamic characteristics of the river and wider ecosystem.

• Restoration of the pilot plots has seen a diversification in local employment to fishing, tourism, reed harvesting, and livestock grazing on seasonal pastures.

• Before the restoration, the 2005 flood cost EUR 396 m in damages. - Restoration of the 37 sites that make up the Lower Danube Green Corridor will cost an estimated EUR 183 m, but will likely generate additional ecosystem services worth EUR 85.6 m per year.

• Following restoration, the number of resident breeding bird species increased from 34 to 72. - Highlighting the success of the scheme.

  
  

  
  

• Public forests dominate in the central, east, and south-eastern part of Europe (where they make up more than 80 % of the forested area), whereas the average percentage of publicly-owned forests in western Europe is around 30 %

• Several studies indicate that private forests provide more market-based goods such as timber, while public land produces relatively more energy wood, as well as multiple-use goods and services such as recreation, and provision of drinking water