ClimatePrep

Pushing Adaptation Policy: Not an Easy Task

This story is part of a series on adaptation in the Danube-Carpathian region.

Flock in flight. Danube River on the Romanian/Bulgarian border © Anton Vorauer/WWF-Canon

Compared to other river systems such as the Ganges river in south Asia, the Danube basin is not likely to be dramatically affected by climate change. Nevertheless, some parts of the river basin will probably suffer from more droughts. Floods are already increasing in intensity and frequency. So it’s high time for the nineteen countries in the Danube basin to start thinking about climate change adaptation (CCA) and to adjust their policies accordingly!

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Restoring resilient freshwater ecosystems in the Danube Delta, Ukraine

This story is part of a series on adaptation in the Danube-Carpathian region.

Morning over the Danube

When WWF first started working in the Danube Delta back in the mid-1990s, it wasn’t in the name of climate change adaptation. However, WWF’s main goals – implementing model sites to show how large-scale wetland restoration can be beneficial to both people and nature – are right in line with what adaptation work is all about; that is to reduce the vulnerability of the Danube’s ecosystems and natural resources to the effects of climate change via preserving/reestablishing the natural processes of ecosystems and decreasing other non-climatic pressures.

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First Encounters

This story is part of a series on adaptation in the Danube-Carpathian region.

“For this freshwater strategy meeting, we should invite someone from the climate group, you know, to see what they have got to say.”

“Ok, let’s see who we can contact.”

This is more or less how it all started in the summer of 2008. We had a WWF-DCP (Danube-Carpathian Program) freshwater strategy meeting to come up with a transformational goal and ideas for our work on the Danube river of central and eastern Europe over the next five years. This river has been the ancient source of life, livelihoods, and culture for millennia in Europe. Today, it crosses the boundaries of 19 nations — arguably the most politically complicated river basin the world.

WWF-DCP tries to be the “vision keeper” for the Danube across all of those countries.

Fishermen on a boat carrying wood. Danube Delta, Romania Project (c) WWF-Canon / Michel GUNTHER

Climate change is something we hadn’t incorporated into our vision as of yet. So we invited John Matthews, WWF-US freshwater climate change adaptation specialist, to present on climate change adaptation (CCA). He singlehandedly changed the way I looked at the world with his hour-long presentation.

One sentence I remember most vividly from this presentation is, “We need to learn how to take decisions in the face of great uncertainties.” He was the first one I heard saying that CCA is not about consulting accurate climate models and deducting your strategies based on available scientific data, but rather finding a new way of planning and non-precise decision making for all of our conservation work – in other words allowing for adaptation as we continue collecting more information on how climate change will impact the Danube region.