CIRCLE 2- Adaptation Inspiration Book

Submitted by Michael Rastall | published 20th Mar 2013 | last updated 5th Jan 2023

For the first time a large survey has been done to collect measures that have been taken to adapt to climate change in Europe. This study which focused on implemented measures only use the criteria: we have to be able to take a photo of it.

22 Case studies of early adaptors in Europe have been collected and visualized in the Adaptation Inspiration Book, made as part of CIRCLE-2, a European Network of 34 institutions from 23 countries committed to fund research and share knowledge on climate adaptation and the promotion of long-term cooperation among national and regional climate change programmes.

It is CIRCLE-2's hope that this book and its inspirational case studies will inspire and teach professionals, policy makers and researchers to initiate their own local adaptation projects or improve current strategies and plans for adapting to climate change.

The Adaptation Inspiration Book provides detailed information on each identified measure: to which sector it belongs, (i.e. water safety, agriculture, cities), specific climate effects adapted to, length of the project and costs and benefits, including the proportion of the budget project leaders indicated was allocated specifically to adaptation. Their comparison yields some insight into success factors of the project, and into what are ad- ditional benefits of these case studies. Although specific attention has been paid to find case studies from all over Europe, due to the Northern and Western European’s leading role in climate change adaptation research, these countries are responsible for the majority of case studies included in the Adaptation Inspiration Book. The identified measures tend to focus on water management (19 percent), biodiversity (19 percent), city planning (14 percent) and disaster risk reduction (14 percent) and most often tend to find adaptation solutions for flooding (72 percent). In 14 of 22 case studies, adaptation to a changing climate was the main motivation. Flood prevention and erosion were examples of triggers for measures in those case studies for which climate change was not the main driver.

Contact

For more information on CIRCLE-2 or the Adaptation Inspiration Book
Tiago Capela Lourenço
Email address:
[email protected]
Telephone: +351 217 500 939
Fax: +351 217 500 939

Further resources

  • Suggested citation:

    Pijnappels, M., & Dielt, P. (2013). CIRCLE-2 Adaptation Inspiration Book.