1. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 1 Impacts and Adaptation Workgroup Draft Mandate Abigail Howells Climate Change Unit DG Environment, European Commission European Climate Change Program II – Brussels – 24/10/05

2. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 2 European Climate Change Programme l Set up in June 2000 to identify measures enabling EU to meet Kyoto targets l Feb 2005 Communication: Winning the Battle against Climate Change – reducing Europe’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change l Impacts and Adaptation Workgroup

3. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 3 The Need for Adaptation l European heat wave 2003 – around 30,000 deaths l European Floods 2002 - $16bn direct costs l Forest Fires in Spain and Portugal 2005: over 350,000 ha wooded areas destroyed

4. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 4 ECCP II - Impacts & Adaptation WG l Identify good practice in development of Adaptation Policy l Foster learning l Define EU role in adaptation policies

5. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 5 Workgroup Main Objectives l Improve Europe's resilience to Climate Change Impacts l Integration of Climate Change Adaptation into European Climate Change Policy

6. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 6 Output l Status reports for thematic meetings l Green Paper on Adaptation l Conference on Adaptation

7. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 7 Workgroup Work Programme l 10 thematic meetings:  Building national strategies for adaptation (country reports)  Impacts on water cycle and water resources management  Agriculture and Forestry  Biodiversity  Human health  Regional planning, Industrial and public infrastructure, Structural funds  Marine resources and coastal zones  Urban planning and construction  Role of insurance industry  Development cooperation

8. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 8 Research Activities m Improve modelling and adaptation planning tools in order to identify effects of climate change and vulnerabilities at regional and sub-regional scale m Undertake adaptation modelling for larger European river basins m Identify cost-effective adaptation strategies a)Call for proposals (6th and 7th FP, RTD) b)3 two-day workshops (2006)  How will climate change affect EU citizens? Scenarios of climate change at regional and sub-regional level in the EU  How to improve the resilience of European society and economy? From climate modelling to building cost effective adaptation strategies  Economic assessment of adaptation strategies

9. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 9 Timetable l November 2005 – April 2006: 10 individual sectoral meetings l May 2006: One wrap-up session to adopt individual reports l October 2006 – EC Conference on Adaptation l November 2006 – Publication of Green Paper on adaptation

10. European Commission: Environment Directorate General Slide: 10 And to conclude......Thank you for your Attention