Background (Climate change adaptation activities in Hungary)

The Programme for Adaptation to Climate Change in Hungary has been started in 2013 with financial support of the European Economic Area Grant. It is focusing on three areas:

1. Development of a geo-information system for the national adaptation to climate change;
2. Local climate change adaptation capacity building;
3. Pilot projects focusing on climate change adaptation measures at local and regional level.

The National Adaptation Geo-information System (NAGiS) has been established with the aim to support strategic planning and decision making related to the adaptation to climate change in Hungary. To have targeted and sustainable adaptation strategies, detailed quantitative information on climate change is of key essence. The most essential input of this information system is served by the climate data (i.e., past observations and future projections), provided by the Hungarian Meteorological Service in the framework of the RCMGiS project. Based on this information, quantitative impact studies are carried out in different sectors (hydrology, agriculture, tourism, critical infrastructure etc.) in the framework of various projects (for further details please see the webpage of the Programme). Outcomes of the objective impact assessments point towards the actions to be taken in order to mitigate or exploit climate change impacts. The programme puts special emphasis for using uncertainty information in impact studies and to communicate uncertainties towards decision makers.

Objectives

Important objective of the programme is to establish partnerships with the donor countries (especially Norway) and countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Aims of these co-operations are to discuss experiences in climate research, adaptation to climate change impacts, climate-related communication, and to find possible consortium partners for future calls of H2020 on climate change and adaptation.

Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) will be also represented on the workshop. Attendance of Copernicus representatives significantly helps to promote the understanding on climate change and can stress how Europe in general faces to the climate change and how all this can be applied for a smaller region like Central and Eastern Europe.

Topics Participants Date: 6–8 June 2016

Location: Budapest, Hungary (headquarters of the Hungarian Meteorological Service)

Scientific Organizing Committee Local Organizer: Gabriella Szépszó, Regional Climate Modelling Group, Hungarian Meteorological Service, Budapest; e-mail: szepszo.g@met.hu

Flyer: [PDF]