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Newsletter

Dear reader,

We are pleased to present the first issue of the

newsletter of the “South East Europe Forum on Climate

Change Adaptation”, containing information on current

project activities, updates from the civil society

organization (CSO) networks in Croatia, Macedonia,

Montenegro and Serbia, as well as relevant news

related to climate change and disaster risk reduction in

South East Europe (SEE).

The idea of the IPA project “SEE Forum on Climate

Change Adaptation” has been jointly developed by the

Austrian, Croatian, Macedonian and Montenegro Red

Cross with the main purpose to raise awareness about

the humanitarian consequences of climate change in

the SEE region. In cooperation with the Serbian project

partner, the Centre for Monitoring and Evaluation, the

Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre in the Hague,

the World Wide Fund For Nature and the Institute for

Economic Promotion of the Austrian Federal Economic

Chamber, this project shall contribute to an increased

participation of CSOs in national and regional co-

operation on climate change adaptation.

We hope you enjoy reading our newsletter and for

more detailed information on our project, please visit

www.seeclimateforum.org!

EU Acquis Trainings focusing on Climate

Change Adaptation As an integral part of the “SEE forum on Climate Change

Adaptation” project, members from all four national

networks from Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and

Serbia will receive an EU acquis training. Participants

shall get acquainted with existing legislation of the EU

on climate change adaptation and identify the existing

gaps in their country’s legislation with a view to their

aspirations to become EU members. The training will

tackle these issues by provision of know-how, exchange

of knowledge and experience and transfer of best

practice cases from Europe in climate change

adaptation strategies. The trainings will take place in

October 2011 in Podgorica and Zagreb, and in

November 2011 in Skopje and Belgrade, facilitated by a

representative of the Federal Environment Agency from

Austria.

Regional Training on Advocacy Strategies 3 – 4 November 2011; Belgrade, Serbia

As part of the project activities, a regional training on

advocacy strategies will take place in the beginning of

November 2011. The aim of this training is to develop

and strengthen advocacy capacities of the network

members from Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and

Serbia.

PROJECT EVENT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

In this issue:

Climate Risk Assessment Training

EU Acquis Trainings

Training on Advocacy Strategies

News from National Networks

Other Regional CSOs News

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The training will build on the existing advocacy

knowledge and practically develop the network

members’ lobbying skills, helping them to develop

strategies to bring their key messages from their

national climate risk assessments to decision-makers

and opinion leaders. The training will be facilitated by

an expert of the Institute for Economic Promotion of the

Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

Climate Risk Assessment Training 14 -16 September 2011; Struga, Macedonia

In view of strengthening the CSO networks’ capacities in

elaborating national climate risk assessments, a regional

training was held in Struga (Macedonia), from 14 to 16

September 2011. The workshop was organized by the

Macedonian Red Cross with the support of the Austrian

Red Cross, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate

Centre, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The workshop was attended by over 40 participants,

from different sectors and backgrounds, such as CSOs,

governmental institutions and hydro-metrological

institutes from Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and

Serbia. They had the opportunity to find out more about

climate vulnerability assessments, their purpose and

added-value. Further, inputs on experience and best

practice in climate vulnerability assessments provided

by the RC/RC Climate Centre and the WWF deepened

the participants’ understanding on the topic and lead to

the identification of methods for assessing climate

related risks focusing on national and sectoral

vulnerabilities.

At the same time potential gaps, such as the availability

of scientific data, were addressed and potential

synergies discussed.

Participants got a clearer picture of the complex process

of climate risk assessments and elaborated their

national terms of reference along the network’s priority

areas, to be used for the risk assessment.

As regards the purpose of the envisaged assessments,

which shall be finished by mid-2012 and brought

together on a regional level, almost all present network

members agreed to use it for awareness-raising and

communication, educational work and planning of

further actions in the field of climate change and

disaster risk reduction.

Macedonian Network participants

The beautiful venue of the training at the Ohrid Lake

contributed to a good working atmosphere and the

workshop strengthened the CSO network members’

expertise to conduct national climate risk assessments.

On this occasion ties among network members from all

four countries were strengthened, which contributed to

valuable regional exchange and cooperation.

REGIONAL PROJECT

EVENT REVIEWS

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Montenegrin Network

“Climate Response”

The Montenegrin network “Climate Response” was

established and mobilized within the IPA project “SEE

Forum on Climate Change Adaptation”. The network

gathers together CSOs from Montenegro, working in the

field of environmental protection, education,

democracy development, humanitarian assistance,

social affairs and in the business sector. The network

represents a platform for cooperation between its

members, with the purpose of raising awareness within

general public and decision makers about climate

change and its consequences.

“Climate Response” fosters the promotion and

implementation of the highest standards in climate

protection and adaptation, in order to reduce the

vulnerability of Montenegrin population, especially the

most vulnerable groups (e.g. elderly people, children,

people with limited access to health care) and to foster

sustainable development.

Members of the Climate Response Network

The focal point of the network “Climate Response” is

from Montenegro Red Cross, and other members are

Juventas, European Movement Montenegro, CAZAS,

Green Home, Ozon, MEDCEM, DOO Telenor, Telecom

AD Montenegro, Electric Power Company Montenegro

AD, Winsol, Agency for Local Democracy, University of

Mediteran and University of Donja Gorica. The network

is also supported by the Ministry of Tourism and

Sustainable Development, Institute for Public Health,

REC, Hydro-meteorological Institute of Montenegro and

Agency for Environmental Protection.

After the initial network meeting, which took place in

April 2011, a tree planting action was organized,

together with the representatives of the Ministry of

Tourism and Sustainable Development and Gorana. This

action was in line with the message from International

Federation of Red Cross – one tree for each volunteer.

Tree planting action in Montenegro

At the moment the Montenegrin network, as well as

partner networks in Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia are

in the process of developing national climate risk

assessments in view of identifying major climate

challenges and elaborating recommendations for

solutions on policy level.

CSO NETWORKS IN SEE

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Priorities of the Macedonian Network

“Climate Reaction”

The Macedonian CSO network “Climate Reaction” was

formed in the framework of the IPA project “SEE Forum

on Climate Change Adaptation” in May 2011. It gathers

CSOs from Macedonia, working in the fields of

environment, education, development, democracy,

humanitarian and health assistance, social affairs and

business.

Joint Policy Priorities Workshop in Macedonia

During a policy priorities workshop held in June 2011,

network members decided on their network priorities

for the next two years, taking into consideration the

second national communication on climate change in

Macedonia.

The network’s priorities are in the fields of health,

disaster risk and response, agriculture and forestry,

water and energy. Specifically, the network will focus on

heat waves and UV radiation, hygiene, floods, fires and

earthquakes, irrigation water, droughts, desertification,

water temperature and quality, energy efficiency, solar

and hydro energy.

The purposes of the network are to involve CSOs in the

decision making process regarding the climate change

issues in Macedonia, to inform the public about the

causes and consequences of climate change and to have

a bilateral information exchange between civil society

organizations and relevant institutions.

Croatia: Network for Climate Change

Adaptation

Joint Policy Priorities Workshop in Croatia

The Croatian network for climate change adaptation,

initiated by the Croatian Red Cross, gathers CSOs from

environmental, humanitarian, economic and social area

of work and interest. The network represents a

platform, raising awareness on the influence and the

consequences of climate change in the Republic of

Croatia, in particular within the general population,

decision makers and governmental institutions. The

network further works on the promotion of sustainable

development, disaster risk reduction influenced by

climate change with special focus on vulnerable groups

at all levels of local and regional self-government.

The network’s policy priorities were defined during a

workshop held in Zagreb in June 2011, and they are in

the areas of water, energy, agriculture and forestry,

land use and transport, health and disaster risk

reduction. The network will use various strategies, such

as public campaigns, press and other media visibility to

raise awareness of decision makers and the general

public about necessity of climate change adaptation

(CCA) and damage control of climate change. The

network coordinates the cooperation between CSOs,

governmental institutions on all levels of local and

regional self-government in CCA. Network members

exchange information on practical and expert level,

both in the regional and international framework.

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Serbian Climate Forum -

Adaptation for the Future

The Serbian CSO network formed in the framework of

the EU project “SEE Forum on Climate Change

Adaptation”, is called “Climate Forum” and was

established in April 2011. In September 2011 a

Memorandum of Understanding on the official

formation of the network was signed by 17 CSOs from

all over Serbia that will act together on emphasizing

that climate change is a concern of the Serbia.

The goal of the Serbian network is to form partnerships

among social, economic, humanitarian and

environmental organizations to deal with the challenges

they face in the area of the environment and climate

change. On top of that, the network will be active in

raising awareness of the relationship between climate

and development among the general public, state

institutions, decision-makers and business sector, but

also advocate international climate justice. A valuable

perspective on the humanitarian aspect will be given by

the Red Cross of Serbia.

“Climate change will have very significant and negative

socio-economic consequences. This general threat

requires adaptable management, which enables the

participation of all relevant sectors”, said Duska

Dimovic, the director of the WWF program in Serbia.

“One of the goals of the project is to improve the

sustainable management of natural resources, with the

focus on the functionality of different eco-systems”,

Dimovic said.

Serbian Network MoU Signing

“Not only is the cooperation in the field of climate

change among social, economic, humanitarian and

environmental CSOs inappropriate on the national or

local level, but a regional communication platform is

also missing. This project will create a platform for the

transfer of knowledge, exchange of best practices and

joint action in raising awareness and lobbying of all

interest groups for the climate change adaptation”

pointed out Marko Savic, program director at the Centre

for Monitoring and Evaluation, and the national project

coordinator in Serbia.

Disaster Risk Reduction Gains Importance

for UN-EU Partnership 13 September 2011; New York, USA

Following the opening of the 66th session of the United

Nations, the UN-EU Partnerships Report for 2010 was

issued. It emphasizes the increasingly important role of

disaster risk reduction in the activities of the United

Nations and the European Union.

This is the first time that the United Nations

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)

has contributed to the UN-EU Partnership Report

marking the shift in perspective of the partnership from

dealing with crisis to strengthening resilience. “There

can be no question that reducing vulnerability to risks is

infinitely preferable to fighting the human suffering and

economic consequences of crises,” says the report.

Read the entire article on UNISDR website or read the

report here.

NEWS

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4th International Scientific Conference on

Energy and Climate Change 23 – 24 October 2011; Athens, Greece

This year the 4th International Scientific Conference

“Energy and Climate Change” of the Promitheas Net will

take place from 13 to 14 October 2011 in Athens. The

Scientific Committee invites scientists, researchers, PhD

candidates and policy makers from all over the world to

participate. Further information is available on the

conference website.

Serbian Cities Join World Disaster

Reduction Campaign 14 September 2011; Serbia

Serbia has shown a lot of progress in disaster risk

reduction and is now taking a significant step towards

establishing a National Platform for Disaster Risk

Reduction. It has been announced that 32 Serbian cities

have now formally joined the World Disaster Reduction

Campaign – Making Cities Resilient: "My City is Getting

Ready!" The announcement followed the meeting

between the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, and the

UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for

Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström. The two

officials discussed Serbia’s efforts to shift the country

focus from an emergency reactive approach towards

pro-active disaster prevention and risk reduction

strategy. Read the whole article here.

Serbia joins DRR campaign

Start of the „Twinning project” in

Montenegro

The “Twinning project” is a form of partnership

between administrative bodies of EU member countries

and countries that are candidates for EU membership,

and it started in Montenegro in May. The aim of the

project is to prepare the National development plan of

Montenegro and to define relevant rules, procedures

and institutional framework needed for the

implementation of this plan. On the national level, this

document will define developing regions and set

priorities within these regions, and will be used as a

governmental framework for defining its annual policy

priorities. The Agency for Environmental Protection of

Montenegro will update greenhouse gasses inventory

which will be used for the preparation of Second

National Communication to United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This will be

one of the major activities that Agency is conducting in

this year.

Training for EU Funding & Programmes for

Croatian Organisations 27 - 28 October 2011; Zagreb, Croatia

The training focuses on the evaluators perspectives and

answers the following questions: How to prepare a

competitive proposal? How can I make sure that my

idea fits fully the call’s topics? What are the differences

between the evaluation procedures of IPA, SF, FP7 and

other EU programmes? Europa Media in cooperation

with two IPA experts organizes a 2-day practical seminar

particularly designed for Croatian organisations. The

goal is to provide practical information enabling them to

win EU projects. For more details please visit:

www.eutrainingsite.com/121

FUNDING POSSIBILITIES

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PUBLICATIONS The SEE Transnational Cooperation

Programme

The South East Europe Transnational Cooperation

Programme aims to develop transnational partnerships

on matters of strategic importance, in order to improve

the territorial, economic and social integration

processes and to contribute to cohesion, stability and

competitiveness of the region. Through the programme

and its priority axis “protection and improvement of the

environment” project in the field of water management,

flood risk prevention, cooperation in management of

natural assets and protected areas, as well as in energy

and resource efficiency can be funded. The last call of

this programme is foreseen to open in October and to

close in November 2011. Further information on the call

and on national contacts points are available on:

www.southeast-europe.net

Calls for Proposals:

Supporting CSOs' contribution in designing,

implementing, promoting and monitoring of sustainable

development and environment protection policies

Cross-border Programme Serbia – Montenegro under

the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance

Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Guide

The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Guide is based on

five years of experiences from more than thirty national

Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, particularly in

developing countries. The guide deals with the

experience of Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and

volunteers trying to understand and address the risks of

climate change. It contains basic information about

climate change: the general implications, humanitarian

consequences and scientific consensus. Its six modules

(Getting started, Dialogues, Communications, Disaster

management, Community-based disaster risk reduction

and Health) are structured to show real-life experiences

and perspectives, a 'how-to' section and specific step-

by-step guidance.

IPCC Report — Climate Change Impacts

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

report, 'Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and

Vulnerability' says the global environment is already

affected by climate change and that the increase in

global temperatures will lead to an augmentation in

drought, flooding and changes to seasonal patterns.

Although many of the most vulnerable regions are in

developing countries in Africa, Asia as well as island

communities around the globe, the entire global

community will be affected. As a result, efficient

adaptation measures should be coordinated at local,

national, regional, and international levels. Read more

on the impacts on Europe here.

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Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster

Risk Reduction in Europe: A Review of Risk

Governance

This study was published by the Council of Europe and it

aims to analyse climate related disasters risk reduction

governance in the European context. It particularly

focuses on the flow of information from researchers to

policy makers and the way in which the decision-making

process in climate adaptation and risk reduction is

commonly managed. The study is limited to Europe and

investigates practical cases of European regional and

national adaptation strategies. It also looks into specific

projects and initiatives addressing Climate Change

Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction The entire

document can be found here.

Climate Change – Health Adaption Strategy

and Action Plan of Macedonia

The goal of the Climate Change – Health Adaptation

Strategy is to plan climate change adaptation measures

so as to enable the health system to prevent and/or

overcome present and future risks. This system should

be able to respond promptly to the risks and problems

for people’s well-being and health that are expected to

result from climate change in Macedonia. This strategy

was developed by the climate change and health

committee of the Ministry of Health, with the support

of WHO/Europe within the project “Protecting health

from climate change – A seven country initiative”,

supported by the German Federal Ministry for the

Environment, Nature Conservation of Nuclear Safety.

A Climate for Change: Climate Change and

its Impacts on Society and Economy in

Croatia

This study was published within the Human

Development Report of the United Nations

Development Programme in 2008. It is a comprehensive

publication on climate change in Croatia and its

implications for health, water resources, tourism,

agriculture, fishing industry etc. It also deals with the

possibilities of climate change mitigation and offers

further recommendations. Click on the image to read

the report.

Protecting Health in an Environment

Challenged by Climate Change: European

Regional Framework for Action

The main concern of the Regional Framework for Action

is health: protection, promotion, security and the

providing of healthy environments in a changing climate

in the WHO European Region.

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It was developed by the European Climate Change and

Health Task Force, chaired by the United Kingdom and

Serbia, with the participation of eight countries, the

European Commission, the European Environment

Agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention

and Control, the Health and Environment Alliance, the

Regional Environment Centre. WHO/Europe acted as

the secretariat for the Task Force, which was open for

participation to all Member States and agencies in the

WHO European Region. Read or download the

document here.

The Initial National Communication on

Climate Change of Montenegro to UNFCCC

The Initial National Communication on Climate Change

of Montenegro to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is important

both for the fulfilment of the obligations following the

ratification of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol,

and because it can serve as the basis for future activities

relating to climate change in Montenegro. It deals with

national circumstances, greenhouse gases, vulnerability

and adaptation to climate change and possible

constraints and requirements. This document was

produced by the Ministry for Spatial Planning and

Environment and the UNDP Mission to Montenegro, as

well as a large number of institutions of the system,

international and national technical experts.

The Economic Impacts of Climate Change

in Montenegro: A First Look

The Ministry for Spatial Planning and Environment with

United Nations Development Programme in

Montenegro has prepared a study intended to assess

economic losses created by adverse effect of climate

change in Montenegro. The areas that the report deals

with are agriculture and forests, tourism, water

resources and human health in Montenegro.

It assesses models and methods, gives preliminary

estimates and suggests ways in which the existing

analytical and institutional capacity can be improved.

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