Urban climate change adaptation plan for Gdańsk

URBAN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLAN

FOR GDAŃSK

by Joanna Zbierska | joanna.zbierska@gdansk.gda.pl

The Urban Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Gdańsk until 2030 was adopted by the City Council in 2019 in response to the key environmental problem that have emerged in recent years, such as climate change and the need to adapt to its effects.

This plan includes a vision and scenarios of the future, the main goal and specific goals of the city’s adaptation to climate change, which should be achieved through the implementation of selected adaptation measures in the six most sensitive areas of urban activity, which are: water management, preservation of biodiversity, transport, high-intensity residential development, public health and the needs of vulnerable groups, energy.

The basis for the development of the Urban Adaptation Plan were, among others: an agreement with the Ministry of the Environment and a ministerial adaptation manual for cities. This plan is linked to documents adopted at international, Community and national level, as well as regional and local legislation. The adaptation measures are consistent with the EU and national policies in the field of adaptation to climate change. They also fit into the development policy of Gdańsk expressed in strategic and planning documents.

The adaptation plan is aimed at reducing the city’s susceptibility to extreme phenomena and increasing the potential to counteract and combat their effects. It contains a diagnostic part in which the climatic phenomena and their derivatives affecting the city are described, and also the city’s sensitivity to these phenomena and the ability to independently deal with the effects of climate change were assessed. For Gdańsk, a high level of risk resulting from climate change has been estimated for water management. In this sector, a very high-risk concerns flood protection infrastructure, especially in the face of such phenomena as: torrential rains, sudden urban floods. mented in order to increase the City’s resilience to the current and predicted changes have been defined. The plan includes information, education, organizational and infrastructure activities.

The document also contains information on entities responsible for individual activities, financial framework, monitoring indicators and evaluation principles. The key tool for ensuring social acceptance of the Urban Climate Change Adaptation Plan is the Gdańsk Climate Change Forum established last year. Its first online edition took place on November 25, 2020.

The main goal of this initiative is to strengthen the process of open planning, which involves the widest possible participation of residents, representatives of the academic sector, and non-governmental organizations.