Aware Self-governments React to Climate Change
Partners: City of Spisska Nova Ves, Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia
The role of KRI: Project management and expert supervision
Duration: August 2010 – April 2012
Financing: Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme – UNDP; Ekofond, non-investment fond and its founding authority SPP; THERMO/SOLAR Žiar s.r.o., British Embassy in Bratislava
Slovak municipal and regional self-governments’ awareness of climate change and its impacts on their respective territories and of the possibilities to mitigate those negative impacts and adaptation to them has increased. A pilot scheme – “Strategy of the Town of Spišská Nová Ves Concerning Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” has been drafted.
Within the scope of this project, a guidebook entitled Climate Change and Local Development – A Challenge for Self-governments was published. The publication offers detailed yet comprehensible information on climate change impacts at global and national levels, description of mitigation processes and measures, description of legislative and strategic frameworks and examples of best practices. For much of the information contained in the publication, it is the first time ever these were published in Slovakia (and Central Europe).
The national conference “Climate Change and Development – Challenge for Local Governments” (Bratislava, 29.3.2012), organised as a part of this project by CDI, the Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia and the UNDP Regional Centre, was a great success. The conference, which was intended for elected and executive members of local self-governmental authorities and for relevant organisations, aimed at increasing motivation to act and indicate the ways said authorities could use to react to threats and opportunities brought about by climate change. Close to 100 participants received up-to-date information on climate change impacts in Slovakia, on the possibilities to react to those at local level and on best practices. Speaking at the conference were Slovak, Czech and British experts on climatology, water management, green areas, energy matters and public administration. Moreover, the event formed the basis for an informal platform open for experts and institutions working together to mitigate climate change impacts at local level (including the formation of supporting legislative framework).
