Search
Tajikistan is among the Central Asian countries most severely affected by climate change. This is evident from the growing incidence of natural disasters, such as landslides, floods and droughts, and a general decline in the availability and quality of water. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, large areas were deforested to meet the need for fuelwood, especially during the severe civil war from 1992 to 1997. This now makes the country more vulnerable to climate change and exacerbates its negative impacts.
Many pastures in the mountain areas of Azerbaijan are in bad condition. High numbers of livestock and bad management practices lead to a loss of vegetation and subsequent soil erosion. Degraded pastures result in a loss of biodiversity and livelihoods and a rising risk of landslides. Estimated temperature rise and an increase in extreme weather events will accelerate land degradation. Even though a rise of rainfall might be beneficial for pastures, changing land uses and increased evaporation will amplify soil erosion.
MEDACC is a European LIFE project which tests innovative solutions geared towards adapting Mediterranean agroforestry and urban systems to the impacts of climate change. It contributes to the design and development of adaptation strategies and policies being implemented regionally and nationally in the Euro-Mediterranean area. In Catalonia, the project has been a highly valuable tool relative to implementation of the Catalan Climate Change Strategy (ESCACC 2013-2020).
The LIFE MIXforChange project contributes to adaptation and greater resilience of Europe's mixed sub-humid Mediterranean forests in the face of climate change by ensuring their conservation and maintaining their productive, environmental and social functions The project’s main challenge is to define new forest management models which address climate change, involving different types of formations within sub-humid Mediterranean forests. These natural formations constitute ecosystems which are highly vulnerable to climate change.
Agroecology consists in adapting agriculture to the effects of climate change. It supports knowledge of and respect for natural ecological processes with a view to increasing the resilience of estates/farms. It also promotes management and usage practices for land and water which respect the natural environment, and encourages landowners to maintain agrobiodiversity on their land. Practices to improve biodiversity enable farms to imitate natural ecological processes and to better respond to the consequences of climate change.
The initiative focuses on the recovery of the river space of the river Arga and on the establishment of a new river corridor , all compatible with human activities, the reduction of the risk of flooding in the Arga, the reduction of the risk of flooding in the the urban centre of Funes and with the maintenance, conservation and improvement of the existing habitats for the existing habitats for the European mink. The reconnection of the meander of Soto Sardillas in the River Arga is the largest river restoration project in Spain.
Cork oak (Quercus suber) groves are unique ecosystems which are sensitive to the effects of climate change. The Life+ SUBER project has been launched to conserve examples of these ecosystems at the Mediterranean end of the Pyrenees. In addition to gaining knowledge on the vulnerability of these formations, the project aims to improve forest management to make these areas more resilient and improve their productivity and economic viability.
The village of Erill-la-Vall in the Spanish Pyrenees is heavily affected by erosion and debris flow problems, where sediments are fed from tributary creeks and into a main debris flow channel leading to the village. The source area consists of thick (>50 m) deposits of glacial till. The annual precipitation of the area is about 1100 mm/year, mainly in the fall and spring. However, intensive showers in July-August seem to have the worst effect on the debris flow potential.
A new agroecology project based on the complementarity of livestock farming, viticulture and olive growing. They are developing a new and environmentally friendly production system which combines returns from extensive livestock farming with the cultivation needs of vines and olive trees which are typical of the French Eastern Pyrenees, all with a view to improving the profitability of their farms.
The project was established with the objective of demonstrating experimentally that soft fruit processing in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees can be approached as a less aggressive and more sustainable form of climate change adaptation in the region. The project has become an innovation benchmark for mountain agriculture, as well as a powerful tool for economic diversification in the sector. Planting soft fruit crops at higher altitude to bring hectares of land into production with these and other species as a climate change adaptation strategy for the farming sector in Huesca.