Historically, the Regge was a free-flowing shallow lowland river which meandered through a landscape containing marshes, wet meadows and sandy levees. To facilitate shipping, from 1848 onwards the river was straightened by cutting off meanders, and the river channel was deepened and widened. Dams were built to better regulate the river flow, and the floodplain was embanked to protect the adjacent land from flooding. In 1935, the river was almost completely canalised, reducing its length from roughly 70 km to 50 km.

Hesketh Out Marsh is one of the biggest managed realignment projects in the UK and is one of the country’s most important estuary habitats for birdlife. The original saltmarsh was isolated from the estuary in 1980 by the creation of an outer wall, and was used for growing crops. With the sea level rising, it was necessary to create stronger sea defences. By a process known as “managed realignment”, seawater has been let back in to flood the land, re-creating saltmarsh and providing space for nature.

The City of Tatabánya has a Local Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, approved in 2008, which have been implemented to address diverse climate hazards, which mainly impact people’s health (e.g. heatwaves and heat stress, UV radiation, forest fires).

The project involves a pilot experience to find suitable formulas to slow down, as much as possible, the process of environmental degradation taking place in the Maspalomas dune complex during the last 50 years, to avoid the disappearance of the mobile dune area and preserve its environmental value ​​and importance as a tourist attraction. The most important erosion factors in the dune system are storms and the alterations derived from climate change.

91% of Italian municipalities are currently under risk of river and pluvial flooding, an important increase as compared to 2015 when 88% of municipalities were at risk (ISPRA, 2018). These already fragile hydrogeological conditions are worsened by the growing consumption of soil, which occurs more in Northern Italy than in the rest of the country.

The objective of the Pteridum project was to analyze the economic viability of controlling common fern populations (Pteridium aquilinum) in a circular economy system adapted to climate change in the Cantabrian Mountains, and reducing forest fires caused or favored by their presence by controlling their expansion in an environmentally respectful way.

Author of the picture: Guillermo Cobos Campos/Fototeca CENEAM

Until the 70s, the lower course of the Arga River near the confluence with the Aragon River flowed with a meandering channel, occupying a wide flood plain characterized by intense fluvial dynamics. In this situation, it was considered necessary to carry out works to contain river floods, by rectifying and channel the section stretching from the town of Falces to the mouth of the Aragón River.

Weather- and climate-related damages, in particular those due to flooding, pose substantial risks to the business continuity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Currently, this economic sector receives in Italy little support for planning and implementation of adaptation measures.

Losses and damages related to urban flooding and storms are likely to increase due to climate change. The insurance industry can potentially play a key role in climate change adaptation by contributing to the understanding of risks associated with climate change. By sharing data on the location of insurance claims associated with extreme rainfall or storms, the insurance industry can enable better-informed adaptation planning and risk management.

The city of Antwerp, in order to better understand the problem of heat stress, commissioned the research organization VITO to map the current and future temperatures and thermal comfort in the city. The research results indicate that the urban heat island of Antwerp exacerbates the impact of climate change on the urban population as the amount of heatwave days in the city raises twice as fast as in the rural surroundings. To tackle the problem of heat stress in the city, adaptation measures at three different scales (city-wide, local and the individual citizen) are put forth.