Human Development Report - Croatia 2008 Agriculture^139between different ministries, Government agencies,
research organisation and the business sector on the
topic of climate change and agriculture. However, the
national irrigation programme (which will be discussed
in more detail below) has significant high-level Govern-
ment support – though it does not explicitly address
the threat of climate change. The programme is being
supervised by a National Project Commission headed
by the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Agriculture,
Forestry and Water Management as its deputy. The Min-
ister appointed an Expert Team that prepared a Project
Strategy, which was adopted in November 2005.
Limited cooperation regarding climate change ex-
plicitly has been in the form of the expert committees
preparing inputs on climate change and agriculture
for the agriculture chapter of the National Communi-
cation of the Republic of Croatia under the UNFCCC.
Ten experts from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Uni-
versity of Zagreb and an expert from the Ministry of
Agriculture contributed to the last report.^104
Some initiatives do exist to address climate-related
issues in agriculture. Croatia is a signatory of the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Ex-
periencing Serious Drought and in 2002 the Govern-
ment established the National Committee to Combat
Desertification. This Committee has 14 members, rep-
resentatives from the ministries, scientific institutions,
NGOs and the business sector. There is also an Expert
Working Group dealing with agriculture.
There are an increasing number of climate change-ori-
ented projects financed by the Ministry of Science,^105
but it is difficult to find evidence suggesting that
these specifically cover the agriculture-related as-
pects of climate change. Neither the MEPPPC, MAFRD,
nor Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency
Fund finance research or education by demonstra-
tion projects dealing specifically with agriculture and
climate change. The Environmental Protection and
Energy Efficiency Fund may be in a good position to
provide resources for adaptation studies. It is an extra-
budgetary institution owned by the Republic of Croa-
tia whose objective is to finance environmental pro-
tection programmes and projects. In 2008 the Fund
had EUR 182 million available for programmes. While
climate change adaptation in agriculture is not spe-
cifically mentioned in its current activities, it would be
an interesting avenue for new programmes.8.4.3. Analysis of available technological
options for adaptationIn this section we discuss how farmers in Croatia
might adapt to present climate variability and future
climate change. Farmers adapt by taking measures
to avoid damages and thus reduce their losses in net
income. We expect that farmers will adapt to climate
change because they already adapt to climate vari-
ability. Regardless of the cause of climate variability,
the principles of adjustment at the farm level are the
same, although the actions taken to adjust to climate
change and their outcomes may be different.
Commercial farmers, for example, will adjust their
use of fertilizer, pesticides or water to reduce crop
yield damages, as long as their increase in revenue is
greater than the increase in cost. Household farmers
will carry out a similar calculation, but it will be related
more to the way in which they re-allocate household
resources to provide for their families and may include
nutrition for themselves as a factor. If climate change
causes significant damage, it will probably be either
impossible or too costly to completely eliminate the
damages. However, in many cases, it will be possible
for farmers to make adjustments that will actually
make their households better-off financially and nutri-
tionally. This type of adaptation is sometimes referred
to as “autonomous adaptation,” because farmers and
households will adapt in order to lessen the possible
damages, irrespective of Government action.