A Climate for Change

(^178) Vulnerability to Climate Change in Croatia – a Summary Human Development Report - Croatia 2008
Thus, efforts should begin with adaptation to short-term
climate variability and extreme events, which would
then form a basis for reducing vulnerability to longer-
term climate change. This means addressing the current
occurrences of drought, storms, floods, heat waves, etc.
Some ‘autonomous’ adaptation will be carried out by pri-
vate actors, regardless of any policy recommendation,
whilst other measures will need Government involve-
ment both at the local and national level.
Both current efforts and future adaptation policies
and measures should be assessed in a developmen-
tal context, emphasizing human development as a
fundamental aspect of adaptation. Therefore, climate
change impacts and adaptation should be fundamen-
tally integrated into key policy and planning processes,
especially for areas such as coastal zone management,
agriculture and water management, tourism, energy
planning and the fisheries/ mariculture sector.
It is also important that adaptation occurs at different
levels in society, including at the local level. Therefore,
while the national Government should be involved in
policy making, a proactive “bottom-up” risk manage-
ment approach should also be taken. This way, adap-
tation policies and projects will be formulated for local
development needs and thus more sustainable. This
also means that stakeholder involvement is critical in
each part of the adaptation process.
11.3. Recommendations for
future action, including research,
projects and institutional
framework
11.3.1. No regrets options
No regrets adaptation options are measures that can
be justified today, in economic and social terms, which
cope with current climate variability, developmental
pressure, environmental degradation, etc., and which
will also reduce climate change damages in the fu-
ture. Examples generally include measures to improve
the economic efficiency of industries that depend on
climate-sensitive natural resources and to internalize
external costs regarding pollution and environmental
degradation. This section has only begun the process
by identifying some of the probable vulnerabilities to
climate change. Further research is necessary before
implementing actual adaptation projects. However,
some no regrets measures should be implemented,
regardless of climate change.
Within the tourism sector, continued development of
marketing and hosting abilities – especially for tourist
activities not affected by climate - will aid in the further
development of the sector and decrease the risks as-
Efforts should
begin with
adaptation
to short-term
climate variability
and extreme
events, which
would then
form a basis
for reducing
vulnerability
to longer-term
climate change