PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In years prior to the project, the central area of the Veneto region faced several climate-related events, such as flooding. The most serious flood took place between late October and early November 2010, when Veneto was hit by a violent wave of bad weather. The most affected areas were the provinces of Verona, Vicenza, and Padova, cities characterised by dense and diffuse urbanisation. The percentage of soil consumption reached 49% in 2015 in the municipality of Padova and 70% in the municipality of Venice. The identification of mitigation and adaptation strategies to tackle the effects of climate change, addressed through the framework of EU climate and policy legislation, therefore became a priority.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE Veneto ADAPT aimed to enhance regional capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change, with a focus on hydro-geological risk and by means of a multi-level governance approach. The project aimed to develop a methodology for the effective integration of climate change-related adaptation policies at regional and local levels.
The main objectives were to:
- Create a common knowledge base and an inventory of vulnerabilities and risks related to climate change.
- Develop adaptation measures and integrate them into existing urban plans.
- Mainstream and institutionalise the adaptation methodology by formulating regional guidelines for adaptation planning.
- Promote and develop green infrastructures through an integrated ecosystem-based approach in the conurbation of the central Veneto region.
- Increase the available volume of flood channels and multi-use retention areas (ecological, free time, and water parking) by building a layout of the ecological network among the main conservation areas of Central Veneto and the Venice metropolitan area.
- Facilitate the uptake of the LIFE Veneto ADAPT approach in other regions and cities across the EU.
The project therefore contributed to the implementation of EU climate policies, particularly the EU adaptation strategy, by developing and implementing local adaptation strategies and action plans, subsequently enabling a better-informed decision-making process on adaptation and mitigation by improving the knowledge base.
RESULTS
The project was able to develop a common strategy, including a multi-level governance system, to increase the capacity of urban areas to adapt to climate change in the Veneto Region. The Veneto ADAPT Strategy sets the phases (10 in total) for the implementation, monitoring, and future revision of the climate adaptation plans.
The project implemented concrete actions in the selected pilot sites but, more importantly, laid out the basis for the application of measures to adapt to climate change in the Veneto Region, providing an example of climate change adaptation planning at the national level with long-term impact.
The activities implemented managed:
- To draft and approve 38 Sustainable Energy and Climate Adaptation Plans (SECAPs) in the project area. The six municipalities directly involved in the project and 32 additional municipalities in the Venice Metropolitan Area have finalised and approved their adaptation plans, identifying a wide range of specific vulnerabilities, and developing relevant adaptation measures.
- To develop a monitoring system to keep track of the SECAP’s state of implementation and the effectiveness of the measures planned. The system set up is fully compliant with the requirements foreseen by the Covenant of Mayors initiative and well-structured to assess the effectiveness of both mitigation and adaptation measures in quantitative and qualitative terms. The project team identified a list of indicators that will, above all, allow monitoring of long-term impacts; this is the only approach to assessing adaptation plans and measures that, by definition, are designed to produce long-term benefits.
- To implement climate adaptation pilot interventions in the municipalities directly involved in the project. The project implemented three pilot interventions in the municipalities of Padova, Vicenza, and Treviso. Three additional interventions, designed during the project period, have been implemented since the end of the project, using public and private funds.
- To create a network of cities to replicate the VENETO ADAPT approach at the Italian and EU levels. The methodology developed within the project has been transferred to 21 Italian and 8 EU cities involved in the project’s twinning and networking activities.
- To affect the regulatory instruments at different scale, (local, regional, and national). The work done to implement the adaptation plans has directly affected most of the regulatory tools used for urban planning by the involved municipalities, including emergency plans (civil protection), traffic plans, sustainable mobility plans, environmental plans (i.e., urban forestry plans), and building codes. The project is also supporting the drafting phase of the Regional Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change, and the VENETO ADAPT methodology has been considered the starting point by the Veneto Region for this purpose.
At the national level, the project team also involved the Italian Ministry for the Ecological Transition as well as national agencies dealing with adaptation planning (i.e., ISPRA and ENEA) in the project panel meetings and shared with them VENETO ADAPT’s methodology.
