PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Slovakia faces significant challenges in implementing climate change adaptation despite having established policy frameworks. The National Adaptation Strategy (NAS, updated 2018) and National Adaptation Action Plan (NAAP, 2021) outline comprehensive adaptation measures across sectors including water management, agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, human settlements, and health. At sub-national level, already 17 Slovak towns and three self-governing regions follow their own Adaptation Strategies and/or Action Plans, developed between 2015-2024.
However, implementation has been hampered by a highly fragmented sectoral approach, insufficient coordination between public bodies, and slow progress due to limited knowledge and expertise, particularly regarding nature-based solutions (NBS). Critical gaps include the absence of monitoring indicators and evaluation methodologies to measure progress and prioritize adaptation measures based on their costs, benefits, and impacts. Additionally, funding does not align with priorities, professional and public awareness remains low, and the legislative framework lacks adequate standards to support NBS implementation.
The project addresses these barriers by creating a comprehensive framework for implementing Slovakia's adaptation strategy through NBS. Aligned with the EU Adaptation Strategy (2021), it responds to the recognised need for establishing an effective adaptation policy cycle that enhances climate resilience. While Slovakia is currently revising its national adaptation strategy (expected to be approved soon after the end of 2025), the existing NAAP identifies six strategic priorities focused on strengthening political and legal frameworks, improving implementation mechanisms, establishing effective governance systems, developing knowledge and monitoring systems, promoting education and awareness, and developing multi-source financing. The project builds on this policy foundation while addressing the fundamental challenge that climate change adaptation requires engaging all policy areas, sectors of the economy, and levels of government in an integrated manner, covering six out of seven key areas of adaptation measures within its four targeted work packages. Its consortium is composed of organisations with national mandate and experience in climate change adaptation in different policy areas and sectors covered by the NAS, led by the Slovak Environment Agency directly subordinated to the Ministry of Environment.
OBJECTIVES
The NatAdaptSK project aims to create a comprehensive implementation framework for Slovakia's National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan through proven and innovative nature-based solutions (NBS) across six critical sectors: water management, agriculture, forests, biodiversity, human settlements and health. This will lead to decreasing vulnerabilities, increasing resilience and enhancing the overall adaptive capacity of Slovakia to withstand climate change impacts. Solutions are clustered in five specific project objectives:
1. Knowledge and tools: Generate new knowledge products and practical tools, such as standards, guidelines and legislative proposals, by designing, testing, demonstrating, validating and scaling-up NBS from pilot areas, for all actors involved in climate change adaptation.
2. Data, monitoring and evaluation: Collect, analyse data and develop indicators for knowledge-based priority setting to feed into an up-to-date knowledge management platform on climate change adaptation knowledge platform.
3. Capacity building and awareness raising: Strengthen professional, societal and governmental awareness understanding of the urgency of climate change adaptation through targeted training, capacity building and awareness‑raising activities.
4. Multi-sectoral coordination: Support an integrated and participatory climate change adaptation policy cycle by fostering coordination across sectors and promoting broad stakeholder involvement in decision-making, in alignment with other existing mechanisms.
5. New finance and business models: Develop innovative finance and business models for climate change adaptation and introduce effective financial mechanisms for implementation.
RESULTS
The project will:
- Strengthen national institutional capacity and governance through training and capacity building and proper monitoring and evaluation mechanisms
- Mobilise investments and improve access to adaptation finance
- Develop methodological and technical guide for flood protection green infrastructure
- Define a guide for water retention solutions in agriculture, forestry and human settlements (covering concepts of drought mitigation, flood protection and biodiversity conservation)
- Develop a conceptual and knowledge framework, recommendations, guidelines and methodologies for nature-based solutions (NBS), also for animal husbandry
- Develop, test and demonstrate regenerative agriculture practices and agroforestry systems
- Develop models and guidelines for alternative close-to-nature forest management planning and validate them in 5 national parks
- Conserve threatened genetic resources of tree species in situ and ex situ in the pilot national parks
- Organise living labs in 3 selected urban environments, leading to reduced urban heat island effect and stormwater flood risk, and to better sensor-measured improved air quality, increased biodiversity, decreased invasive species and increased social cohesion
- Develop an optimised methodology for climate change adaptation strategies in human settlements, with prioritised NBS
- Set-up one-stop-shop information and advice support for administrations at local and regional levels
In quantitative terms, the following benefits are foreseen:
- Area particularly vulnerable to climate change reduced from 12,500 to 10,500 km2
- Area of ecologically affected water bodies reduced from 20,000 to 18,700 km2
- Land area with soil quality issues reduced from 9,500 to 8,000 km2
- 4,000 km2 of habitats with halted and reversed loss of biodiversity
- Annual external funding for adaptation projects increased from 3 million EUR to 6 million EUR in 10 years.