Advancing medium and long-term adaptation planning in the Republic of Serbia

The "Advancing medium and long-term adaptation planning in the Republic of Serbia" project aims to increase the country’s capacity to address its climate change vulnerabilities. The project is proposed in two phases and focuses particularly in the areas related to the agriculture-water management nexus, and the sectors of energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure and construction.

Climate change impacts are already evident in Serbia. The IPCC AR5 has identified southeastern Europe, where Serbia is located, among the most vulnerable regions in terms of exposure to the negative effects of climate change. Climate change is expected to have adverse effects on the intensity and frequency of floods and droughts, and on the quality and quantity of yields of major crops. Serbia’s recent history of floods and natural disasters has shown that rural low-income communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to heightened water insecurity, increased health risks and reduced agricultural productivity.

The project builds on UNDP support to Serbia in February 2017 that resulted in a stocktaking report and a plan of action to advance the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process, validated by representatives of key sectors and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The stocktaking exercise highlighted the existing weaknesses and demonstrated the prevailing barriers to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning in Serbia. The results confirmed that to adequately address climate change vulnerabilities, Serbia must overcome its current information gaps, capacity weaknesses, as well as a general lack of awareness of climate change adaptation – both at the national and sub-national levels. The report further identified that climate change is not integrated into existing policies, or their associated budget priorities. 

• A draft National Adaptation Plan (NAP) developed; 
• Introduction of a bylaw (of Law on Climate Change) that will regulate the implementation of the NAP for the country and the preparation of provincial plans;
• Introduction of an advanced university degree programme on adaptation;
• Priority adaptation interventions in all key sectors identified;
• An interactive/digital climate atlas for Serbia launched; 
• “Analysis of available climate and socio-economic information” conducted, establishing the current state-of-play and steps to be undertaken to build and strengthen institutional capacities for climate change adaptation;  
• “Institutional capacities for climate change adaptation” report conducted, providing an overview on existing capacities and capacity building needs at the national and local self-government levels; 
• “Existing policy, regulatory and institutional framework” report conducted and recommendations on improvement of specific policy and regulatory measures for climate change adaptation prepared; 
• Reports on the impacts of climate change on key economic sectors such as agriculture and water management nexus, energy sector, construction and roads infrastructure, forestry and health with recommended adaptation measures; 
• Economic assessment of the damage and losses caused by climate change for local self-governments conducted; 
• Recommendations for better integration of nature-based solutions into the revised NDCs for Serbia provided; 
• Representatives of the line ministries and other authorities participated in trainings, online workshops and consultative meetings on climate change adaptation. 
• A series of press workshops held on the topic of climate change in Serbia, involving more than 500 stakeholders, at national and local levels. 

Outcome 1: National mandate and steering mechanism in place for long-term climate change adaptation  

Outcome 2: NAP implementation strategy developed

Outcome 3: System to monitor progress on adaptation strengthened and financing strategy for medium- and long-term climate change adaptation established.