With the EU support first climate change adaptation strategies in Ukraine were presented

On 18^thSeptember 2024, the APENA 3 project experts jointly with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Natural Resources of Ukraine and with the support from the European Union presented the forecasting results, explained how to adapt the spheres of life and economy to the new climate conditions and how much it would cost for the three pilot regions of Ukraine.

The presentation took place in Kyiv within the framework of the event "Climate Change Adaptation in Ukraine".The EU-funded APENA 3 project experts together with the regional ecology departments and the professionals from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Natural Resources of Ukraine presented the results of several years of work on the first climate change adaptation strategies in Ukraine for three pilot regions: Mykolaiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk.

Within the framework of work on the strategies, the experts studied the current climate conditions in each region, obtained climate forecast till the end of the century, assessed the vulnerability and the risks for different economic sectors and, finally, developed a set of recommendations on adaptation measures needed for different sectors.

Also, the project experts calculated the necessary quantity and cost for the adaptation measures in three pilot regions - early warning systems, protective engineering structures, irrigation and drainage systems, awareness campaigns, smart power grids, and many others. The total cost of 168 adaptation measures to climate change in Lviv region makes up 273.7 mln Euro. For Mykolaiv region it is recommended to implement 171 measures with the total cost of 155.7 mln Euro and 158 measures with the total cost of 152.650 mln Euro recommended for Ivano-Frankivsk region.

"Despite the war, the climate policy is still among the main priorities of the environmental reforms and the restoration of Ukraine shall take place with the consideration of the climate goals and the implementation of climate change adaptation measures. This year we have a lot of climate achievement - the approved national Strategy till 2035 and the action plan till 2026, we also expect the adoption of the framework climate law.The adaptation is also one of the goals to the Paris Climate Agreement which Ukraine is obliged to implement.And we are glad that the Ukrainian delegation at the COP29 climate summit in Baku will be able to present climate strategies developed within the framework of APENA3 project", said Svitlana Hrynchuk,Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine."We all feel the impacts of climate change these days. In Ukraine, we also witness additional pressure on environment and climate caused by the Russian military aggression. On top of reducing emissions, adaptation to climate change is one of the aspects that Ukraine has the chance to take into account while planning its post war reconstruction. Adaptation is a critical component of the long-term global response to climate change to protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems. We are grateful to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine for close cooperation with the experts of Apena 3 project that allowed to continue the work on climate adaptation. We also glad to see a commitment to the Green Deal principles at local level as this is crucial for success", said Torsten Woellert, Minister Counsellor on energy, environment, climate of the EU Delegation to Ukraine."The climate change adaptation strategy, developed for three pilot regions, is an important and necessary step on the way to country's climate-resilient development.Now we can observe how the climate is going to change in the south and in the west of the country and how much money is required for adaptation. But, apparently, other regions of Ukraine also require the strategy development. It is worth at least choosing one region in the north, the east and the centre of Ukraine as this is how we can to have a more complete picture of climate change throughout Ukraine. And if the development of the documents for the first pilot regions took approximately three years, as it required the methodology updating with the consideration of the progress in the international and the European science and practice, the preparation of the documents for other regions could be made much faster - for several month", said Svitlana Krakovska, climate scientist and the APENA 3 project key expert.

The final outcomes presentation was made by the project key expert, climate scientist Svitlana Krakovskaand the project expert Antonios Sakalis. The event was attended by the representative of European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); military regional administrations and cities; Covenant of Mayors - East. The event also featured discussion panels on "Ukraine's National and Regional Climate Change Adaptation Policy on the Way to the EU" and "Climate Change Adaptation in Cities" with representatives of international institutions, military regional administrations and city mayors in the pilot regions.

Additional information

The project "Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations for implementation and enforcement of EU environmental and climate change legislation and development of infrastructure projects" is funded by the European Union for the provision of long-term support in increasing the capacity of the state authorities of Ukraine at the local and the regional level in the development and implementation of key reforms arising from the Association Agreement, including the ability to carry out the process of approximation of legislation with the EU in the areas of environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, waste management, and climate change adaptation.

Press contacts

Yuliia Pashkovska,Project APENA3 PR manager, [email protected], +38 099 984 98 41

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.