Federal Council sees further need for action on climate adaptation
Published: Wednesday, Nov 29th 2023, 11:30
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The Federal Council considers the need for action on climate adaptation in Switzerland to be as great as ever. However, the report on the implementation of the action plan for adaptation to climate change also shows that the measures taken to date are effective, the Federal Council announced on Wednesday.
Great progress has been made in the cross-sectoral knowledge bases - such as the Swiss climate scenarios, the hydrological bases or analyses of the impact of climate change. These foundations would help the cantons and municipalities with climate adaptation projects at local level, the report continued.
Furthermore, important insights were gained for the practical implementation of adaptation measures. In the "Adaptation to climate change" pilot program, 50 projects were implemented that specifically mitigate the effects of climate change at local, regional and cantonal level, as the Federal Council also announced. The report shows that the benefits of most projects clearly exceed the costs of implementation. It is therefore important to implement tried and tested measures wherever possible and sensible.
The Federal Council has instructed the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), together with the Departments of Home Affairs, Economic Affairs and Defense, to revise Switzerland's adaptation strategy up to 2025 and present a new action plan for the period up to 2030.
Adaptation is unavoidable
Climate change is having an impact on the environment, society and the economy in Switzerland. For example, episodes of drought or heavy rainfall are occurring more frequently. According to the Federal Council, measures to adapt to the effects of climate change are therefore essential.
For this reason, the Federal Council adopted the "Adaptation to climate change in Switzerland" strategy in 2012, which is currently to be implemented with the 2020-2025 action plan for adaptation to climate change. Building on the Federal Council's adaptation strategy, fifteen cantons had drawn up an adaptation strategy by the beginning of 2022, and another nine cantons were planning to do so.
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