Assessing the adaptive capacity of the Finnish environment and society under a changing climate (FINADAPT)

Start year: 2004
End year: 2005
Contact at SYKE: Timothy Carter
Project member(s): 
Funding: Finnish Environmental Cluster Research Programme/Ministry of the Environment
Partners: Eleven partner institutions and a number of collaborating institutions
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Welcome to the FINADAPT web pages

FINADAPT was a consortium of 11 Partner institutions studying adaptation to the potential impacts of climate change in Finland. Studies were carried out during 2004-2005, based on literature reviews, interactions with stakeholders, seminars, and targeted research. FINADAPT addressed the following topics: climate data and scenarios, biological diversity, forestry, agriculture, water resources, human health, transport, the built environment, energy infrastructure, tourism and recreation, a socio-economic preparatory study, urban planning, and a stakeholder questionnaire.

The FINADAPT Summary for Policy Makers was released in March 2007 and can be found here (in Finnish and English)

This report summarises the main findings of FINADAPT and identifies key recommendations for future research that may assist policy makers in adapting to a changing climate.

BACKGROUND TO FINADAPT

• The need for climate change adaptation research in Finland
• The FINADAPT Consortium
• Objectives
• Approach
• Relationship to the National Adaptation Strategy
• Reporting
• Contact details
• References

The need for climate change adaptation research in Finland

The Finnish climate has warmed by about 0.7°C during the 20^th century and new scenarios [1], [2] indicate that a mean annual warming of between 2.4 and 7.4°C in combination with increased annual precipitation by 6 to 37% can be expected during the next 80 years. Such climate changes are expected to have significant impacts on different facets of the natural environment and society in Finland, some adverse and some beneficial  [3].

There have been substantial efforts to address the problem at its source, through climate change mitigation – the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere or their removal from the atmosphere (Figure 1). However, so far these efforts, expressed in the Kyoto Protocol[4] fall far short of what would be required to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations during this century at levels anywhere near those of the present day. Moreover, even if such ambitious levels were achieved, climate will still continue to change for some time after stabilisation, due to the considerable lags in response of the climate system to the historical build-up of concentrations.

Figure 1  The roles of adaptation and mitigation as policy responses to anthropogenic climate change (source: IPCC, 2001).

Thus, it is clear that some future climate change is inevitable, that society must be prepared for its consequences, and that adaptation will be a necessary and complementary policy response to mitigation (Figure 1). In principle, adaptation has the potential to reduce many of the adverse impacts of climate change and to enhance beneficial impacts. However, there are many unanswered questions to be addressed concerning the preparedness of Finnish society for the challenges of adapting to climate change. What alternative adaptation options are available to cope with a general warming of the climate, and with changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events? What new investments might be required to reduce the risks of anticipated climate change and over what time horizons? How compatible are such adaptation measures with current mitigation efforts and with the broader goal of sustainable development within an ecoefficient society?

A recent review of research into climate change impacts and adaptation in Finland revealed a quite strong record of research on impacts, but a relatively poor treatment of adaptation across all sectors [5]. Few studies of the impacts of future climate change have considered adaptation, and those that did rarely offered more than a shopping list of possible adaptation options. This contrasts with more detailed studies of adaptation conducted in some other countries. 

The FINADAPT Consortium

The FINADAPT Consortium sought to address both scientific and policy needs by conducting the first in-depth investigation of the adaptive capacity of the Finnish environment and society to the potential impacts of climate change. Following a pre-proposal phase and stakeholder workshop in 2003 [6], the Consortium was funded for the period 2004-2005 as part of the Finnish Environmental Cluster Research Programme, co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment (FINADAPT proposal).

The Consortium comprised fourteen sub-projects described as Work Packages (WP), involving eleven main Partner institutions and a number of collaborating institutions. WPs were divided into four Research Themes (RT). RT 1 covered project management, integration and data and scenario provision (two WPs). RT 2 focused on adaptation to climate change in sectors associated with the natural environment (four WPs). RT 3 dealt with adaptation to climate change for infrastructure and human well-being (five WPs). Finally, RT 4 considered integrating issues that cut across sectors and disciplines (three WPs). The structure of FINADAPT is illustrated schematically in Figure 2. Descriptions of each WP can be found on a separate pages.

Figure 2  The FINADAPT Consortium: Work Packages and responsible institutions

Objectives

The primary objective of FINADAPT was to produce a scoping report on vulnerability and adaptive capacity under a changing climate in Finland. The report should:

• outline knowledge about current climate variations
• describe future changes in climate and other environmental and socio-economic factors projected for the 21^st century
• characterise adaptive capacity to cope with present-day climatic conditions
• provide estimates of potential impacts under future climate change, including costs where appropriate
• list potential measures/strategies for adapting to climate change (including costs)
• assess the relative vulnerability of different systems, regions, sectors or communities to climate change, identifying priority areas for attention
• identify the major gaps in knowledge and needs for new research
• distil the major findings in a summary for policy makers

Approach

The scoping report was prepared as a set of Working Papers based on various sources:

• Literature review of completed Finnish and international studies
• Interactions with stakeholders (e.g. interviews, surveys, discussions)
• Conferences, seminars and workshops
• Targeted research conducted for individual subprojects or across FINADAPT as a whole

Co-ordination and management

The management structure of FINADAPT is summarised in Figure 3. The management of FINADAPT was carried out by means of a Steering Group, Management Committee and a number of ad hoc committees. Its links to the Climate Strategy, other funding agencies and stakeholder groups are also shown. Some of the outputs from FINADAPT were used in designing the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Programme that was launched in 2006. The Consortium was co-ordinated at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). Full details are given in Work Package 1.

Figure 3 FINADAPT management structure (WP is Work Package).

Relationship to the National Adaptation Strategy

FINADAPT began its work at about the same time as a working group, co-ordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, commenced the drafting of Finland?s first National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change, which was completed in 2004 [7]. The Adaptation Strategy is part of Finland's National Energy and Climate Strategy, submitted to Parliament in November 2005. It outlines current knowledge on the sensitivity of the Finnish environment and society to climate change, describes some likely impacts of projected climate change and outlines actions and measures to improve capacity for adapting to future climate change. It drew on information from Finnish climate change researchers (including some from FINADAPT), other experts and representatives of different sectors, and on the views of different stakeholders.

The FINADAPT studies used the Strategy document as their starting point. Some studies were able to use the conclusions of the Strategy report as material for stakeholder discussions, which also offered some opportunities for a critique of the Strategy. The Strategy also stresses the importance of education, training and communication for the issue of climate change adaptation, alongside that of mitigation. Studies in FINADAPT have surveyed the general awareness and perception of the issue among different stakeholders.

Reporting

In addition to the Summary for Policy Makers, FINADAPT partners have produced 15 Working Papers, a basic Finnish climate data set, a number of academic papers and several contributions towards academic degrees. More details.

Contact details

For general enquiries about FINADAPT, please contact the co-ordination group at the Finnish Environment Institute:

Timothy Carter (Consortium Leader)
Susanna Kankaanpää
Jari Liski
Stefan Fronzek (Web pages)

Email: firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi [ä → a; ö → o]

Address:
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Research Programme for Global Change
Box 140 (Mechelininkatu 34a), FI-00251 Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel: +358 20 610 123

Enquiries about Work Packages should be directed to the relevant WP contact person.