CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIVITIES FOR HIGHER RESILIENCE IN THE GABROVO MOUNTAIN REGION
26.08.2024..
Summary: Mountains, which cover 35% of Europe and are home to 17% of the EU population, are disproportionately affected by climate...
Abstract
Summary: Mountains, which cover 35% of Europe and are home to 17% of the EU population, are disproportionately affected by climate change, experiencing faster warming and significant ecosystem disruptions. The Gabrovo Mountain Region, located in Bulgaria's Balkan Mountains, experiences climate-related challenges with risks such as floods, droughts, and forest fires threatening biodiversity, agriculture, and local livelihoods, imposing urgent adaptation measures for enhanced resilience.
The paper presents part of the main tasks under the Horizon Europe project MountResilience (mountresilience.eu), with the aim of accelerating the climate-resistant transformation of the mountain regions of 9 EU countries, in which Gabrovo is one of the Regional Demonstration Sites. Two key demonstrator project activities, which are designed by scientists and researchers from Technical University of Gabrovo, support these goals:
1. Innovative solutions for Green Infrastructure (GI): This pilot project integrates technological and social innovations. The current Green Infrastructure (GI) Strategy of Gabrovo ends in 2023. The objective is to develop a new GI Strategy, placing the focus on the sustainable use of natural resources and innovative NBS so as to adapt to CC. The new GI Strategy will focus on semi-natural spaces in Gabrovo, such as public parks and gardens, as well as green areas between residential and public buildings. The elaboration of GI Strategy will go through three main stages:
- Mapping of the urban green environment and identification of needs for further development/improvement of the green infrastructure (expert-based), GI concept development, incl. pre- investment studies.
- Co-development of the GI Strategy with the inclusion of representatives of all relevant stakeholders in Gabrovo, incl. citizens (social innovation), with an Action Plan with concrete measures/projects;
- Implementation of a pilot project focused on improving/expanding the urban green infrastructure through rainwater harvesting for maintaining urban green areas (technological innovation), complemented by tree planting and increasing of permeable green surfaces.
2. Early-Warning and Monitoring System (EWMS): Early-Warning and Monitoring System: complements demo project 1 and is focused on the development of an Early-Warning and Monitoring System (EWMS) for Risk Management. The ambition of the Municipality of Gabrovo is to establish an effective EWMS for different natural hazards, namely floods, hurricanes and forest fires. Awareness-raising measures and public engagement will be integral elements of this pilot project. EWMS will allow for: real-time measurements through several monitoring stations, announcement of events in real-time, collaboration with the population through a mobile application for data collection/exchange and addressing inquiries in real-time (the list of functionalities is not exhaustive). The implementation will go through three stages: pre-investment studies and conceptualizing the EWMS; design of the three components of EWMS - for floods, hurricanes and forest fires, and awareness raising of the general population and capacity building of the municipal administration.