On 27 May 2021, Euromontana held its third Smart Mountains webinar “Climate Adaptation – What opportunities for mountain businesses?”. This webinar belongs to a series of virtual events that Euromontana is organising to fuel the discussion for the next Euromontana European Mountain Convention, that will take place on 11-12-13 October 2022, in the Sila natural park and biosphere reserve, Italy.
The climate adaptation of mountain businesses
This webinar gave the floor to speakers from the European Commission’s Directorate-General on Climate Action, the EIT Climate and Knowledge and Innovation Community, and three concrete cases showcasing how mountain businesses can adapt to climate change in Europe.
Speakers stressed how existing policies, projects and good practices offer multiple opportunities for fostering climate adaptation of the mountain economy, with a particular attention to the tourism, agriculture and forestry sectors.
Marie Clotteau, Director of Euromontana, pointed out that climate change is already affecting mountain areas in Europe, with consequences on local economies. She encouraged entrepreneurs to exchange their experiences, called for further availability for all of climate projections at regional level and invited local and regional authorities to design adaptation strategies taking into account entrepreneurs’ needs. “If we help our businesses to adapt to a changing climate, we avoid that a full ecosystem fails. And we create more vibrant and smarter mountains” stressed Ms Clotteau.
More information
This third webinar of the Smart Mountains series was an opportunity for mountain stakeholders to reflect on the impacts of climate change on the local economy and on ways to adapt in the coming years. Discussions highlighted the urgency of the adaptation process, as it is a process that takes time and must be inclusive; yet the webinar also gave hope and inspiration through examples and via the European funds and support available to enhance climate adaptation. These reflections can feed into the debates for smarter mountains at the European Mountain Convention in October 2022.
Details of the interventions are available in our report. You can also find on the event’s webpage speakers’ presentations and the webinar recording.
2 June 2021
