Climate Adaptation Governance in Italy - Country Report Italy - Alpine Space
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GoApply - Multidimensional Governance of Climate Change Adaptation
in Policy Making and Practice
Climate Adaptation Governance
in Italy
Country Report Italy
(WP1)
Luca Cetara, Marco Pregnolato, Antonio Ballarin Denti,
Lombardy Foundation for the Environment
Final Report
Milano, December 2019
This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund
through the Interreg Alpine Space programmeTable of contents
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Background: the GoApply project ......................................................................................... 5
1.2 Structure of the Report ......................................................................................................... 6
2. Methods .............................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Policy documents .................................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Case studies ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 8
2.4 Good practice examples ........................................................................................................ 8
3. Mapping of climate adaptation governance in Italy ............................................. 9
3.1 Policies ................................................................................................................................... 9
3.1.1 National Level: the Italian National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) ................................................ 9
3.1.2 National level: the Italian National Adaptation Plan (NAP) ..................................................... 11
3.1.3 Regional level: Lombardy Region Adaptation Strategy (RAS) and Document (RAD) .............. 12
3.1.4 The Lombardy Region Adaptation Strategy (RAS) ................................................................... 13
3.1.5 The Regional Adaptation Document (RAD) ............................................................................. 15
3.2 Measures ............................................................................................................................. 15
3.2.1 The Italian NAP ........................................................................................................................ 16
3.2.2 The Lombardy Region’s RAD.................................................................................................... 20
3.3 Knowledge ........................................................................................................................... 23
3.3.1 National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) ........................................................................................ 23
3.3.2 National Adaptation Plan (NAP) .............................................................................................. 24
3.4 Actors................................................................................................................................... 24
3.4.1 National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) ........................................................................................ 24
3.4.2 National Adaptation Plan (NAP) .............................................................................................. 25
3.4.3 Regional Adaptation Strategy (RAS) and Regional Adaptation Document (RAD) ................... 25
4. Good practice examples of climate adaptation governance in Italy ................... 27
4.1 Good Practice Example 1: the Budoia Charter .................................................................... 27
4.2 Good Practice Example 1: the Municipality of Milano ........................................................ 27
4.3 Good Practice Example 1: the municipalities of the Seveso ............................................... 28
4.4 Good Practice Example 1: the project CLIMAMI ................................................................. 29
4.5 Good Practice Example 1: the action of Foundation CARIPLO ........................................... 30
25. Case Studies: Integrating National and Regional Adaptation Plans in Italy: the
National Adaptation Strategy and the Regional Adaptation Document in Lombardy
Region ...................................................................................................................... 32
5.1 Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 33
5.1.1 Structure .................................................................................................................................. 33
5.1.2 Themes .................................................................................................................................... 34
5.1.3 Actions ..................................................................................................................................... 37
5.1.4 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 39
5.2 Discussion and assessment ................................................................................................. 42
5.3 Lessons learnt and enhancement options .......................................................................... 43
5.3.1 Success factors for vertical mainstreaming ............................................................................. 43
5.3.2 Barriers to vertical mainstreaming .......................................................................................... 44
5.4 Conclusions and policy implications.................................................................................... 44
5.5 Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 44
6. Main References ................................................................................................ 46
Listing of Tables
Table 1: Vulnerable sectors considered by the Italian NAS (NAS 2014) .......................................................... 10
Table 2: Macro and sub-sectors used in RAS (RAS 2015) ................................................................................ 14
Table 3: Organisation of the adaptation measures in NAP (2017) .................................................................. 17
Table 4: Criteria and sub-dimensions used to rank adaptation actions in NAP (2014)................................... 17
Table 5: Classification of adaptation actions in NAP by nature, macro-categories, and categories ............... 18
Table 6: Clusters of soft adaptation measures after a re-organisation of short-run measures from NAP
according to our methodology ........................................................................................................................ 19
Table 7: Number and concentration of measures across policy domains for the selection of 123 measures
from NAP ......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Table 8: Organisation of adaptation actions by layers and sub-categories in RAD (2016). ............................ 21
Table 9: Organisation of multi-sector adaptation actions in RAD (2016) coherently to macro-challenges and
trajectories. ..................................................................................................................................................... 22
Table 10: List of 28 priority actions considered in RAD (2016) and GoApply! analysis ................................... 23
Table 11: GPE - Projects for drafting & implementing the Budoia Charter..................................................... 27
Table 12: GPE - Project Direction: Resilient Cities in the Municipality of Milano ........................................... 28
Table 13: GPE - Mainstreaming adaptation in an aggregation of municipalities: Seveso - North Milano area
......................................................................................................................................................................... 29
3Table 14: GPE - CLIMAMI project – Climatology for professional activities and urban climate change adaptation in the Milano area ......................................................................................................................... 30 Table 15: GPE - Cariplo Foundation support to resilience and climate adaptation projects .......................... 31 Table 16: Comparison between the structures of NAP (2017) and RAD (2016). ............................................ 33 Table 17: Comparison and merging between adaptation sectors in NAP and RAD respectively (own elaboration). .................................................................................................................................................... 37 Table 18: Comparison in the number of measures in NAP and RAD, per homogeneized domains ............... 39 Table 19: Clustered measures by homogenized categories, based on delta values ....................................... 39 Table 21: Domains and measures showing consistent values (% measures) between NAP and RAD. ........... 40 Table 22: Domains and measures showing values (% measures) of RAD prevailing over NAP ...................... 41 Table 23: Domains and measures showing values (% measures) of RAD slightly prevailing over NAP .......... 42 A prevalence of NAP over RAD measures (delta
1. Introduction 1.1 Background: the GoApply project This Report aims at providing an overview of the significant challenges encountered and outcomes achieved through the policies planned and implemented in Italy over 2014-2018, in the long-term effort of designing and implementing adaptation and resilience-oriented policies and measures. A diverse set of policies and other initiatives have been designed and partially implemented over this period. Main actors involved included levels of governments ranging from global to local: international bodies and Conventions (e.g. UNFCCC and the Alpine Convention), the EU, the national government (through competent Ministries and Commitees), regional governments, and local councils and municipalities – sometimes through voluntary alliances. Here, the coherence, overlapping and occasional inconsistencies detected among the different policies, measures and actions performed at different levels with the aim of achieving adaptation to climate change are considered. They prompted the need to provide guidance to the different public administrations and stakehoders committed to increase territorial resilience to climate change in Italy from different perspectives – especially at different territorial and administrative levels ranging from the international to the municipal one. In brief, this Report focuses on a selection of consistent experiences aligned with the application of principles and strategic documents1 on three main administrative levels in the country, corresponding to the distribution of competences in the fields of policy-making being more relevant for coherent adaptation policies: national, regional, and local (including the sub-regional and municipal levels). All the mentioned policies declare to be coherent with all the international and EU level agreements and strategic documents of different nature which concern adaptation to climate change. In particular, the Report describes the most significant policies adopted in Italy between 2014 and 2018 (mainly identified with the National and Regional Strategies and Plans) and tries to focus on their short- term measures (to be implemented by 2020 in NAP), trying to investigate the similarities and potential conflicts between Strategies and Plans issued at different territorial levels and proposing a few possible “corrective actions”. The Report aims at identifying – also by means of expert opinions collected through semi-structured interviews, personal discussions and dialogues held at thematic workshops – good practices of integration of measures from different sources and levels of administration; existing conflicts and blunders to an effective implementation; possible developments and corrective interventions. The Report is not exhaustive. It primarily focuses on a selection of instruments and experiences of their (partial) implementation that have been deemed of particular policy importance or exemplary for future applications, inside and outside national borders. The local case studies described tend to be found in the Alpine Convention and Alpine Space regions, even though major references have been made to policies, actors and knowledge bases developed with a national scope and certainly applicable to the whole national territory. 1 In particular, the Paris Agreement (2015) and the following UNFCCC commitments, the EU Adaptation Strategy Package (2013), the National Adaptation Strategy and (draft) Plan for Italy (2015 & 2017, respectively), the Regional Adaptation Strategy and Document for Regione Lombardia (2014 & 2016, respectively), the New Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy Reporting Guidelines (2016).
1.2 Structure of the Report
The Report is structured in specific sections and an introduction, as recalled in the Table of Contents.
1 Firstly, the Report describes the methodology followed in the process towards the identification of the
constituent elements for the analysis performed, as defined in WPT1 methodology (i.e. policies,
measures, knowledge, actors and their interactions) in the case of Italy. The reasons behind the
preference assigned to the national and regional levels as points of departure of the study are
disclosed. The criteria used for assessing the policies and measures under scrutiny as well as the
methods adopted for drafting the semi-structured interviews administered to stakeholders during the
study are presented. Moreover, the selection of case-studies and good practices, based on a
combination of scientific and practice-oriented approaches, as well as the resort to expert opinion and
territorial experiences are justified and explained more in detail. Eventually, the approach used to
compare the main outcomes of the following sections of the Report and formulate some
recommendations is explained.
2 Later, the Report presents in detail the sources and criteria used for the “mapping” exercise which
specifically define the field of inquiry chosen for this analysis. Namely, it provides an introduction to the
structure of, and circumstances surrounding the binding and potentially binding documents considered
in the analysis: basically, for the whole country, the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) and the draft
National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and, for Lombardy Region, the Regional Adaptation Strategy and
Document (RAS and RAD). Then we present the criteria used for narrowing the wide set of measures
envisaged by the NAP; the hypotheses and simplifications used when framing the information to fit the
standardised format for data visualization; and the consequent limitations to be considered when
evaluating the outcomes of the study performed.
3 Then, some good practices in managing adaptation are presented, mainly with regard to their ability in
coming up with the complexity of the still limitedly explored field of local adaptation to climate change,
in harmonising measures issued at different levels (e.g. NAP and RAD), and addressing potential
conflicts in their implementation and financing. However, since a formal implementation of existing
Strategies and Plans at all levels remains sporadic across the whole country, and most of the analysis
performed here refers to planned (or potential) measures, good practices are referred to here mainly
as logically and theoretically sound approaches which may ease the implementation of actual
adaptation measures and actions aimed to establishing a more resilient society. Due to the
unavailability of complete, robust cases of full implementation, good practices disclose cases of well-
framed policy design and of effective interactions with other subjects2.
4 Time inconsistencies, use of different climate scenarios and spatial resolutions, as well as scale of
implementation of policy measures call for actions aimed at harmonising and increasing the efficiency
of dispersed efforts under a common, flexible governance scheme in Italy. The case-studies gathered
here are selected as potentially helpful in framing such an innovative governance scheme. Therefore,
the case-studies are presented for showing the variety of measures envisaged at different levels for
tackling common thematic challenges. Particular attention is dedicated to presenting the specific
2
No comprehensive national programmes and financial support schemes for adaptation to climate change have come
to existence in the country.
6models (or methods) of governance available or implemented for easing the “vertical mainstreaming”
(or integration) among competences, policies, measures, knowledge bases and stakeholders/actors at
different territorial and administrative layers, ranging from the supranational to the municipal one - as
clarified above.
5 A dedicated section focuses on the lessons that can be learnt from a critical analysis of the interactions
as well as from the good practices and case-studies presented in this paper for improving the quality of
governance of climate change adaptation and of resilience building capacities. In particular,
enhancement options for current policies and measures are discussed with the goal of assuring a better
“vertical integration” among policies and stakeholders as well as a satisficing sharing of information,
experience, knowledge bases and good practices suitable to be transferred across different territories
in Italy and beyond. A summary of the results of a comparative analysis of good practices and case-
studies, together with an elaboration of the main experiences collected and the suggestions emerged
from interviews with government officers, practitioners and the scientific community will be included in
this section.
6 Finally, some conclusions and recommendations for increasing the quality, effectiveness and efficiency
of “vertical integration” (and mainstreaming) of climate adaptation will be drawn, based on the
knowledge acquired through the different sections of the study. A few suggestions for improving the
prevailing practices and for increasing the consistency and dialogue among different administrative
levels through an original, innovative adaptation governance scheme will also be provided.
72. Methods
2.1 Policy documents
Policies, knowledge, measures, stakeholder and interactions have been identified based on the exam of
formal documents and legal measures explicitly addressing climate change that either have been formally
approved by legislative acts at the national or regional level in Italy, in coherence to existing commitments
undertaken by the country on the international and EU levels (namely the Paris Agreement and the EU
Climate Package).
2.2 Case studies
The peculiar case with Italy drove us to focus on a case study that involves two major “plans” for
adaptation to climate change developed in Italy over the 2016-2017 period that can be considered two
separate documents: the Draft National Adaptation Plan (NAP, 2017) (not yet object of any formal legal
approval) and the Regional Document for Climate Change Adaptation, issued and approved by Regione
Lombardia (RAD, 2016). The approach followed actually combines and compares the two “plans”. Firstly,
we compare the structure of NAP and RAD by identifying the respective organizational logic. Secondly, we
compare the themes covered within NAP and RAD by looking for overlapping topics and consistencies as
well as for incoherencies aiming at identifying some “homogeneised sectors” for the two “plans”. Thirdly,
we analyse the action priorities emerging from NAP and RAD by looking for possible consistencies and
significant deviations. In particular, we used a selection of 123 urgent measures from NAP (with a priority
level qualified as “high”) to be ideally met by 2020, spread across the domains used in this “plan” and all
the 28 measures identified in the RAD.
2.3 Interviews
Interviews have been conducted with experts and officers involved in the planning and implementation of
adaptation actions. Due to the stage at which adaptation measures have been formally implemented in
Italy, it was not possible to collect judgments or opinions on their effectiveness. In this line, the visions
expressed by the experts involved have been largely used to shape and support the proposed “lessons
learnt and enhancement options”. Interviews have been conducted in person and through written guiding
questionnaires accompanied by direct contacts and follow-ups after the answers have been received,
framed and analysed. References to interviews are mentioned across the report as a whole. No specific
section has been dedicated to them.
2.4 Good practice examples
Good practice examples have been identified based on the available experience in the country. They
particularly refer to schemes and frameworks, organisations and bodies, policies and soft institutional
agreements, instruments and planning methods, articulated across the formal categories set in WPT1
general methodology. No actual cases for implementation with numerical results or hard proof of territorial
impacts have been reported, due to the situation with limited evidence of formal implementation of
climate change adaptation measures across the whole country over a consistent period of time.
83. Mapping of climate adaptation governance in Italy
3.1 Policies
For performing the analysis envisaged under WPT1, we made a selection out of the most relevant policies
and policy documents available in Italy being formally targeted to address climate change and especially
adaptation.
In this context, for the national level we consider the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) issued in 2015,
the (draft) National Adaptation Plan (NAP) submitted to public consultation in 2017. For the regional level,
we consider the case with Regione Lombardia and its adaptation policy documents: the Regional
Adaptation Strategy (RAS) issued in 2014, and the Regional Adaptation Document (RAD), issued in 2016.
Regione Lombardia (RL) is the first subnational government in Italy adopting a comprehensive climate
adaptation package including both a strategy and an adaptation planning document (de facto to be
considered as a “plan”). The experience of RL has been considered particularly worth analysing. RL was
committed in the elaboration and initial definition of a way to the implementation of RAS and RAD;
moreover its experience shows a few significant interlinkages to the national adaptation strategy and plan
also in the preparatory phase3.
3.1.1 National Level: the Italian National Adaptation Strategy (NAS)
The legal and policy bases of NAS and NAP are wide and include several sector-specific references, as
shown in the visualization. Due to the intersectoral nature of adaptation, specific references have been
found for each single domain covered by the strategy, or plan. The legal references for NAS have been
investigated in depth: they include EU directives (enforced or not), EU regulations, and the accompanying
abundant national legislation as issued for different domains4. A significant legal basis for adaptation
planning and implementation of specific measures also refers to the responsibilities of the public bodies
involved with the implementation, supervision and assessment of adaptation measures on the national
territory. The stricter legal basis for the initiation of the preparation of the NAP is the Directorial Decree
approving the NAS (2015)5. The policy documents recalled in NAP as covering the domain of adaptation
include: the “National Biodiversity Strategy” (Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea, 2010), the White
Book “Challenges and opportunities of rural development for mitigation and adaptation to climate change”
(Ministry of agricultural and forest policies, 2011), the Guidelines for planning on monitoring and response
to health effects of irregular heatwaves (Ministry of Health, 2006).
However, there are several domains where significant pieces of national regulation apply (often
implementing EU directives), including: water resources, marine ecosystems, internal and transition water
ecosystems, coastal zones, desertification, terrestrial ecosystems, forests, agriculture and food production,
3
Including the involvement of editors of the regional strategy and document in the national working group
responsible for the elaboration of NAS and NAP.
4
In the NAS, see the specific section on the legal analysis of relevant legislation: Castellari et al. (2014). Analisi della
normativa comunitaria e nazionale rilevante per gli impatti, la vulnerabilità e l’adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici.
Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Roma
5
Directorial Decree of the Climate Change and Energy General Director (DG-CLE) No. 86, establishing specific
objectives to be reached by 31th December 2016.
9maritime fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, urban settlements, critical infrastructure: transport, industries
and hazardous infrastructures, cultural heritage, energy, health6.
Coherently with the international and European policy actions, the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land
and Sea (MATTM), which is the national institution in charge of climate change policy, has approved the
Italian NAS by means of a Director General’s Decree7. As a “tool for encouraging adaptation actions in
planning activities at national, regional and local level” (Climate-Adapt 2018), the Strategy includes a few
background documents that constitute significant references for the knowledge base on adaptation.
Namely it is composed by: an analysis of European and National policy framework for adaptation; a state of
the art on the knowledge on climate change, impacts, vulnerability and adaptation for relevant sectors
listed in the NAS; some elements for a strategy document.
The NAS in Italy has been thoroughly based on the involvement of stakeholders and decision makers and
on the principle of preferring mainstreaming adaptation across existing policies to introducing new policies
focused exclusively on adaptation.
As it is often the case, also in Italy the construction of NAS started from the definition and identification of
potentially vulnerable sectors. Later present and expected impacts of climate change have been assessed
for each sector, together with the vulnerability of each sector to the present and future climate and their
adaptive capacity. Since some forms of conscious and unconscious adaptation are typically found in policies
under a “business as usual” (BAU) scenario, NAS also tried an evaluation of already implemented
adaptation measures in sectors and (when possible) an assessment of the costs of inaction vs. the costs of
adaptation for each sector. It is worth mentioning that apart from the sectors which we find in most NAS
worldwide (as shown in Table 1), special cases were identified due to specific physical and geographical
vulnerabilities, i.e. “mountain areas” (Alps and Apennines) and the “Po river basin” - due to its critical role
on the national level.
Physical Human health and Energy, agriculture Critical Special cases
Environment ecosystems: and fishery infrastructures
Water resources Human health Agriculture and Cultural heritage Mountain areas
(quantity and food production Transport (Alps and
Terrestrial
quality) Aquaculture and Apennines)
ecosystems
Desertification, fishery
Po river basin
land degradation Marine ecosystems
Energy
and droughts
Inner water
Hydro-geologic risk Coastal zones
ecosystems
Tourism
Forestry
Urban and
metropolitan
centres
Table 1: Vulnerable sectors considered by the Italian NAS (NAS 2014)
6
For detailed information on the legal basis recalled in the Plan, see: NAP p. 267-293.
7
After approval by the "State-Regions Unified Conference" on the 30th of October 2014 (14/136/CU6/C5), the NAS
was finally adopted on June 2015 with a Directorial Decree of the Climate Change and Energy General Director (DG-
CLE) establishing specific objectives to be reached by 31th December 2016.
10Under a process point of view, the NAS is the result of a twofold approach: a bottom up participative
process seeking transparency, sharing with and consideration of needs of national stakeholders (civil
society, scientific community, private sector…), and a top down technical and institutional panels composed
by more than 100 scientists coordinated by one prominent scientific institution in the field of climate
change (CMCC), and by representatives of institutions, Ministries, Regional and Local governments.
In short, the NAS provides a National vision to address climate change adaptation, actions and guidelines to
build adaptive capacity, and concrete proposals about cost-effective adaptation measures and priorities.
3.1.2 National level: the Italian National Adaptation Plan (NAP)
Taking note of the geographical diversity of Italy as well as of a detailed analysis of expected impacts and
vulnerabilities of single social and economic sectors, the NAP provides some synthetic reports dealing with
macro-climatic regions identified within the country which are consistent with expected variations in
temperature and connected phenomena as well as impacts of climate change classified as threats and
opportunities (i.e. negative and positive ones) for each of the macro-regions under investigation and for
each of the socio-economic sectors identified. Each identified impact has been assigned a level of intensity,
ranging from low to high.
NAP qualifies as a tool for supporting the implementation of NAS by means of all the public bodies holding
a responsibility or a willingness to perform actions in this direction that may be the most effective for the
specific climatic region in question, on the basis of major regional criticalities and by incentivising the
integration of adaptation criteria within existing policies, measures and instruments in place.
Further specifications of this overarching goal are provided by four ad hoc targets:
contain the vulnerability of natural, social and economic systems to climate change impacts,
increase the systems’ own adaptive capacity,
increase the exploitation of opportunities,
support the vertical integration and coordination of actions at different levels.
In order to meet these targets, the NAP lists - for the decision makers’ use and based on a solid scientific
background - the actions that can be more effective for adapting to climate change impact and provides
some information on the timing and the organisations and institutions that appear more suitable for their
implementation.
The adopted methodology for NAP mirrors the organisation of social, economic and environmental sectors
of NAS, but it better analyses impacts and risks of climate change and provides a more proper scale for
implementation by means of updated downscaled scenarios and anomalies.
NAP is divided in three parts:
1. Context analysis, climate scenarios and climate vulnerabilities.
Defining homogeneous climatic macro-regions (i.e. regions showing similar climatic conditions over the
period 1981-2010), based on the comparison of a set of climate indicators. Within these macro-regions,
some climatic homogenous areas are identified as the ones expected to tackle similar climate anomalies in
the future. Future climate scenarios have been estimated based on climate model COSMO-CLM2
downscaled through the CMCC-CM model to 80 km resolution (Scoccimarro et al. 2011) driven by RCP 4.5
and RCP 8.5 scenarios (Meinshausen et al. 2011) (Moss et al. 2008), corresponding to two Representative
Concentration Pathways (RCP) (IPCC 2013a) used for representing the evolution of GHGs concentration on
Earth.
11Also, marine areas have been studied.
The estimated climate projections and anomalies have been used for identifying adaptation actions and
possible synergies between bordering administrative units in implementation. These results have been
coupled with the outcomes of territorial analyses concerning exposition, vulnerability, and adaptive
capacity aiming at assessing risk propensity through a synthetic index for the Italian territory (based on
hazard, exposure and vulnerability analyses).
Impacts and vulnerabilities for each sector have been discussed. Specific analyses have been framed at the
homogenous climatic macro-regions level in order to show the current climate conditions, the prevailing
climate anomalies, climate risk and potential impact. Moreover, a synthesis of the main expected threats
and opportunities for the macro-region is provided.
2. Adaptation actions.
This section presents adaptation actions, role of public organisations and stakeholders for their
implementation, and provides an estimation of the needed resources and possible sources of finance. See
better below (under: Measures).
3. Instruments for participation, monitoring and assessment.
The three main activities envisaged under this heading are: i) programme for participative approach of
setting up and implementing NAP; ii) criteria for defining effectiveness indicators for adaptation actions; iii)
methods for monitoring and assessing the effects of adaptation actions. NAP takes into account
stakeholders’ and the civil society’s participation as a success factor for the implementation of the plan.
NAP discusses to set up two permanent organisms for stakeholders’ participation, namely a national forum
and a national observatory also by providing details on their functioning and organisational details.
NAP foresees a system for monitoring and assessing the quality of implementation of the measures
envisaged by the plan itself. NAP proposes some indicators for evaluating the effectiveness and
implementation of the actions identified across the plan, elaborated by the experts involved for each single
action.
These indicators have been harmonised coherently with the classification of actions. However, the
organisations being responsible for actual monitoring could add new indicators and update the existing
ones also by adjusting monitoring, reporting and evaluation systems for the adaptation actions. Specific
guidelines show how to plan the whole system architecture starting from specific objective and coherently
developing a transparent methodological approach.
3.1.3 Regional level: Lombardy Region Adaptation Strategy (RAS) and Document (RAD)
The area under investigation in the planning instrument analysed at the regional level (Regione
Lombardia) is characterized by a significant geographical diversity and numerous micro- and meso-
climates. Current trends and climate scenarios for Lombardy Region suggest a rise in average
temperatures, changes in the patterns of seasonal precipitation, and increases in the frequency and
intensity of extreme weather events (e.g. heat waves, prolonged droughts and heavy precipitation),
with potential impacts on ecological and socioeconomic conditions. Against this backdrop, Lombardy
launched different projects in the field of climate change:
● the "Kyoto-Lombardy" project (2004-2008), which systematically addressed climate change at a
regional level especially concerning expected emission scenarios and mitigation policies;
● the "Guidelines for the implementation of the Strategy of the Region for Adaptation to Climate
Change" (2012);
● the Regional Strategy (RAS) (2014),
12● the "Action Document of the Region for Adaptation to Climate Change” (RAD) (2016).
Aware of the global outreach of the issue of climate change that operates both on a micro and on a macro
level, the Region of Lombardy interacts with global-scale initiatives such as the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), and
has taken part in Conferences of the Parties. Regional action is harmonized and co-ordinated with
European and national climate-change initiatives as available at the time being, in particular the European
Adaptation Strategy (2013), as well as with the corresponding national-level policy documents. Meanwhile,
at the micro level, the Region of Lombardy is a promoter of and signatory to a number of subnational
networking initiatives for intelligence-sharing and mutual help in the fields of mitigation and adaptation
such as nrg4SD, Under2MoU (a Memorandum of Understanding between subnational governments),
RegionsAdapt, the Four Motors for Europe, and the Environmental Conference of the Regions of Europe
(ENCORE).
3.1.4 The Lombardy Region Adaptation Strategy (RAS)
The Strategy outlines climate scenarios for the Region, sets goals and proposes a large number of possible
adaptation measures, whereas the Action Document focuses on a small set of selected priority actions to
be implemented in the short to medium term.
Moreover, the RAS defines a methodology for mainstreaming adaptation across sectoral policies without
focused independent programs. It establishes consultation mechanisms with institutional stakeholders,
makes use of updated climate trends and scenarios (at 2013) downscaled at the regional level, and analyses
an assesses impacts and vulnerabilities in selected sectors. Moreover, RAS determines for eight main
sectors the functional relationship “impacts-general adaptation targets-specific measures” in the
framework of policies, and sectoral and inter-sectoral interventions already implemented or planned by the
Regional government.
The main goals of RAS can be summarised as:
● harmonising and integrating national and EU guidelines on climate adaptation;
● developing regional climate scenarios based on past and expected climate anomalies and
variability;
● defining territorial vulnerabilities by identifying impacts, analysing sectoral sensitivity, resilience
capacity and risk assessment through an integrated approach;
● analysing ongoing regional policies and possible adaptation measures;
● promoting public participation of all interested subjects and across sectors aiming at integrating
climate adaptation across regional policies;
● proposing a set of adaptation measures (by sector and cross-cutting) across three categories (soft,
grey and green) and in line with EU and national adaptation strategies;
● ensuring information and monitoring of the consequences of climate change on the regional
territory and on ongoing adaptation measures and projects;
● paving the way for an adaptation plan supported by thorough scientific bases including clear and
agreed priority actions.
The main target of RAS certainly is to modify the policy making approach towards a comprehensive
inclusion of climate change adaptation in policies. Concerning the horizontal governance, RAS has been
13involving the competent offices and Directions General in the Regional government and other agencies8 in
shaping the RAS itself through a genuine participatory process based on questionnaires and workshops.
The resulting measures are divided in three types (soft, grey and green), as suggested by EU and national
practice (EU AS guidelines and strategy and NAS). Soft actions do not call for structural and material
interventions, but can be conducive to those interventions: they build adaptive capacity by increased
knowledge or development of suitable organisational, institution and legal contexts. Non-soft actions
(grey/green) provide for material and structural interventions. Green actions propose nature-based
solutions envisaging the use or sustainable management of natural services including ecosystem services to
reduce climate change impacts. Grey actions refer to plants, materials, technologies, infrastructures or
networks and invariably aim at improvement and adaptation to climate change of material facilities.
They are based on literature review, and especially from policy actions developed at the international (IPCC
and UNFCCC), European (EU AS 2013) and national level (NAS 2014). Priorities have been assigned through
elicitation of expert opinion during the workshops held with regional officers and other experts on a 1 to 5
weighting.
Physical -biological macro-sector Socio - economic macro-sector
Water resources Energy
Ecosystems, biodiversity, forests and protected Tourism
areas
Air quality Agriculture and cattle breeding
Built environment, soil defense, transport and Human health
spatial planning
Table 2: Macro and sub-sectors used in RAS (RAS 2015)
The two macro-sectors and eight sub-sectors reported in Table 2 have been used to set up the overall
approach of the RAS and report on:
i) observed and expected impacts on key-regional sectors,
ii) vulnerability analysis for key-systems on a territorial basis,
iii) economic impact assessment of climate change (including when feasible adaptation costs).
The sectors have been selected based on their social, economic and environmental relevance as well as on
their greater vulnerability to climate change impacts on the regional level, supported by a DPSIR analysis
(Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response), combined with regional stakeholders’ assessment.
Governance of adaptation is finally presented for each of the eight sectors based on the policy framework
at all levels (but particularly at the regional one), where policies are coupled with the primary adaptation
8
DG Agriculture, DG Trade, Tourism and Service, DG Health, DG Sport and policies for the youth, DG Territory, urban
planning and soil defence, DG Safety, civil protection and immigration, DG Infrastructures and mobility. Among the
agencies the Regional Agency for the Environment (ARPA) and the Regional Entity for Farming development and forest
(ERSAF).
14needs, objectives and measures for each sector, through ad hoc matrices including the outcomes of the
participatory process with institutional stakeholders. All the resulting measures are not directly applicable
and need to be fine-tuned according to the actual possibility for action in the different regional decision-
making units.
Most importantly, for each measure indices have been developed showing the targets for all impacts that
can be met through its implementation. This aims at preferring the measures that ensure multiple results in
different sector (win-win). Moreover, other measures that are already embedded, at least partially, in
regional plans and programs in force have been highlighted in order to promote “mainstreaming” of
adaptation as an effective method to increase resilience.
3.1.5 The Regional Adaptation Document (RAD)
In 2016, an Action Document of the Region for Adaptation to Climate Change was drawn up. Both the
Strategy and the Action Document are the result of an inclusive approach to discussion, produced with
input from every sector affected by regional policies (e.g. agencies and public authorities, civil society,
academia, business).
RAD does not wield the same mandatory power as regional projects and programmes, since it was
developed primarily for the purpose of mainstreaming actions. The Region of Lombardy already has other
powerful tools at its disposal to use directly or indirectly to fulfil the climate change adaptation objectives
identified in the RAS. Several regional projects and programmes either directly regulate or strongly
influence adaptation measures, though they are not themselves explicitly focused on adaptation.
RAD is a corollary to the process started with framing the RAS. It aims to recapitulate and reorganize the
findings of RAS update them to reflect the latest developments and select which adaptation measures can
be put into practical effect regionally.
The Document includes three strands of action:
1. Build a set of conditions conducive to adaptation through regulatory, legislative and process
management actions.
2. Build and sustain adaptation capabilities not only by applying and disseminating knowledge and
skills, but also by creating practical opportunities for adaptation.
3. Put forward technical, technological and methodological proposals and give priority to ecological
and economic sustainability wherever possible.
RAD’s activities can in turn be divided into multi-sectoral and sector-specific actions and refer to four
macro-areas: 1. Air quality and human health, 2. Soil & water resources’ defence, 3. Tourism & sports, 3.
Agriculture and biodiversity.
The RAD required a synthesis of the analytical phase of impacts, goals and adaptation options carried out in
the scope of the RAS, also for defining priorities among the over 270 options identified in the Strategy.
Criteria for this process were:
- relevance of impacts (synthetized in the Adaptation Challenges),
- coherency and continuity with the regional policies relevant for adaptation,
- efficacy with regard to the objectives and Adaptation Trajectories,
- sustainability (ecologic and economic) of the actions (priority wherever possible to green nature-
and ecosystem-based solutions)
3.2 Measures
15As “measures”, here we will intend mainly planned actions or tools with the ability to fulfil adaptation
needs in coherence to the adaptation documents recalled under the section dedicated to policies.
Therefore, we will analyse the measures under investigation for the purpose of this project from NAP and
RAD.
3.2.1 The Italian NAP
In its second part, the NAP analyses adaptation actions, the roles for their implementation (i.e.
competences and powers of public administrations responsible for law making, implementation or
monitoring in the domains covered by NAP)9, and the financial resources needed and attempts to suggest
some possible sources of finance.
Actions are proposed by sector, associated to impacts and homogenous macro-climatic regions. The actions
have been assessed and given a level of preference ranging from low to high. For the most urgent ones
(mid-high to high) information for implementation are provided by NAP including: timing of
implementation, monitoring indicators, responsible organisations and authorities.
The resulting 350 adaptation actions of the NAP are organised as follows (Table 3).
Trajectories
1.Acquire detailed knowledge
cross-cutting 2.Teach and train
actions (13)
3.Ensure system is flexible and immediately responsive
4.Make system robust and resilient in the face of known risks and
uncertainties
Sectors and topics
National
Adaptation 1.Water resources
Plan 2.Marine environment: biodiversity, functioning and ecosystem
(NAP) services
3.Ecosystems and biodiversity in inland and transition waters
sector-specific 4.Coastal zones
actions
5.Hydrological, hydraulic and geological instability
6.Desertification, land degradation and droughts
7.Terrestrial ecosystems
8.Forests
9.Agriculture and food production
9
For a more detailed information on the roles and responsibilities of public administration in Italy on the domains
included in the NAP as well as for punctual legal references at different levels, see: NAP pp. 267-298.
1610.Maritime fisheries
11.Aquaculture
12.Tourism
13.Urban settlements
14.1 Critical infrastructure / Transport
14.2 Critical infrastructure / Dangerous industries and
infrastructures 14.3 Critical infrastructure / Cultural heritage
14.4 Energy
14.5 Heath
Table 3: Organisation of the adaptation measures in NAP (2017)
The criteria used for assessing and ranking adaptation actions collected in the NAP are and include the
following ones (based on Flörke et al. 2011).
Criteria Sub-dimensions
Effectiveness Reduction of negative impacts of climate change
Efficiency Maximization of cost-effectiveness indices
2nd order effects Win-win
No regret
Negative
Performance under uncertainty Flexibility
Robustness
Considerations concerning political Institutional and social feasibility
implementation
Multidimensionality
Urgency
Table 4: Criteria and sub-dimensions used to rank adaptation actions in NAP (2014)
The resulting classification divides actions between soft (i.e. non requiring material or structural
interventions but focusing on knowledge, organisational and institutional skills) and non-soft (i.e. grey:
material and requiring structural interventions; green: through ecosystems and green infrastructures), then
by macro-categories, categories, and types as in Table 5 (types have not been reported).
17Research and assessment
Information Monitoring, data, models
Spreading, perception, awareness, education
Institutions
Organisation and
Organisations and management
participation
Soft measures
Partnerships and participation
Legal and regulatory alignment
Plans and strategies
Governance
Economic and financial tools
Direction
Plants, materials and technologies
Actions for update
and improvement
Defense, networks, storage and transmission
of plants and
infrastructures
Non-soft Integrated solutions
measures
(green or grey) Forest and agri-forest ecosystems
Ecosystem services River, coastal and maritime ecosystems
(ESs) based
solutions
Refurbishment of buildings
Table 5: Classification of adaptation actions in NAP by nature, macro-categories, and categories
In the NAP, soft measures are 270 (76% of all actions). Non-soft are 86 (24%) of which 46 are Green or ESs-
based actions (13%), and 40 Grey or Infrastructural and technological (11%). Soft measures are
homogeneously distributed across all sectors, while green actions prevail in the forest sector. Grey actions
tend to concentrate in the energy sector. In the coastal sector, soft and non-soft measures are more
equally distributed.
18Some 59% of measures are qualified as being of high preference. Medium-high preference actions follow
(29%). All the other actions cover merely 12% of the total, demonstrating as certainly most of the actions
included in the NAP were since the beginning considered as priorities.
By crossing the three dimensions of typology, time horizon and preference, 123 soft measures can be
implemented in the short run, at a reasonable cost and across all sectors - often showing a significant
degree of cross-sectoraility that is especially visible in the domains of agriculture, urban settlements,
forests and water resources. The following four clusters, showing the cross-sectorality and the interactions
among measures gathered under the same heading, result out of this re-organisation of NAP’s measures.
Cluster A Cluster B Cluster C Cluster D
Agriculture Urban settlements Agriculture Water resources
Desertification geological, hydraulic and Urban settlements Urban settlements
hydrological instability
Forests Dangerous Energy
Transport infrastructures and
Terrestrial ecosystem
industries
Coastal zones
Water resources
Energy
Water resources
Aquaculture
Water resources
Table 6: Clusters of soft adaptation measures after a re-organisation of short-run measures from NAP according to our
methodology
In the analysis presented in this paper and for the purpose of GoApply!, 123 measures have been selected
based on their time schedule (by 2020) and priority level (high) with the following distribution (Table 7).
The result is a concentration of measures in some domains, especially Geological, hydrological and
hydraulic instability, agriculture, and cross-sectoral actions.
Domain # measures Share
Agriculture 15 12,20%
Desertification 4 3,25%
Geological, hydrological and hydraulic
instability 17 13,82%
Marine ecosystems 12 9,76%
Terrestrial ecosystems 9 7,32%
Energy 2 1,63%
19Dangerous industries and infrastructures 8 6,50%
Urban settlements 5 4,07%
Maritime fisheries 11 8,94%
Water resources 9 7,32%
Health 10 8,13%
Transport 7 5,69%
Tourism 2 1,63%
All sectors 12 9,76%
Total 123 100,00%
Table 7: Number and concentration of measures across policy domains for the selection of 123 measures from NAP
3.2.2 The Lombardy Region’s RAD
The RAD proposes, for each adaptation action:
- specific objectives, pinpointing the reasons behind them;
- a description of the action design;
- any related previous commitment for adaptation, highlighting the effort already in place in current
regional programmes and plans, in order to stress out its value in terms of adaptation to climate
change and to foster its further implementation;
- the actors to be involved in the action;
- the desirable evolution of the action, including the foreseen phases of implementation and
temporal development. Particularly, in terms of timescale, the RAD identifies four classes:
next: action should be implemented within 2 years (2018)
near future: between 2019 and 2025;
mid to long future: 2030 and 2050 tipping points
far future: 2070 and 2100 tipping points.
As mentioned above, RAD’s actions have been organised across two layers and some sub-categories as
shown in the table below.
Trajectories
1.Acquire detailed knowledge
Regional
Adaptation multi-sectoral 2.Teach and train
Document actions
3.Ensure system is flexible and immediately responsive
(RAD)
4.Make system robust and resilient in the face of known risks and
uncertainties
20Sectors and topics
1.Air quality and human health
sector-specific
2.Soil & water resources’ defence
actions
3.Tourism & sports,
4.Agriculture and biodiversity
Table 8: Organisation of adaptation actions by layers and sub-categories in RAD (2016).
RAD multi-sector actions have been driven by four macro-challenges and trajectories as shown in the table
that follows.
Macro-challenge Trajectory # Actions
Knowledge and Acquire detailed ST1 Keep safe the instruments and networks used for
uncertainty knowledge environmental monitoring
Awareness of Teach and train ST2 Enhance the knowledge and awareness of citizens,
climate change stakeholders and policy-makers about global and
localized climate change
Steer permanent professional and vocational
training courses in the direction of capacity-building
and the dissemination of knowledge about
adaptation
Capacity to Ensure system is ST3 Set out a detailed plan for local-level adaptation
respond to an flexible and actions by combining the Regional Strategy, the
evolving situation immediately Regional Action Plan for Adaptation to Climate
responsive Change and the Regional Territorial and Landscape
Plans
Enhance the in-house skills of public and
government offices at assessing and making use of
initiatives and at securing European funds for
adaptation measures
Systemic effects Make system robust ST4 Verify and check that directives for the construction
of climate change and resilient in the face trade and infrastructure building are compliant with
of known risks and adaptation targets, and that the structures
uncertainties themselves are suited to the coming climatic
conditions
Set up a stable system of multi-sectoral
coordination between the areas of agriculture,
biodiversity, tourism and sport to make the most of
21the synergies available
Table 9: Organisation of multi-sector adaptation actions in RAD (2016) coherently to macro-challenges and
trajectories.
Risk and sensitivity / susceptibility factors that have been developed for RAD and assigned to different
measures (as classified above). In this context, susceptibility refers to whether a given system may be more
or less affected (susceptible or not susceptible) by conditions caused by climate change, without any
assessment being made of the dynamics or scope of the change. The factors taken in consideration for
performing the risk analysis are:
● Level of knowledge and coping ability (CO)
● Individual capacity (IC)
● Systemic impact (SI)
Based on the assignment to each of the actions proposed in the RAD to the relevant risk category, a list of
28 priority actions has been identified.
Code Synthetic Title Code Synthetic Title
MultiSec.1 Transfer to local level Water.4 Irrigation & Water network solutions
MultiSec.2 Awareness Risk.1 Updating Regional Risk Plan
Equalisation & Compensation (financing risk
MultiSec.3 Access to funds Risk.2 protection)
Professional education &
MultiSec.4 training Tourism.1 Adaptive models for Tourism
Building & Infrastructure
MultiSec.5 regulation Tourism.2 Projects for adapted tourism
Coordination Agriculture -
MultiSec.6 Tourism - Biodiversity Tourism.3 New ski and ski lift facilities
Safeguarding monitoring
MultiSec.7 systems Agric.1 Phytosanitary monitoring
Air.1 Climate-related pollutant Agric.2 Adaptive models for Agriculture
Health.1 Agric.3 Sustainable Agriculture
Campaign on Human
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