Brussels, 29/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The urgent need for all member states of the EU to adopt a climate change adaptation strategy by 2017 was stressed by Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, at the high-level conference held in Brussels on Monday 29 April on the future adaptation strategy of the EU (see EUROPE 10829). “We are still taking baby steps”; but “investing in adaptation now in order to save lives and avoid costs” is, she argues, a necessity, and this is also the starting point of an approach to be developed at all levels - local, regional and European - to divide up the responsibilities. Speaking along the same lines, Mathias Groote, chairman of the committee on the environment of the Parliament, stressed that his priority is the “funding of the adaptation measures”. (AN/transl.fl)