The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent to the Member States, on Tuesday 4 May, new draft conclusions on the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change.
What is new in comparison to the previous draft conclusions (see EUROPE 12705/7) is that the Presidency now proposes to invite the European Commission to prepare “an EU adaptation communication in line with the Paris Agreement”, which would be based on the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change (see EUROPE 12665/4).
Once approved by the Member States, the Communication will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on behalf of the EU, before the COP26 (scheduled for early November), in order to raise the profile of climate change adaptation on the international stage.
There are several other changes from the second draft conclusions.
The text now emphasises the importance of “better integrating adaptation measures in sustainable forest management as an example of nature-based solutions”.
It also proposes that Member States consider the management of invasive alien species as an adaptation measure to climate change, while noting that these species have “detrimental effects (...) on natural habitats and ecosystem services”.
Finally, the draft conclusions now place greater emphasis on the importance of protecting and conserving biodiversity and on the intrinsic link between solutions to combat climate change and those to curb biodiversity loss.
See the draft conclusions: https://bit.ly/33riUHj (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)