Forms for: Adapting to Climate Change through Territorial Strategies!

Programme 2007 - 2013 Interreg IVC

Date of latest update: 2025-06-21

Description

Description (EN):

F:ACTS! means ‘Forms for: Adapting to Climate change through Territorial Strategies’. Climate change and its predictable effects in terms of natural hazards offer a big challenge for policy makers at regional and local level that deal with integrated territorial approaches. The big gap between the increasing body of scientific research and the concrete and necessary preparation at regional and local level is the main rationale for F:ACTS! It brings together a partnership of 14 organisations, many of them experienced and committed to interregional learning and developing. All of the partners have the competence to carry out, support or innovate in the field of integrated territorial development and all have the urgent task to anticipate on climate change. The discussion about climate change has surpassed its theoretical / hypothetical level. The partnership considers the developments as ‘FACTS’ and it will look very structured and creatively F(or concrete):ACT(ion)S! F:ACTS! is focused on risk prone areas that lack resilience to respond to and recover from extreme weather. Prevention of hazards often has a spatial dimension touching functions and land use structures. Examples are; creating room to prevent flooding, improving access, zoning and managing of forests to reduce risks of wild fires, creating climate buffers around vulnerable natural areas to mitigate effects of extreme weather on valuable ecosystems. Regional and local governments are not well prepared to use integrated territorial strategies for adapting to climate change. Such strategies aim to make room for new land use functions, to rearrange ownership and use and to convert areas into these new functions. Territorial strategies are sometimes misunderstood to be the same as spatial planning. Territorial strategies in F:ACTS! context is a pro-active implementation oriented package of interventions in which governments and private parties work together in active stakeholder approaches. F:ACTS! is a partnership of regions across Europe. It contains a mix of organisations dealing with policy making, implementation and innovation at relevant government levels. Via review, study visits, thematic workshops and identification of good practice, the stage is set for concrete work in pilot areas. The pilots - in tune with a well-planned dissemination approach - will deliver important outcome for policy makers and practitioners and it will facilitate active transfer of approaches. F:ACTS! will deliver useful accessible documents, a handbook and recommendations for policy makers. All of this will strengthen the implementation capacity, it will lead to increased awareness among experts and policy makers to act and it will deliver more effective territorial development approaches at regional and local level.

Achievements (EN):

F:ACTS! is a knowledge exchange project between 8 regions and 14 organisations. It develops tools and policies to adapt to climate change in risk prone areas by using integrated territorial strategies. To stimulate exchange of knowledge, study visits and thematic workshops are organised. During these events 'Good Practices' are identified. F:ACTS! also has 5 pilot actions. In these pilots, experience is gathered on climate change adaptation in territorial strategies and good practices discovered, are used. In return, the pilots deliver experience and good practice that are exchanged within the project. Apart from these instruments, F:ACTS! also provides the opportunity for partners to be coached by other partners or to do an internship. Communication about the output of F:ACTS! is an important issue. A visual identity and a website have been launched: www.factsproject.eu. On the website a promotion movie, brochure and newsletters can be found. So far 8 dissemination events were held. The first Study Visit was organized in the Netherlands in March 2010. A good practice identified during this visit was the concept of Natural Climate Buffers, using natural processes to adapt an area to climate change. The 1st Thematic Workshop (Lithuania, June 2010) dealt with 'governance and institutional arrangements'. A good practice identified in this workshop was: use of Indicators as a way to promote accountability and efficiency in territorial development projects. In addition to physical achievements also aspects like transparency and participation can be measured. The 2nd Thematic Workshop (Belgium, October 2010) addressed 'stakeholder involvement' in climate change adaptation. One of the good practices discovered was the way the public was involved in a creative and participatory way, setting the right environment for climate adaptation measures. The 3rd Thematic Workshop (Spain, January 2011) addressed the topic of 'Economic Viability'. A good practice discovered here was the Payment for Ecosystem Services. This system links the supply of these services with the demand and is also applicable in linking climate hazards to people at risk. This can enhance the payment for adaptation measures. The 2nd Study Visit (Italy, March 2011) was held. An inspiring good practice on public-private cooperation in climate adaptation was discovered in Trento region. The 4th Thematic Workshop (Netherlands, June 2011) addressed 'Organic Planning in urban-rural regions in relation to Climate Change' in Almere. The 3rd Study Visit (Portugal, Nov 2011) delivered examples of governance and private-public partnerships at different administrative levels in Douro region. Also the pilot area of Baixo Vouga was visited and the transfer of good practises was highlighted. Earlier, during a preparation workshop for the 5 F:ACTS! pilots (Portugal, Sep 2010) future oriented scenario methods and tools were practiced in order to finalize pilot action plans and to start implementation. In the monitoring workshop for pilots (Bulgaria, Sep 2011) the scope of the policy papers was developed and the pilot work was evaluated. In Vouga (Portugal) the land use study was prepared in a participatory session. In De Wijers (Belgium) discussions on land use options and economic viability were held as part of climate neutral area development ambitions. In Carrio (Spain) studies and awareness rising are brought together in a Carrio vision. In Strofylia (Greece) a draft management and zoning plan was discussed with stakeholders. In Varna (Bulgaria) a Sketch-match was organised and technical studies are integrated into territorial plans. So far 29 coaching visits and 7 internships were held and 29 good practices were identified and documented. A Review Study was made, in which the state of the art of climate adaptation in territorial strategies is described for each region. F:ACTS! Partners visited several other international events on climate adaptation where they promoted F:ACTS!

Thematic information

Managing natural and man-made threats, risk management Regional planning and development Climate change and biodiversity

Partners (14)

Lead Partner: Dienst Landelijk Gebied (DLG)

Address: Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg 52, 2595 AN Den Haag, Netherlands

Legal status: n/a

Direcção-Geral do Ordenamento do Território e Desenvolvimento Urbano (DGOTDU)

Name: Direcção-Geral do Ordenamento do Território e Desenvolvimento Urbano (DGOTDU)

Address: Campo Grande, nº50, Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal

Legal status: n/a

Direcção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGADR)

Name: Direcção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGADR)

Address: Av. Afonso Costa 3, 1949-002 Lisboa , Portugal

Legal status: n/a

Provincie Limburg

Name: Provincie Limburg

Address: Universiteitslaan 1, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium

Legal status: n/a

Νοµαρχιακή Επιχείρηση Ανάπτυξης Νοµαρχιακής Αυτοδιοίκησης Αχαΐας

Name: Νοµαρχιακή Επιχείρηση Ανάπτυξης Νοµαρχιακής Αυτοδιοίκησης Αχαΐας

Address: 8, Dimitriou Ipsilantou St, GR-26222 Patras, Greece

Legal status: n/a

Nacionalinė Žemės Tarnyba prie Žemės Ūkio Ministerijos

Name: Nacionalinė Žemės Tarnyba prie Žemės Ūkio Ministerijos

Address: Gedimino av. 19, LT-01103 Vilinius-25, Lithuania

Legal status: n/a

ОБЩИНА ВАРНА

Name: ОБЩИНА ВАРНА

Address: 43, Osmi Primorski Polk Blvd., 9000 Varna, Bulgaria

Legal status: n/a

Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Name: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Address: Pazo de San Xerome, Praza do Obtadoiro s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (a Coruna), Spain

Legal status: n/a

Lietuvos Respublikos Žemės Ūkio Ministerija

Name: Lietuvos Respublikos Žemės Ūkio Ministerija

Address: Gedimino av. 19 (Levevelio 6), LT-01103 Vilniaus, Lithuania

Legal status: n/a

Municipality of Almere

Name: Municipality of Almere

Address: Stadhuisplein 1, 1315 HR Almere Stad, Netherlands

Legal status: n/a

Internationale Agrarische Hogeschool Larenstein, Onderdeel van WUR

Name: Internationale Agrarische Hogeschool Larenstein, Onderdeel van WUR

Address: Postbus 9001, 6880 GB Velp, Netherlands

Legal status: n/a

Vlaamse Landmaatschappij

Name: Vlaamse Landmaatschappij

Address: Gulden-Vlieslaan 72, 1060 Brussel, Belgium

Legal status: n/a

Conselleria do Medio Rural. Xunta de Galicia

Name: Conselleria do Medio Rural. Xunta de Galicia

Address: San Caetano, s/n, 15781 Santiago de Compostela (a Coruna), Spain

Legal status: n/a

Unione Nazionale Comuni Comunità Enti Montani

Name: Unione Nazionale Comuni Comunità Enti Montani

Address: Via Palestro 30, 185 Roma, Italy

Legal status: n/a

Partners map

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Forms for: Adapting to Climate Change through Territorial Strategies!

Project acronym: F:ACTS!

Project start date: 2010-01-01

Project end date: 2012-12-31

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 2 286 000.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 805 000.00

Co-financing sources:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2007 - 2013 Interreg IVC

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2015-09-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

204 / 204 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

2 250 / 2 250 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme

Languages

Contact Form

Forms for: Adapting to Climate Change through Territorial Strategies!

Description

Thematic information

Partners (14)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Disclaimer