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The climate is changing, and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region is vulnerable to the consequences. Many of the region's countries are facing warmer temperatures, a changing hydrology, and more extremes, droughts, floods, heat waves, windstorms, and forest fires. This book presents an overview of what adaptation to climate change might mean for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It starts with a discussion of emerging best-practice adaptation planning around the world and a review of the latest climate projections. It then discusses possible actions to improve resilience organized around impacts on health, natural resources (water, biodiversity, and the coastal environment), the 'unbuilt' environment (agriculture and forestry), and the built environment (infrastructure and housing). The last chapter concludes with a discussion of two areas in great need of strengthening given the changing climate: disaster preparedness and hydro-meteorological services. This book has four key messages: a) contrary to popular perception, Eastern Europe and Central Asia face significant threats from climate change, with a number of the most serious risks already in evidence; b) vulnerability over the next 10 to 20 years is likely to be dominated by socioeconomic factors and legacy issues; c) even countries and sectors that stand to benefit from climate change are poorly positioned to do so; and d) the next decade offers a window of opportunity for ECA countries to make their development more resilient to climate change while reaping numerous co-benefits.

Global targets to halt the loss of biodiversity have not been met, and there is now an additional Aichi target for preventing the extinction of known threatened species and improving their conservation status. Climate change increasingly needs to be factored in to these, and thus there is a need to identify the extent to which it could increase species vulnerability. This paper uses the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity framework to assess the vulnerability of a selection of WWF global priority large mammals and marine species to climate change. However, it divides adaptive capacity into adaptive capability and adaptation opportunity, in order to identify whether adaptation is more constrained by the biology of the species or by its environmental setting. Lack of evidence makes it difficult to apply the framework consistently across the species, but it was found that, particularly for the terrestrial mammals, adaptation opportunities seems to be the greater constraint. This framework and analysis could be used by conservationists and those wishing to enhance the resilience of species to climate change.

The paper provides a critical analysis of researches related to the definition of different types of business opportunities, general approaches to adaptation management, adaptation potential management of transport and tourism enterprises. The choice of air carriers as the object of study was due to the greatest difficulty in managing their adaptation potential, and their key impact on the tourism product. The prerequisites for the adaptation of air carriers to the global tourism market were determined. It was noted that the adaptation capacity of enterprises has its own characteristics depending on the scope of activity of business entities. The scientific novelty is formed by the defined sequence of the procedure and the stages of air carrier adaptation to the conditions of the world tourism market. For the first time, a set of measures to adapt air carriers to the global tourism market was proposed. Intensification of tourism market participants’ interaction will provide an opportunity for global expansion of the tourism product.

BackgroundEthiopia is frequently cited as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. The country’s high vulnerability arises mostly from climate-sensitive agricultural sector that suffers a lot from risks associated with rainfall variability. The vulnerability factors (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) of the agricultural livelihoods to climate variability and change differ across agro-ecological systems (AESs). Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze AES-specific vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate variability and change in the Fincha’a sub-basin. We surveyed 380 respondents from 4 AESs (highland, midland, wetland, and lowland) randomly selected. Furthermore, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were also performed to supplement and substantiate the quantitative data. Livelihood vulnerability index was employed to analyze the levels of smallholders’ agriculture vulnerability to climate variability and change. Data on socioeconomic and biophysical attribute were collected and combined into the indices and vulnerability score was calculated for each agro-ecological system.ResultsConsiderable variation was observed across the agro-ecological systems in profile, indicator, and the three livelihood vulnerability indices-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dimensions (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) of vulnerability. The lowland AES exhibited higher exposure, low adaptive capacity, and high vulnerability, while the midland AES demonstrated lower exposure, higher adaptive capacity, and lower vulnerability. The wetland and highland AESs scored intermediate results.ConclusionOur results suggest that resilience-building adaptation strategies are vital to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers. The measures taken should consider site-specific agro-ecological system requirements to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder mixed crop-livestock agriculture system. Since the approach based on the long-term realization of the community, any strategy designed based on such assessments is applicable to local condition.

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Climate change has dramatically affected the rainfall patterns and water systems in Central Italy. The vulnerability of this area to climate change and natural hazards necessitates that appropriate adaptation policies be put in place to protect heritage sites. This study aims to develop a cultural and natural heritage conservation framework for Central Italy that enhances the capacity of climate change adaptation for heritage resources. For this purpose, a comparison was made between the UNESCO (United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Convention of 1972 and the European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe to achieve a coherent vision for the protection of heritage resources in Europe. After describing the impacts of climate change on heritage resources in Central Italy, we analyze and suggest improvements to the conservation framework for wisely protecting heritage resources in a changing climate. The findings reveal that conservation sectors require assessments of the value of heritage resources at the territorial scale to effectively define conservation priorities, assess the vulnerabilities, and more precisely direct funding. In this respect, the integration of the European Landscape Convention with territorial planning may boost the unity of a conservation framework in terms of climate change while providing new opportunities for conservation authorities to develop adaptation policies.

Evaluating national climate policy performance requires frameworks that integrate multiple dimensions while accommodating diverse development pathways. This study develops a Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) framework to construct a Climate Policy Performance Index (CPPI) for 187 countries. The index integrates four dimensions—mitigation, adaptation, economic capacity, and governance—using explicit utility functions and policy-aligned weights derived from climate policy priorities. Results reveal substantial cross-national heterogeneity, with CPPI scores ranging from 33.67 (Turkmenistan) to 78.46 (Norway). Nordic countries lead with balanced excellence across dimensions, while alternative high-performance pathways emerge through mitigation leadership (Uruguay and Costa Rica) or governance–economy strength (Singapore). Regional analysis identifies Europe as the top-performing region, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa achieves unexpectedly high rankings despite low emissions owing to weak institutional capacity. The relationship between income and climate performance is non-monotonic: lower-middle-income countries achieve aggregate scores comparable to those of high-income nations, with near-perfect mitigation performance compensating for weaker governance. Sensitivity analysis shows that ranking robustness is comparable across equal, adaptation-focused, and multiplicative weighting schemes, whereas mitigation-focused weights yield substantially different orderings (ρ = 0.47). The CPPI correlates moderately with ND-GAIN (r = 0.40) and weakly and negatively with CO2 per capita (r = −0.28), indicating that the framework captures distinct aspects of climate policy performance. The proposed methodology advances beyond existing indices by providing axiomatic foundations, transparent utility specifications, and comprehensive sensitivity analysis, offering a theoretically grounded tool for cross-national climate policy evaluation.

Countering climate impacts by increasing resilience is a pivotal issue in scientific debate, in which the awareness of the risks of extreme weather phenomena is growing. Cities have been revealed to be increasingly unsuited to the changing climate and vulnerable to it due to their settlement patterns, constructive practices and living habits. Scientifically addressing the issue of climate-proof design requires the development of knowledge models and processes capable of managing the complexity of information needed to guide the transformation of the built environment. In this paper, a model for assessing climate resilience scenarios for the heatwave phenomenon is proposed by implementing a database of technical climate-proof solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation aimed at increasing the indoor comfort and reducing the CO2 emissions of buildings. The model is implemented through a GIS-based framework and was tested on the city of Naples (Italy), measuring the reduction in the heatwave impact/risks determined by the selected climate-proof solutions. The test results show the effectiveness of the climate-proof solutions applied to the built environment through an increase in climate resilience. The framework provides support for planning climatic resilience design strategies at the building scale. It could be applied in future local climate adaptation plans or as a knowledge resource to achieve resilient built environments.

Bacteria of genus , encompassing economically significant pathogens affecting various plants, includes the species , initially associated with beetroot infection. However, its host range is much broader. It causes diseases of sunflower, potato, tomato, carrots, sweet potato, radish, squash, cucumber, and chrysanthemum. To explain this phenomenon, a comprehensive pathogenomic and phenomic characterisation of species was performed. Genomes of strains isolated from potato, sunflower, and artichoke were sequenced and compared with those from sugar beet isolates. Metabolic profiling and pathogenomic analyses were conducted to assess virulence determinants and adaptation potential. Pathogenicity assays were performed on potato tubers and chicory leaves to confirm predictions of disease symptoms. Phenotypic assays were also conducted to assess the strains ability to synthesise homoserine lactones and siderophores. The genome size ranged from 4.675 to 4.931 kbp, and GC % was between 51.0% and 51.2%. The pangenome of is open and comprises, on average, 4,220 gene families. Of these, 83% of genes are the core genome, and 2% of the entire pangenome are unique genes. Strains isolated from sugar beet have a smaller pangenome size and a higher number of unique genes than those from other plants. Interestingly, genomes of strains from artichoke and sunflower share 391 common CDS that are not present in the genomes of other strains from sugar beet or potato. Those strains have only one unique gene. All strains could use numerous sugars as building materials and energy sources and possessed a high repertoire of virulence determinants in the genomes. strains were able to cause disease symptoms on potato tubers and chicory leaves. They were also able to synthesise homoserine lactones and siderophores. The findings underscore the adaptability of to diverse hosts and environments. Strains adapted to plants with high sugar content in tissues have a different composition of fatty acids in membranes and a different mechanism of replenishing nitrogen in case of deficiency of this compound than strains derived from other plant species. Extensive phenomics and genomic analyses performed in this study have shown that species is an agronomically relevant pathogen.

Climate action requires rapid, evidence-based and locally appropriate adaptation measures. Effective responses in the built environment depend on integrated, multilevel solutions developed through inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. Long-term, effective adaptation must fulfil five key criteria: contextual fitness, capacity for local implementation, systemic transformation, future-oriented planning and flexibility to avoid maladaptation. This study applies this analytical framework derived from climate adaptation theory to observational analyses and expert interviews to examine how building technology laboratories (BTLs) and living labs (LLs) facilitate systemic and context-specific adaptation in the built environment. By analysing purposely selected research institutions, the study conveys the potential of these laboratories to drive transformational climate change adaptation. These findings are discussed in relation to their relevance for resource-constrained regions. The cross-case study analysis of selected research facilities can inform the establishment of similar facilities in the Southern Africa region, contributing to climate adaptation research, enhancing local adaptive capacity and promoting long-term regional resilience. POLICY RELEVANCE In the context of a rapidly changing climate, practitioners and policymakers must act decisively to implement effective built environment-related climate adaptation measures, BTLs and LLs. Based on seven case studies, key adaptation criteria (contextual relevance, local feasibility, systemic transformation, future-oriented planning and flexibility) are used to assess how BTLs and LLs contribute to systemic and context-specific climate adaptation. Transferable lessons from these laboratories are identified and their potential application is discussed for resource-constrained settings. These insights are contextualised for Southern Africa, advocating the implementation of laboratories to enhance local research and development capacity, inform practical interventions and strengthen long-term regional resilience to climate change.