‘Planning for Today’: The Nature and Emergence of Adaptation Measures in Italy

Abstract

This chapter examines the Italian approach to climate change adaptation at the national scale, where the design of a formal adaptation strategy has yet to emerge out of preliminary stages. Adaptation discourses at the national level were initiated in 2007 at the time of the National Climate Change Conference, after which efforts to pull together a national adaptation strategy were considerably slowed by low prioritisation of climate change adaptation, changes in national administration and poor coordination. The ways in which adaptation is beginning to emerge at the regional and local scales is assessed in the Emilia-Romagna region and its province and municipality of Ferrara. Policy reviews and interviews with decision makers in the case study areas indicate that despite such slow progress, both national and regional actors have furthered adaptation discourses and activities at different scales. Issues that have typically hindered environmental policy development are partially overcome as strong political leadership, stakeholder involvement and strengthening vertical and horizontal networks are coupled within governments with long-standing interest in environmental issues and positive science-policy linkages. At all scales, adaptation has occurred in response to current risks and vulnerabilities with little consideration of and future projections and long-term planning.