From across Europe, key scientific and policy influencers had a common message at ECCA2023: the transfer of climate science into climate adaptation needs to accelerate.
The 6th edition of the European Conference on Climate Adaptation took place in Dublin on 19-21 June 2023 and was attended by an in-person audience of 450 plus nearly 1,000 participants joining online.
ECCA 2023 results from the efforts made by the EU-funded project MAGICA – Maximising the Synergy of European Research Governance and Innovation for Climate Action and the Joint Programming Initiative “Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe” (JPI Climate), who joined forces to organise the conference. It was hosted in Dublin by University College Cork and MaREI.
Over two-and-a-half days, ECCA 2023 provided key insights on various critical issues related to climate change adaptation in more than 70 parallel sessions. Sea level Rise, Climate Platforms and Services, Nature-Based Solutions, Climate Extremes, Societal Transformation and Resilience were the main themes of ECCA around which the sessions were articulated. The conference used a range of activities to enable attendees to explore and exchange knowledge and views on the important questions linked to these six themes, to arrive at concrete and actionable adaptation solutions based on the best available scientific knowledge.
The situation in Ukraine was a key focus at ECCA 2023, with the Ukranian scientific and policy delegation setting out the impact of the invasion by Russia in terms of human cost and the legacy of financial impacts, food, energy and water supplies, living conditions and infrastructure.
Young climate activists from all over Europe gathered at ECCA 2023 to share their experiences and treasure the knowledge exchange of different initiatives.
Art in all its forms also played a significant role at ECCA 2023, with performances and installations performed throughout the two days, while movies and documentaries played non-stop in a dedicated “CINEMA” room.
The conference concluded by summarising key messages gathered by the conference theme leaders, who reflected on the broad range of topics and diversity of content, covering collaboration, creativity, equality, implementation, tools, narratives, politics, finance, communities and much more.
In his speech at ECCA 2023 closing plenary, Frank Mc Govern, Chief Climate Scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ireland and Chair of JPI Climate, addressed the audience by stating that “the key takeaway from this year [conference edition, N.d.A] is that Climate Action is not good only for you. Climate action is good for everybody.”
The closing ceremony was also the moment to announce the country hosting the next edition of ECCA in 2025: Italy.
A substantial part of the conference has been live-streamed, and its recordings are available for watching here and here.
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Picture to use is available here
