MEDIATION developed the sophisticated analytical tools needed by European policymakers to improve adaptation to future social, economic, and physical changes caused by climate change.
The goal of the project was to enable policymakers to answer adaptation-related questions in different political contexts, on different geographical scales, and at different stages of policy development. The project was intended to remedy what researchers describe as the “incomplete and fragmented” climate change information then available to policymakers.
In the early stages of the project, IIASA researchers assessed the climate change adaptation-related tools that would be needed by European policymakers at different levels of government in different countries. Extensive interviews with policymakers were conducted and existing adaptation policy proposals in several EU countries were reviewed.
IIASA researchers then developed databases, models, methods, and metrics to inform economists, risk managers, agricultural specialists, and other decision makers. These tools included IIASA's CATSIM model for improved financial disaster risk management. The tools were applicable to a variety of adaptation challenges in different regions and political contexts. They do not tell decision makers what to do, but suggest routes that may lead them to solutions.
IIASA researchers also provided guidance on developing a methodology to improve the EU’s planned European Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation Clearinghouse. Coordinated by the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, the Clearinghouse aims to be an integrated and interoperable information system for the development of adaptation policies.
01.01.2010 - 30.06.2013
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Research partners
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313