In an initiative indicating the active engagement of Nordic countries in climate change research, The Second Nordic International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation is scheduled to be held towards the end of August in Helsinki.
The premise of the conference is to present solutions that will help in adapting to climate change and its consequences such as warm winters, frequent floods and summer droughts. The conference is the collaborative initiative of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Finnish Environment Institute with support from leading Nordic research institutes such as NONAM and NORDCLAD-Net climate networks. The conference will be attended by leading researchers of climate change, business leaders as well as politicians.
There will be eight keynote presentations and 150 poster and oral presentations offered at the conference to convey the latest developments in adaptation research and planned and executed measure of adaptation. The topics covered are adaptation plans at the local and regional levels, issues plaguing developing countries, risk management, regulatory and legal problems, impact on agriculture and farming, cost estimation and climate related services and portals.
Professor Adriaan Perrels from the Finnish Meteorological Institute believes that adaptation to climate change should be given utmost importance as any delay in adapting will make it more costly and will allow lesser time to leverage new technology to derive positive impacts out of climate change. Studies in Nordic countries indicate change in climate in the last few decades which has resulted in Nordic authorities modeling adaptation programs. But recently, the private entities have also begun focusing on not just the impact of climatic change but also on the solutions. This has led to the establishment of centers for climate information and advisory services along with web portals.