By Abbas Nazil
A new EU-funded report has highlighted the effectiveness and shortcomings of nature-based solutions (NbSs) for climate resilience in south-east Europe, comparing strategies in Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia.
Published by the ARCADIA project, the report examined governance, risk assessments, stakeholder engagement, and financing to evaluate how NbSs are shaping regional climate adaptation.
One of the key findings is the importance of adaptive governance.
Slovenia’s Podravje region, with its centralized model, benefits from streamlined decision-making, effective policy execution, and accountability.
However, it risks neglecting local needs.
Conversely, the more decentralized systems in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv and Romania’s Centru regions encourage inclusivity but face challenges of coordination and policy fragmentation.
In terms of climate risk assessments, Podravje stands out with a technology-driven, dynamic monitoring system that accurately predicts floods, landslides, and other risks.
The report recommends that Plovdiv and Centru move from reactive, static assessments to real-time, adaptive, data-informed approaches.
Slovenia also leads in integrating NbSs with adaptation goals by aligning policies, funding, and implementation.
In contrast, Bulgaria and Romania need to adopt more systemic thinking and cross-sector collaboration to strengthen NbS use.
Stakeholder engagement is strongest in Slovenia, where collaboration among governments, NGOs, businesses, and communities is well-structured.
Bulgaria and Romania, however, still require institutional reforms to align engagement with adaptation strategies.
Financial mechanisms also differ.
Podravje’s results-based model links funding with measurable outcomes, making it a scalable framework.
The report urges Plovdiv and Centru to improve transparency in fund allocation and ensure financing aligns with performance metrics.
The report concludes that to accelerate climate resilience, regions must balance centralized efficiency with decentralized flexibility, adopt real-time risk monitoring, and strengthen governance and financing systems.
Cross-border cooperation and shared knowledge will be essential to close adaptation gaps and ensure sustainable regional development in Europe.
