The Pyrenees Climate Change Observatory will lead a 20 million euro project to achieve Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pyrenees

The Working Community of the Pyrenees (CTP) through the Pyrenean Climate Change Observatory (OPCC) is leading the new PYRENEES4CLIMA project in which 46 other Spanish, French and Andorran entities are participating, seeking to strengthen resilience in the Pyrenees through the application of measures to adapt to Climate Change. This PYRENEES4CLIMA project "Towards a climate-resilient cross-border mountain community in the Pyrenees" has recently been approved by the European LIFE Programme and will be launched in October 2023 and will run until December 2030.

The project budget is 19,518,018€ of which 11,710,810.80€ (60% of the overall budget) is subsidised by the European Union while the rest is provided by the project partners.

The project aims to implement the Pyrenean Climate Change Strategy (EPiCC), the first European climate change strategy specifically designed for a mountain and cross-border bioregion. The seven member territories of the CTP: Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie, Euskadi, Navarra, Aragon, Catalonia and Andorra actively participated in the design of this strategy.

The PYRENEES4CLIMA project will ensure the leverage effect to achieve a first impulse in the implementation of the EPiCC. This project provides the medium-term vision needed to address climate change issues, and will become a real accelerator of climate action policies in the Pyrenees by giving continuity to the key points identified in the EPiCC strategy itself. This project will make it possible to work in depth on multi-sector and multi-territorial concertation in order to establish solid governance in the fight against climate change in the Pyrenees based on territorial cooperation.

The implementation of the project is organised in 10 work packages that are led by some of the project partners forming north-south tandems such as the Meteorological Service of Catalonia and MeteoFrance, the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology-CSIC and the Conservatoire Botanique National des Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées, the Agence des Pyrénées and CREAF, NASUVINSA, the EGTC Pyrénées-Pyrénées, the Réseau Pyrénées Vivantes and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Catalan Office for Climate Change and the Occitanie region and the OPCC-CTP itself.

The LIFE Programme is the only financial instrument of the European Union dedicated exclusively to the environment and climate action and is one of the main contributors to the European Green Deal. The PYRENEES4CLIMA project responds to the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIP) programme aimed at supporting the monitoring, development and implementation of Climate Change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

 The partners:

The consortium created to develop this project includes the seven competent territories in the Pyrenees: Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, Euskadi, Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie and Andorra; and also involves 41 external beneficiary entities, of different typology: applied research centres, universities, specialised public companies, EGTC, associations, companies and foundations, among others.

Entities operating in the French regions of Nouvelle Aquitaine and Occitanie: Agence des Pyrénées, Conservatoire Botanique National Midi-Pyrénées, Météo France, CNRS, ACAP, CEREMA, Parc National des Pyrénées, as well as AUDAP in Nouvelle Aquitaine, NEO and ANA- CEN in Occitanie, and AECT-Pyrénnées which in addition to the two French regions also operates in Aragon.

Entities acting on the southern slope: as a whole CSIC; CREAF-UAB, ICGC, SMC, UPC, UB, and Observatorio del Ebro all of them in Catalonia; CITA, Fundesa and SEO-BIRDLIFE in Aragon; GAN, NASUVINSA, NILSA, UNAV and UPNA in Navarra; BC3, NATURKLIMA, and NEIKER in the Basque Country.

Entities active throughout the territory: FORESPIR and Red Pirineos Vivos.

The CTP-OPCC leads this project, coordinating and directly managing the governance and communication work.

The project consortium is completed by 7 associated entities: AEMET, ARB-Oc Agence Régionale de la Biodiversité en Occitanie, AR+I Andorra Recerca e Innovació, MITECO-Reto Demogràfic, Euroregion Pyrénées Mediterranis, ONERC- Observatoire national sur les effets du réchauffement climatique, and SIVU du Massif du Pibeste Aoulhet.