By placing EU cities at the forefront of climate change adaptation and offering a thorough evaluation of already-implemented actions, the recently released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) report offers insightful information on climate adaptation and paves the way for overall urban resilience. Two targeted activities of APCG/IERSD towards urban climate adaptation are highlighted in the report:
- The Urban Biodiversity Index (UBI), which has been developed under the frame of a service level agreement with DG RTD and the EEA, uses tree inventories to evaluate the ratios of native, alien, invasive, and toxic trees in a city, aiming at monitoring climate adaptation by detecting the abundance and diversity of urban trees. The proposed index contributes to biodiversity conservation and societal resilience to climate change. (For more information, please visit p. 179 of the report).
- The Urban Heritage Climate Observatory (UHCO) is a GEO pilot initiative led by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Greek GEO Office (GGO) with the goal to safeguard, monitor, and manage urban heritage against the impacts of climate change by taking advantage of Earth Observations (EO). UHCO has been incorporated as an example of a significant global initiative to address existing gaps in reliable, accessible data. (For more information, please visit p. 128 of the report).