More extreme weather events, health risks and economic uncertainties: Germany must prepare for the consequences of climate change. The Federal Climate Adaptation Act came into force on July 1, 2024. The Act stipulates that the federal government must develop a precautionary climate adaptation strategy with measurable goals.
In preparation for the strategy, the Federal Ministry for the Environment conducted the “Dialogue on climate adaptation – mastering life together in times of climate change” with stakeholders and citizens in autumn/winter 2023. Stakeholders were able to provide feedback on an initial draft for measurable goals, measures/instruments and indicators of climate adaptation at a dialog event and on an online platform and contribute their recommendations. The participation of citizens was intended to record citizens' experiences, future visions and expectations. It included five regional citizens’ dialogues which involved a total of 331 randomly recruited citizens. In addition, almost 2,000 citizens took part in a Germany-wide online survey and also contributed over a hundred ideas on a digital pinboard of ideas accessible throughout Germany.
This report summarizes the results of the participation process and brings together the recommendations of stakeholders and citizens for the seven clusters of the adaptation strategy. Overall, the contributions from both groups show numerous overlaps and a great support for the precautionary climate adaptation strategy.
One focus of the stakeholder recommendations was on suggestions for changes to the goals mentioned in the initial draft. In some cases, the stakeholders recommended additional goals or pointed out gaps that they felt existed. They also identified possible conflicts between the clusters of the adaptation strategy that need to be considered.
In the dialogues, citizens discussed future visions and climate adaptation measures based on everyday topics such as housing, health and livelihoods. A recurring theme in the dialogues and on the online platform was the desire for more green spaces. For example, it was important to citizens that green spaces are easily accessible for vulnerable groups. For all topics, they also emphasized that communication, education, and participation play a significant role in making climate adaptation a success.
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