Serbia Initial National Communication, 2010
Project Overview
The creation of a National Communication offers countries the opportunity to contribute with technically sound studies and information that can be used for designing mitigation and adaptation measures, and project proposals that can and will help increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Activities generally include: V&A assessments, GHG inventory preparation, mitigation analysis or education, and awareness-raising activities.The ultimate goal is the integration of climate change considerations into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions.
Key vulnerabilities identified in Serbia's Initial National Communication (2010):
- Agriculture
- Water Resources
- Public Health
- Terrestrial Ecosystems
- Forestry
Project Details
Potential Adaptation Measures identified in Serbia's Initial National Communication (2010):
Water resources
- PROVISION OF THE POPULATION WITH DRINKING WATER
-Build regional systems (Banat, West Baĉka, Rzav, etc.)
-Improve maintenance of existing source profiles
-Reduce loss in water supply systems
- BUILDING CANAL SYSTEMS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND PROTECTION AGAINST WATER POLLUTION
-Build waste water treatment plants for all residential areas larger than 2000 ЕS
- IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE
-Harmonise the building of new irrigation systems for the needs of agriculture. Priority systems are those that can be quickly operative (e.g., Hydro system Banat – sub–system Kikinda, Hydro system Negotin Plain)
-Reconstruct the existing drainage system (the Danube region, HS DTD, etc.) and build new drainage systems
- PROTECTION AGAINST FLOODS, EROSION AND TORRENTS
-Develop existing systems and increase protection against flooding, especially in large residential areas (Belgrade, Novi Sad, etc.), as well as in the areas with inadequate protection against floods
-Forestation of areas degraded by erosion
- Protect capital values from erosion and torrents
- Revitalise forests in the Danube foreland basin
Forestry
- Disturbed forest ecosystems – improve resilience and revitalise
- Develop dynamic and purpose–oriented conservation of forest biodiversity, areas under forests and urban areas
- Adaptation of forest trees and mitigation of climate change effects
- Adaptive management and improved sustainability and multi–functionality of forests under changed climatic conditions Improve the use of biomass for products and energy
Agriculture
- Improve the methodology for the assessment of vulnerability based on agro–climatic indices
- Change soil treatment by using techniques that will conserve the humidity of soil
- Develop monitoring system for early warning against drought
- Introduce measures to reduce erosion in hilly and mountainous areas
- Optimal fertilisation as an adaptation and mitigation measure Install nets for protection against hail and frost
- Simulate climate change impacts on agricultural production by using plant production models
- Model the occurrence of plant diseases and vermin under changed climate conditions
Terrestrial Ecosystems
- Create a data base on biodiversity
- Introduce monitoring of the effects of climate change on biodiversity
- Adjust the protection programme at the level of species
- Develop structures for the scientific evaluation of biodiversity status affected by climate change
- Develop models for the assessment of the effects of climate change on biodiversity
- Regulate management plans for protected areas
Public Health
Critical temperature research and determination. The establishment of the morbidity and mortality of animal who are reservoirs of arthropod–borne infections would enable the introduction of continuous monitoring of vectors that are present and are of medical importance to the population
The research of insect vectors would focus on the effects of higher temperatures on the spread of areas and the adoption of new habitats, changes and speed of physiological processes, increase in food consumption and reproductive capacity, life expectancy and increased capacities for pathogen transmission due to shorter periods of incubation
The research of arboviruses as human pathogens would include recording the cases of etiologically proven diseases
Key Results and Outputs
- Sustainable development and the integration of climate change concerns into medium- and long-term planning
- Inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases
- Measures contributing to addressing climate change
- Research and systematic observation
- Climate change impacts, adaptation measures and response strategies
- Education, training and public awareness
Reports and Publications
Assessments and Background Documents
Monitoring and Evaluation
In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.
Parties to the Convention must submit national reports on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties (COP). The required contents of national communications and the timetable for their submission are different for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. This is in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the Convention.
The core elements of the national communications for both Annex I and non-Annex I Parties are information on emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and details of the activities a Party has undertaken to implement the Convention. National communications usually contain information on national circumstances, vulnerability assessment, financial resources and transfer of technology, and education, training and public awareness.
Since 1994, governments have invested significant time and resources in the preparation, collection and validation of data on GHG emissions, and the COP has made determined efforts to improve the quality and consistency of the data, which are ensured by established guidelines for reporting. Non-Annex I Parties receive financial and technical assistance in preparing their national communications, facilitated by the UNFCCC secretariat.