Adaptation to the Impacts of Climate Extremes in Central Europe: A Case Study in a Rural Area in the Czech Republic

Robert Stojanov,David Procházka,Daniel Němec,Barbora Duží,Tomáš Daněk

doi:10.3390/su70912758

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to analyse households’ adaptation measures to the impacts of repeated extreme weather events, specifically floods, which belong amongst the most serious manifestation of ongoing climate change in Europe. The case study focuses on a rural area in the north-east part of the Czech Republic, in the catchment basin of the Bečva River. A total of 605 households were addressed within the framework of the questionnaire survey. On the basis of the conducted research, we determined that the total amount of adaptation measures adopted by those dwelling in residential homes within the investigated catchment area was relatively low. In contrast, however, one of the most important adaptation measures—house elevation—was applied by 46.94% of the houses (up to 1 m) and by 21.16% houses (elevated more than 1 m) respectively. We also found that the amount and scope of adaptation measures realized by households were influenced by certain socio-demographic factors of the inhabitants. The most statistically significant factors included households with more residents or families with more children living in the household, as well as those with a higher level of education. Flood experience, the level of damage, and individual flood risk perception also played an important role.

Highlights

Climate change represents a serious ongoing environmental transformation and international communities and individual nations make great efforts to cope with it [1,2]
An increasing frequency in the occurrence of floods in the investigated territory in the catchment basin of the Bečva River can be confirmed from the data obtained through our research; the implementation of adaptation measures is increasing in importance
Our findings generally reveal that household adaptation is relatively low and needs to be improved

Summary

Introduction

Climate change represents a serious ongoing environmental transformation and international communities and individual nations make great efforts to cope with it [1,2]. Within the European framework, attention has been focused to date on alleviating the envisaged negative impacts of climate change on the functioning of natural and socio-economic systems. This includes the area of mitigation strategies (primarily a reduction in the amount of discharge of greenhouse gases), as well as a shift in emphasis towards the need for implementing preventive and adaptation strategies for climate changes already under way [3]. The adaptation methods to these changes depend on the resilience capacities of the community affected, i.e., the extent to which the given community is sensitive and vulnerable to these climate extremes, and the extent to which it is capable of adapting to them

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Conclusion