Countries in Europe and Central Asia face institutional and technical barriers to climate change mitigation, adaptation and disaster disk reduction due to limited capacities to access climate finance; a lack of knowledge and capacities on climate change, disaster disk reduction, biodiversity and natural resources management; and limited agroenvironmental and climate governance.

Climate resilience in the region must be enhanced to adapt to the changing climate – including the increasing number of extreme water events, such as droughts and floods – and to other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters through promoting and supporting the implementation of relevant climate measures and DRR actions and integrating them into national policies, strategies and planning.

Increased afforestation and reforestation, protection of agroecosystems, and sustainable soil and land management practices will contribute to decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Coherent climate action efforts should be mainstreamed into policies, planning and decision-making processes.

Regional Priority Programme supports countries in:

• improving the collection and management of data and information on climate-related vulnerabilities and economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters;
• assessing direct economic losses attributed to disasters in the agriculture sector and developing, adapting and implementing national DRR strategies;
• developing long-term strategies and action plans, updating and monitoring nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to address issues related to climate change, assessing agriculture-related GHG emissions, and developing and implementing strategies to decrease GHG emissions from the agrifood system;
• providing a regional mechanism to promote and build capacities related to the sustainable management of natural resources, including reducing land degradation, improving climate services, strengthening partnerships, and promoting good governance of natural resources; and
• transitioning towards sustainable forest management at multiple levels to contribute to the accumulation of atmospheric CO2 as carbon in vegetation and soils to address climate change via mitigation and adaptation processes.

FAO work in climate change and disaster risk reduction in the Europe and Central Asia region implies:

1. enhancing policies, knowledge and capacities to combat climate change;
2. strengthening capacities for achieving land degradation neutrality; 
3. promoting nature-based solutions to address climate change; and
4. enhancing disaster risk reduction and resilience.