Climate Adaptation Platform for the Alps (CAPA)

Platform summary

The Climate Adaptation Platform for the Alps (CAPA) is a platform that supports decision-makers in Alpine countries, regions and municipalities in adapting to climate change.

It provides resources about future climate (scenarios, projections), climate impacts, vulnerabilities and risks, adaptation policies, adaptation options (strategic directions, actions, measures), tools (assessment methods, decision-support, guidelines, manuals, information portals) and adaptation in practice (e.g. case studies).

You can find out more about CAPA in this flyer (see right-hand column) and these slides (see further resources).

Host Organisations: Environment Agency Austria (overall platform management, contents) and Spatial Services GmbH (IT development, web hosting, technical maintenance).

Launch date: The Climate Adaptation Platform for the Alps was initially launched in 2014 and was re-launched in 2017.

Update status: Last update in September 2020.

Funding: Since 2016, CAPA is embedded in the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) implementation process. Funding is provided by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism Austrian in its role as the lead organisation of EUSALP Action Group 8, supported by co-funding of the Interreg Alpine Space Programme (Projects AlpGov1 and AlpGov2). Original funding for development of the platform came from the C3-Alps project (2012-2014) of the Alpine Space Programme.

Team: One person is in charge of the management, coordination, external communication. Another person is in charge of IT development and technical maintenance. 3 persons work on content management, including quality control of user-based content contributions.

Main functions:

• Raising awareness on the need for climate change adaptation
• Providing guidance on how to undertake adaptation
• Providing decision-support tools for adaptation decision-making
• Sharing adaptation solutions and case studies

Intended audiences:

• National-level decision makers / national government
• City and regional-level decision-makers / local government
• Communities / general public
• Civil society (NGO / charities)
• Professionals
• Practitioners
• Expert community

Why the platform was established

The Climate Adaptation Platform for the Alps was established to:

• Capitalise on climate adaptation knowledge generated by projects of the Interreg Alpine Space Programme;
• Fill a gap and cover the vacant transnational niche in climate adaptation knowledge infrastructures between the EU and national levels;
• Contribute to the implementation of the work programme of EUSALP Action Group 8.

CAPA provides knowledge needed for all steps of the adaptation process:

• Future climate (scenarios, projections)
• Impacts, vulnerabilities, risks
• Adaptation policies (strategies, action plans)
• Adaptation options
• Tools (guidance, methods, work aids)
• Adaptation in practice
• Monitoring & evaluation