Local Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation: Urban Planning Criteria for Municipalities of the Basque Country, Spain

Major efforts in the struggle against climate change have been made in the Basque Country. These include instruments such as the Basque Climate Change Office, the Basque Plan to Combat Climate Change, and the many initiatives carried out under the framework of Udalsarea 21 Basque Network of Municipalities for Sustainability (made up of 199 municipalities and representing 98.8% of the population of the Basque Country). Moreover, specific legislation on climate change is expected to come into force in 2011. In particular, the Basque Government is developing the Climate Change Law and the Sustainable Mobility Law. Additionally, in response to the annual call for eco-innovation projects, the Basque Government is engaged in two climate change adaptation initiatives within the framework of the Udalsarea 21. Both initiatives aim at generating and piloting methodological resources to help municipal authorities establish adaptation policies. The main elements are: (1) methodological directives to draw up local adaptation strategies, and (2) preparation of specific criteria of urban adaptation to climate change to be incorporated into urban planning.