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This report elaborates an integrated vulnerability assessment concept, intended as a knowledge brokerage tool for decision-makers in the Baltic Sea Region. By developing an integrated vulnerability concept, in line with advances in regional and local vulnerability and adaptation research and based on the project’s review of the scope and quality of current vulnerability assessments, the report supports discussions on what is needed for a systematic assessment of vulnerability in the region. The report rearticulates five critical challenges that potentially hamper realizing the full potential of vulnerability assessments to support and contribute to strategic decisions on climate adaptation: Adequate scope and goals; Ability to reflect the context; Inclusion of socio-economic stress; Clear connection between vulnerability assessment and decision-making on responses (and integrating knowledge and policies across sectors and levels); and Ability to merge top-down and bottom-up approaches. For each challenge, a principle has been formulated, which may serve as a guide in the development of the Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. BaltAdapt

This report aims at identifying potential issues for collaboration related to climate adaptation through application of a tool for assessing macro-regional risks. The tool is intended to assist decision-makers and other stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) in discussions on how climate adaptation related cooperation would benefit most from macro-regional cooperation. It is based on four criteria: 1) confidence, 2) speed (determined by Baltadapt climate modellers), 3) importance of impacts and 4) macro-regional coverage (based on a questionnaires answered by 3-8 stakeholders from each of the nine riparian BSR states). Based on equal weighting of these factors, impacts related to biodiversity/eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, as well and impacts related to agriculture were given the highest rankings, which demonstrates the importance to include these sectors and their interrelationship as an important focus in macro-regional cooperation on climate adaptation in the BSR. Impacts related to biodiversity and agriculture have in common that they are caused by climate change that will occur or already has occurred with a high degree of certainty (e.g., linked to air and water temperatures and rising sea levels), as well as having a very large macro-regional spatial coverage, and being perceived as of high societal and/or environmental concern. BaltAdapt