Applications are open until March 10, 2023 for the contest that promotes and rewards the best adaptation solutions developed and implemented in the Adriatic area. 

The Adriatic Adaptation Award – A3, promoted by the CREATE project, looks for adaptation solutions developed and implemented in the Adriatic area. The contest aims at providing visibility to the best implementations, showcasing best practices and encouraging replications of actions which can enable the Adriatic Region to thrive under a changing climate.

The Adriatic Region, being part of the Mediterranean, is among the most severely impacted systems by the effects of climate change. While facing an intensification of urbanisation along its coastline, Adriatic Region experiences an increase in intensity and frequency of hazardous events such as flooding, and long-term impacts like erosion, saltwater intrusion, loss of ecosystem services, and decrease or complete disappearance of certain species.

In recent years, many initiatives have insisted on studying how local populations can adapt to the effects of climate change. While in other parts of Europe, adaptation initiatives are being implemented, in the Mediterranean area such initiatives are very few, emerging slowly. For this reason, CREATE wants to use the A3 Contest to find practical examples which can be showcased and inspire other actions. Among the initiatives implemented, those based on nature and ecosystems are of particular interest as they provide multiple benefits: reduction of climate impacts, but also mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing environmental quality as well as restoration and conservation of ecosystems and the vital services our society depends on.

A3 aim and objectives

The “Adriatic Adaptation Award”, or A3, is a contest which looks for innovative adaptation initiatives. It aims at promoting and rewarding initiatives (climate change adaptation strategies, plans and solutions), and to encourage the sharing of successful practices in the Adriatic Sea region.

This award aims at selecting inspirational examples for climate change adaptation initiatives from the Adriatic area and to disseminate the available tools and solutions related to climate change. The sharing of implemented good practices aims to foster the creation of new partnerships and accelerate the ecological transition. The awarded initiative will be showcased in the project publication Adaptation Handbook. The winner will be invited to present the selected intervention during the final CREATE Conference in Venice (Italy) in June 2023.

In detail, the A3 aims to:

1. identify adaptation initiatives that were successfully implemented or are undergoing successful implementation, and
2. recognize initiatives suitable to inspire operators from other coastal areas in the Adriatic region to start a climate change adaptation process.

Who can apply?

The Contest / award aims at promoting adaptation action regarding threats and needs of the Adriatic region. To ensure transferability of the proposed solutions, it is mandatory that interventions proposed are located within this area.

The candidate strategies must necessarily be implemented within a State/Region/City/Municipality overlooking the Adriatic basin. Initiatives in progress of implementation may be considered eligible to compete for the A3 award. The list below indicates all countries/regions considered eligible for the award:

• Albania,
• Bosnia-Herzegovina,
• Croatia (1 region: Jadranska Hrvatska),
• Italy (7 regions: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia)
• Montenegro
• Slovenia (1 region: Zahodna Slovenija)

In case your Country/Region is not listed above, please contact [email protected].

Please take into consideration that your application is eligible only if:

•  the initiative has been launched in the last 10 years (from 01/01/2011 until 31/12/2021);
•  The initiative includes at least one partner belonging to Country/Region from the above list of  eligible countries/regions;
•  the initiative has been implemented/ongoing in one of the eligible countries/regions.

Adriatic Adaptation Award categories

The A3 competition aims to award initiatives implemented or in progress, with tangible outcomes in terms of adaptation to withstand the impacts of climate change.

The initiatives can focus on different areas of implementation in tackling climate change. Categories of realisation can be the following:

1. Nature based solutions (e.g., increase natural barriers such as seagrasses and coral reefs for coastal protection; conservation and restoration of natural on-land ecosystems that contribute to CC adaptation and mitigation such as wetlands and other forms of coastal vegetation etc)
2. Governance solutions (e.g., establishing governance structures such as management and advisory committees to involve scientists into planning and decision-making process; participatory developed coastal management and adaptation plans or strategies, enhanced diversification of agroforestry crops, managing of water supplies etc.)
3. Technological solutions, e.g.  creation of new infrastructures or adapting existing structures.

Rules for applying

The Adriatic Adaptation Award follows the following rules:

1. Applicant must be a Country/Region/City/Municipality, NGO or Private entity registered in one of the eligible countries/regions
2. The representative of the applicant expresses its interest to participate in the award by filling in the application form available here: https://forms.gle/btVymXctztPNjQhn7.
3. Applications are open until the 10th of March, 2023 at 23.59 CET
4. Applications submitted after the indicated deadline will not be taken into consideration.

The evaluation of the proposals will be done in two phases:

1. technical pre-evaluation carried out by a Panel of Experts
2. final assessment made by a Jury.

The Panel of Experts will be composed by representatives of the CREATE project and will conduct the following investigations:

1. verify the admissibility and eligibility criteria
2. verify relation of the project/strategy with climate change impacts.

Once the projects have passed the pre-evaluation assessment, they will be assessed by the Jury composed of external experts acknowledged for their expertise in the field of adaptation. Interviews at the request of the Jury can be organised to obtain more information on the initiatives presented. In addition, site visits can be planned by the Panel of experts in order to gain a better understanding of the initiatives proposed for the award, and benefit from a realistic and accurate experience.

Finally, the Jury will express its judgement based on the award and quality criteria for the final assessment. The following award and quality criteria will be part of the final assessment:

1. Clear focus on direct or indirect climate change impacts
2. Relevance of the initiative in terms of common challenges in the Adriatic basin
3. Capitalization of previous knowledge, existing results and good practices
4. Durability and transferability of the initiative
5. Benefits the initiative creates for other sectors (e.g. increase of local biodiversity; development and implementation of new policies; definition and application of governance tools etc.).

The finalist will be invited to present the selected initiative to a live audience at the Final Conference of the CREATE project. Also the second, and third-ranked initiatives will be showcased during the final conference and additionally presented in the CREATE Adaptation Handbook that will be published by the end of the project implementation. All initiatives submitted within the Adriatic Adaptation Award that passed the eligibility test will be promoted on  CREATE communication channels after the contest.

The Adriatic Adaptation Award timeline is the following:

• The call for proposals will be open from the 30th of January, 2023 at 12.00 until the 10th of March, 2023 at 23.59 CET
• Technical evaluation will be performed from the 16th of March until the 31th of March, 2023
• Possible request of additional information and organisation of site visits is envisaged from April until mid-May
• Final results of the Adriatic Adaptation Award will be issued at the end of May.