The German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (Deutsche AnpassungsStrategie – DAS, December 2008) created the framework for a medium-term national adaptation process that is to be carried out with the Länder and other social groups, and in which the risks of climate change will be progressively identified, the actions that may be necessary specified, appropriate objectives defined, and possible adaptation measures developed and implemented. The strategy also delineates Germany’s international responsibilities.
This Action Plan fleshes out the objectives and options for action laid down in the German Adaptation Strategy with specific activities to be carried out by the German Federal Government in the years to come, and makes links with other national strategic processes (including the High-Tech Strategy 2020, the National Strategy on Biological Diversity and the National Forest Strategy) explicit. Apart from selected projects undertaken in cooperation with the Länder, the Adaptation Action Plan covers activities in four fields above all:
- Providing knowledge, informing, enabling
- Framework-setting by the German Federal Government
- Activities for which the Federal Government is directly responsible
- International responsibilities
The Interministerial Working Group has been asked to present a report by the end of 2014 that evaluates the German Adaptation Strategy, the Action Plan, and proposals concerning their continuation and further development.