Narrative
The highest financial allocation in Slovenian Recovery and resilience plan (RRP), €310 million, is for implementation of flood-protection measures. Another €132 million for this purpose are planned under Slovenian programme for cohesion funding 2021-2027. It has been stated at the declarative level by the autorities that the measures will mostly and where possible be based on nature-based solutions, however, a review of documentation for concrete projects reveals that most of them will instead be based on traditional construction measures. Such measures will continue to destroy the banks of rivers and life in and around them. Consequently they will exacerbate biodiversity loss and make long-term adaptation to the impacts of climate change even more difficult. The misguided direction and lack of involvement of the interested public in the process of finding and preparing solutions in areas at risk of flooding is also demonstrated by the emergence of more and more local civil initiatives that, together with experts, fight against the existing flood-protection plans that will unnecessarily harm nature. Due to pressure from civil society initiatives and difficulties in obtaining construction permits, the financial allocation for flood protection measures under RRP has already been reduced by €170 mio. Cities at risk of flooding certainly need flood protection measures and the problems that we have seen arising in implementation of projects could be solved by taking into account nature-based solutions wherever this is possible, taking the whole watercourse into consideration, not only one microlocation at a time. These are generally also cheaper and can be implemented more quickly.
Financial data
Recovery and Resilience Plan: €140 mio; European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund €132 mio
Recommendations
Make sure that projects aimed at adaptation to climate change do not harm nature, as this will exacerbate destruction of ecosystems and erode their resilience. The climate and biodiversity crises are interconnected and will both have increasing negative effects on people's lives, so they need to be tackled simultaneously and with all seriousness. Therefore, only actions that are in line with the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the IPCC’s special report Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerabiltiy should be supported, incuding the protection, restoration and renaturalization of rivers.
Information sources
Local initiatives and civil society organization; national RRP; Operational programme for cohesion fundingOther info
https://www.gov.si/assets/organi-v-sestavi/URSOO/01_si-rrp_23-7-2021.pdf (pp. 91-93); https://evropskasredstva.si/app/uploads/2022/12/Program-evropske-kohezijske-politike-sprejeta-verzija-12.-12.-2022.pdf (pp. 103-109); https://www.gov.si/novice/2022-04-22-izvajanje-nacrta-za-okrevanje-in-odpornost-v-okviru-direkcije-republike-slovenije-za-vode/; https://www.dnevnik.si/1043023950
