Nature-based Solutions, drought resilience and climate adaptation in Central and Eastern Europe
The recent Expert Workshop on Lessons Learned in Climate Change Adaptation – Citizen Engagement and Nature-based Solutions, held on Mount Vlašić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and organized by the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) with support from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), provided a valuable example of how climate adaptation challenges require stronger dialogue across sectors, institutions and levels of governance. While the workshop took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the issues discussed reflect broader regional trends and shared vulnerabilities.
Across Central and Eastern Europe, countries are facing increasingly complex climate realities: longer dry periods and rising drought risk on one side, and more frequent intense rainfall events, surface runoff, floods and erosion on the other. These processes are closely interconnected. Degraded soils lose their capacity to retain water, intensive land use increases vulnerability, and poorly planned interventions, including land occupation by infrastructure such as solar panels without adequate soil protection measures, may further reduce the resilience of landscapes. Bosnia and Herzegovina serves as a clear example of these dynamics, but similar patterns are visible throughout the region.
In this context, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) should not be seen only as environmental measures, but as practical tools for reducing climate risk. Improved soil cover, restoration of degraded land, agroforestry, riparian buffer zones, wetland restoration, sustainable pasture management, erosion control, water retention in the landscape and climate-smart agricultural practices can all contribute to reducing both drought and flood risks. Their importance is particularly evident in rural areas across the region, where climate impacts directly affect agricultural production, livelihoods and local development.
One of the key messages emerging from the Vlašić workshop, with relevance for the wider region, is the need for better, more useful and more accessible data. Hydrometeorological services and other public institutions play a crucial role not only in collecting data, but also in transforming it into processed, practical and decision-ready information. However, a significant challenge in many countries of the region is the lack of comprehensive and reliable national datasets, which often leads to reliance on global data sources. While these global datasets are valuable, they are not always sufficiently precise for local conditions and, as observed in UNCCD indicator reporting, can sometimes be misleading for specific elements. For drought management, this means moving from raw observations toward drought indicators, vulnerability assessments, early warning systems and locally relevant advisory services for farmers, municipalities and decision-makers, while also strengthening national data systems to ensure accuracy and relevance.
At the same time, an important gap across much of Central and Eastern Europe is the absence of comprehensive national drought management plans. Despite increasing drought risks, many countries still lack structured, proactive frameworks that would define responsibilities, coordinate sectors and guide preparedness and response. Developing such plans is essential for moving from reactive crisis management toward anticipatory action, and for ensuring that Nature-based Solutions, data systems and early warning mechanisms are effectively integrated into national policies and local practice.
The discussions also highlighted that climate adaptation cannot be achieved through isolated projects. Across Central and Eastern Europe, it requires stronger links between agriculture, water management, forestry, spatial planning, environment, civil protection and local communities. Citizen engagement is particularly important, as many NbS measures depend on local knowledge, trust, land-user participation and long-term maintenance. In recognition of this dynamic, for example the Swedish FBA has been supporting a project in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina that brings together local municipal representatives, civil society organizations and academic experts, in order to ensure that climate adaptation is coordinated within catchments and built on participatory processes and citizen engagement.
For the UNCCD Communities of Learning and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe, these insights are highly relevant. Building drought resilience in the region requires integrated approaches that connect land degradation neutrality, sustainable land management, early warning systems, policy reform and local implementation. Bosnia and Herzegovina, as illustrated through the Vlašić workshop, provides a concrete example of both the challenges and opportunities that are shared across the region.
The workshop demonstrated that awareness of NbS is growing and that there is significant potential for stronger cooperation among experts, institutions and local communities throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The next step is to translate this awareness into practical measures, improved data systems, more coherent policies and concrete investments that strengthen the resilience of land, water and people across the region. These issues will also be brought to the global stage at COP17 in Mongolia, where discussions on drought resilience and Nature-based Solutions are expected to continue, with the hope that meaningful progress will be achieved for sustainable land use.
