The second priority for climate action is adaptation to the already ongoing and foreseeable impacts related to rising global temperatures.
Why Rome must adapt to the climate
The Rome area has seen significant changes in temperatures and precipitation in recent years. In Rome, the increase in heat is more pronounced than in all other Italian regional capitals: the average temperature for the 2011-2021 period marks higher values over Rome (17.7°C), averaging +1.7°C compared to the 1981-2010 period, respectively. In addition, there is evidence, however, of increased variability and changes in rainfall regimes, with rainy years alternating with low rainfall years, the lengthening of days without precipitation. An analysis of days with very heavy rainfall highlights how rain is increasingly concentrated on very rainy days.
Rome is a city where several neighborhoods are already in areas of high hydraulic risk and, therefore, high vulnerability to heavy rainfall events. Epidemiological data highlight the impact that rising temperatures and heat waves already cause in some areas of Rome in terms of mortality. These are the neighborhoods where the greatest social problems are found, where frailty is most prominent with elderly people living alone and families who cannot afford cooling systems to cope with the increasingly hot nights and days.
All cities must prepare for climate change scenarios that will increase these phenomena. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations has, in addition, ranked the Mediterranean as a Global Warming Hotspot, i.e., one of the most vulnerable areas of the world and where the processes of rising sea and land surface temperatures will be most pronounced, thus to be kept under special observation and where it is most urgent to implement adaptation measures.
Measures for climate adaptation
In response to these challenges, Roma Capitale has approved the first Climate Adaptation Strategy which identifies priorities, goals and measures to prepare the city for the increasingly frequent and intense impacts due to climate change already taking place and adapt the territory to foreseeable impacts as a result of climate scenarios and impacts that may occur by 2050.
Adaptation measures are divided into:
Prevention measures, warning, civil protection
That is, the actions of informing and sensitizing citizens about the risks and the correct behaviors in case of events, alerting them near an emergency event, taking prompt action to make people safe, and maintaining and managing the land and riverbeds at risk.
A central role is played by the Civil Defense Plan the tool for the preparation and coordination of relief and protection of the population and property at risk.
Measures for monitoring, study and further study
To have an up-to-date reading of the processes. Scientific collaborations with research organizations and the sharing of analysis and monitoring are planned between Roma Capitale, the Central Apennine Basin District Authority, and the Lazio Region, and climate monitoring of the Rome area will be set up with annual reports.
Measures to strengthen resilience against identified priorities
The strategy identifies climate adaptation interventions for the four priorities identified with the goal of strengthening the resilience of urban spaces, ecosystems, social and economic fabric with respect to the priority impacts identified for the Rome area.
