Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation stressed the need for diverse approaches to climate risks

News - Published 16.5.2025

The Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation (NOCCA 2025) on 14–15 May 2025 brought together 160 experts to Rovaniemi to share the most recent scientific knowledge and examples related to the preparation for climate risks.

A particular focus was on the challenges and opportunities of the northern regions in the changing climate. The topics stressed in the presentations also included justice in adaptation, security dimensions and multisectoral cooperation. The event was considered to provide an excellent forum for transboundary dialogue among different actors, which highlighted the importance of cooperation for responding to complex challenges.

In her opening address Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah pointed out that the Karlstad Declaration signed by the Nordic ministers in 2024 is a strong reminder of our shared responsibility to improve resilience and preparedness across borders.

“We are all facing a new ‘normal’. Building climate resilience and adaptation is very much a process of learning by doing. Adaptation policy and practice must be based on real-world experiences, testing new ideas, and finding innovative ways to solve complex problems. Research plays a key role in this work,” Minister Essayah said.

She stressed that climate change adaptation requires a multidisciplinary approach and cooperation between sciences, which was strongly reflected in the presentations and discussions at the conference. Climate change adaptation will also be one of the themes of the meeting of the Nordic Ministers for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Kuopio on 11–12 June. The key messages of NOCCA 2025 will be presented at the meeting.

Besides this, Sirkku Juhola, the chair of the conference programme committee and Professor of Urban Environmental Policy at the University of Helsinki, will take the views presented at NOCCA to the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference ECCA to be held in Italy in June.

The EU wishes to strengthen the adaptation actions through legislation and other processes, said Deputy Director General of DG Climate Action Jan Dusík in his video message. The Commission’s proposal for the European Adaptation Plan is expected to come out towards the end of 2026. A particular aim for the EU is to clarify the responsibilities for climate risks among the EU Member States. The aim is also to promote adaptation work through customised solutions in different sectors and strengthen the adaptation of actions in the public and private sector.

The outcome of NOCCA 2025 will support the efforts of the Nordic countries to influence the EU’s adaptation policy and the preparations for the UN Climate Conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November 2025.

Limits and opportunities in adaptation as the main theme

In the programme of NOCCA 2025 a particular focus was on the future of the northern regions in the changing climate and the limits to adaptation. Of the keynote speakers Professor Frans Berkhout from King’s College London stressed the need to understand the limits to adaptation from the perspectives of agency and the activities of humans and organisations. He considers this important in order that the resources reserved for adaptation can be allocated in an appropriate manner.

Director General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute Petteri Taalas spoke about the state of climate change and its monitoring and the extensive impacts of climate change on security. Kerstin Stendahl, Special Representative of the Chairpersonship-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE stressed that it is critically important to take climate risks and responding to these widely into account as part of the work on security. As an example, she mentioned the Finnish model of comprehensive security.

In the northern regions the climate is warming much faster than the global average and in other regions. The panel of young people active in climate issues and young researchers discussed the impacts of climate change on the lives of young people and future generations. These young people also spoke about their views regarding the future of both adaptation actions and climate research.

Almost 40 presentations and a poster exhibition

The presentations and posters focused on six themes from different perspectives. The presentations discussed questions related to justice, transboundary climate risks, coastal and flood risks, financing of climate actions, Nordic futures under changing conditions, and new ways to promote adaptation locally, regionally and in the European Union.

Besides research, the impacts of climate change and preparedness for these were also discussed through culture and by illustrating practical adaptation work and needs. In her performance Anna Morottaja, known as an interpreter of livđe singing of the Inari Sámi, illustrated the changes in natural conditions. The participants also learned about the impacts of the changes and preparations for these on a reindeer farm, in the urban environment of Rovaniemi and at the Arktikum Science Centre and Museum.

Kirsi Mäkinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry who is responsible for Finland’s national adaptation policy, thanked the participants, speakers and organisers for the very successful conference.

“The need to manage climate risks is growing in different sectors of society, and cooperation is needed to respond to the new challenges. Transboundary climate risks and climate security are among the issues that challenge the traditional approaches to climate change adaptation. The conference again showed the importance of dialogue across the borders and among different actors to develop a common understanding of the situation and to find solutions,” Mäkinen says.

NOCCA 2025, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the National Climate Unit of the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, was part of Finland’s and Åland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The next Nordic conference on climate change adaptation will be organised in 2027.

Recordings of the keynote speeches and the youth panel will be available for viewing until May 29 here.