The natural disasters caused by climate bring to the Republic of Moldova annual economic annual damages of about 2% of the Gross Domestic Product, and among the most exposed to the weather is the agricultural sector, with a share of about 14% in the GDP and a third of the labor force employed. Extreme weather phenomena induced by climate change, such as heat waves, forest fires and droughts or heavy rainfall and floods, are being recorded more and more often and will intensify.

Climate change could become irreversible and in order to deal with this phenomenon, we will have to adapt the sectors of the economy to the new realities.

"The Republic of Moldova has adhered to all the global instruments that are attributed to the field of climate change and has recognized the importance of the phenomenon, assuming its commitments as a developing country," said Iuliana Cantaragiu, State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, within a regional workshop for Eastern Partnership (EAP) countries on planning adaptation to climate change and mainstreaming climate risks into national and sectoral policies.

The workshop is organized by the EU4Climate Project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project supports the six member countries of the EaP in planning adaptation to climate change, focusing on mainstreaming climate issues into sectoral policies.

Through the Association Agreement with the European Union, the Republic of Moldova has made a series of commitments related to climate change.

"The European Union is a front-runner in addressing climate change, with the aim for Europe to become the world's first major economy to go carbon neutral by 2050. As climate change has no frontiers, the EU decided to support, through EU4Climate, the policy makers from the six Eastern Partnership countries to address the adverse impacts and adapt to climate change. Developing medium and long-term National Adaptation Plan (NAP), as well as mainstreaming of climate change risks into sectoral planning processes, will help in addressing these challenges, and maybe even transform them into unexpected opportunities," said Marco Gemmer, the Head of Operations of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova.

In 2014, the Republic of Moldova developed and approved the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan for its implementation. In 2020 the process of elaborating the National Adaptation Plan Two, funded by the Green Climate Fund and implemented by UNDP, is to be launched.

“Adaptation in the context of climate change means live and adapt to a world where climate change has become a reality and where its impact is felt at the individual, community and global levels. This is not to resign ourselves with climate future that we cannot change, but it is to recognize that in today’s world we have to invest in adaptation and invest in building our human and institutional capacity around it,” stated Dima Al-Khatib, UNDP Resident Representative in Moldova. 

The workshop is attended by representatives of the line ministries from the countries of the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) and the countries of the Western Balkans, the Green Climate Fund, the Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands, the World Recourse Institute and other global and regional institutions and organizations.

The objective of the regional workshop is to support policy makers from the six countries of the Eastern Partnership to address the adverse impact of climate change in the medium and long term by developing National Adaptation Plans and including climate risks in national and sectoral policies.

The EU4Climate project supports the governments of the six member countries of the Eastern Partnership in their efforts to combat and adapt to climate change. The objective of the project is to support the development and implementation of policies related to climate change and to contribute to the development with low emissions and climate resilience of the Eastern Partnership countries.