In partnership with the Leśna Commune and the consulting company COWI from Norway, in December 2021, we launched a two-year project to develop and implement nature-based solutions that will help cope with drought and flooding.
Project goals
Leśna Commune, located upon the Kwisa River in the Izerskie Foothills, is regularly affected by floods and droughts. Along with the changing climate, these phenomena will intensify. That is why it is essential to plan effective adaptation measures and increase the awareness of the region’s inhabitants on how to deal with these challenges.
Geo-questionnaire survey and workshops for the inhabitants of the Leśna Commune
We preceded the project’s educational activities by researching the region’s inhabitants’ perceptions and knowledge about the challenges of climate change in their area and the possibilities of counteracting their effects. We used for this purpose a dedicated geo-questionnaire.
In the second step, we conducted workshops using the VISIS Pyramid tool for stakeholders representing various social groups and institutions from the Leśna Commune. This meeting defined the most critical challenges and main directions of actions that should be taken in the commune to adapt to climate change.
We used the crowd-mapping research and workshop outcomes to tailor educational activities to the local community’s needs.
Project inaugural seminar
We officially launched the project among stakeholders from the Jizera Foothills region in the spring of 2022. During a 2-day specialist seminar with representatives of the project partner from Norway (COWI), we talked about the relationship between the challenges of climate change on mountain areas and landscaping. There were plenty of good practices from Poland, Iceland, and Norway. The seminar raised the participants’ knowledge of practical solutions to increase landscape retention.
In the following days, the project partners analyzed the concept of the blue-green infrastructure system planned for implementation in Leśna.
The blue and green infrastructure in the Leśna Commune
By October 2023, we created a comprehensive, innovative blue and green infrastructure system in Leśna. It will demonstrate how to adapt the city to mitigate the main challenges of climate change: droughts and floods due to torrential rainfall.
Green walls and roofs, flower meadows, tree plantings, rain gardens, infiltration basins, ditches, unsealing of impervious surfaces, and restoration of the surroundings of the Bruśnik stream will allow water to be retained at the site of rainfall, preventing local flooding.
Solar lighting, benches, a natural playground, stands and a repair station for bicycles, compost bins, and a hammock zone will make the area more attractive and promote a climate-friendly lifestyle.
Most of the elements were implemented in the form of workshops, which allowed residents of the commune to learn how to increase water retention at the site of precipitation in practice.
Jizera Adaptation Center and Educational Trail
Residents, tourists, and other users of the area have the opportunity to learn about the adaptive solutions created thanks to the accompanying educational path by the Bruśnik river. The path covers ten stations. We devoted them to the challenges related to climate change faced by Leśna and other regional municipalities. We also presented nature-based solutions (NBS) developed in the commune during the project.
The developed NBS system is a part of the Jizera Center for Adaptation to Climate Change (ICA) inaugurated in the project. Together with the educational trail, they constitute a new, important point on the map of the region. Furthermore, the Jizera Center for Adaptation aims to present demonstrative solutions that make it possible for visitors to multiply by themselves thanks to the prepared educational materials.
Educational activities for residents
Apart from the infrastructure investments, we conducted many educational events and ran an extensive regional information campaign. The main goal of those activities was to raise the awareness of all stakeholders about the relationship between land development and the occurrence of drought and floods and equip them with knowledge about the adaptation and mitigation of climate change in mountain areas. All the activities were focusing on the Jizera Center for Adaptation to Climate Change.
As part of the project, we realised the following:
3-day training for local educators (September 2022) who were later involved in conducting workshops at ICA for residents and will ensure the continuation of educational activities after the end of the project.
Two educational picnics:
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- “Between drought and flood” on adaptation and mitigation of climate change, the aim of which is to make the assumptions of the project closer to residents and tourists (June 2022)
- picnic inaugurating the Jizera Climate Adaptation Center and educational trail (October 2023).
Ten practical workshops to create blue-green infrastructure (Autumn 2023) – involving the local community in co-planned solutions to implement them in their environment successfully.
Ten practical workshops at the Jizera Center for Adaptation to Climate Change (Autumn-Winter 2023) – workshops will be conducted by local educators trained in the project and experts. They will show residents how they can practically implement various environmental activities and increase landscape retention.
Summarizing conference and specialist workshops
At the beginning of 2024, we will organise a conference with the participation of representatives of the Norwegian partner COWI. The event will bring together the authorities of the neighbouring municipalities and representatives of institutions working for sustainable water management in the region. Furthermore, it will make it possible to popularize the project’s results and encourage participants to implement similar solutions in their areas to jointly strengthen the resistance of the Jizera Mountains region to the effects of climate change. During the field visit, we will present the objects created as part of the project and discuss the formal conditions for this type of investment and possible sources of financing.
A key barrier to implementing NBS is the lack of specialists with knowledge and experience in space planning in implementing nature-based solutions. Therefore, after the conference, experts from the Sendzimir Foundation and the COWI design office will conduct specialist workshops in blue-green infrastructure design. Landscape architects, urban planners, and drainage and retention devices engineers will participate in the 4-day course. Thanks to this, 15 trained specialists from the region will increase the chances of implementing further investments in this area.
Knowledge base
We will create a set of educational materials for other activities and campaigns. They will be available for further dissemination in the region:
- A catalogue of recommended adaptation and mitigation solutions with the use of NBS in urban and rural areas,
- Series of 4 short films on the challenges related to climate change in the region and model NBS in urban and rural areas,
- An interactive map of places conducive to retention in Leśna and the surrounding area,
- Website zielona.lesna.pl, which includes all the materials.
Project partners: Leśna Municipality and COWI AS from Norway.
The project “Between drought and flooding. Blue and green infrastructure in Lesna” is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway from the EEA funding under the Environment, Energy and Climate Change Program; program area: Climate with a budget of 836 960 euro. The project aims to increase the resilience of the Leśna Municipality to climate change, especially droughts and floods, through the implementation of nature-based solutions, including a demonstration educational base and a regional information campaign.
Project duration: from December 1, 2021 to April 30, 2024.
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