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Top-level Research Initiative
NordForsk
Top-level
Research
Initiative
Effect Studies
and Adaptation to
Climate Change
Effect Studies
and Adaptation to
Climate Change
NCoE NORD-STAR
• Nordic Strategic Adaptation Research
In the autumn of 2008, the Nordic countries joined forces
on their largest joint research and innovation initiative to
date. The Top-level Research Initiative (TRI) will involve
various Nordic organisations and national institutions.
The TRI will last for five years, and the first calls for
proposals opened in 2009. The initiative consists of six
sub-programmes, one being Effect Studies and Adaptation
to Climate Change (ADAPT).
The TRI has funded three Nordic Centres of Excellence
(NCoE) within the ADAPT sub-programme with a total
of 100 million NOK. These centres aim to increase the
scientific quality, efficiency, competitiveness and visibility
of Nordic research through enhanced collaboration
between the Nordic countries. The overarching objectives
of the programme are to improve knowledge about:
• the effects of climate change
• the adaptation capacities of society
• the risks and opportunities that the effects of climate
change may bring to the Nordic region
Climate change affects land and sea temperatures and
alters precipitation quantity and patterns, resulting for
example in the increase of global average sea level, risks
of coastal erosion, drought, and an expected increase in
the severity of weather-related natural disasters. Changing
water levels, temperatures and flow will in turn affect food
and water supply, health, industry and infrastructures as
well as ecosystem integrity. Climate change has potential
to considerably impact several economic sectors, such
as energy supply (for example hydropower), agriculture,
tourism, fishing and forest industry. Climate change will
lead to significant economic and social impacts, with some
regions, sectors and sections of the society likely to be
more affected than others.
Research on expected impacts on climate change will
facilitate adaptation and may contribute to minimising
costs and damages from these changes. It can also
reveal opportunities that may arise from a change in
climate. Policy-makers and the public need reliable
information, and a key challenge is to further develop the
scientific understanding of climate change, its impacts
and the adaptation to these impacts. There is very little
quantified information on adaptation costs and further
work is needed to facilitate informed, cost-effective and
proportionate adaptation.
Aim: NORD-STAR aspires to a Nordic region that can
adapt sustainably to the inevitable impacts of climate
change and the unintended consequences of climate
policy. Pursuing innovative science, sound economic
analysis and effective communication, the goal of NORDSTAR is to enable Nordic stakeholders to design and
implement successful adaptation policy and practice.
Participating institutions:
• Aalto University (FI)
• Aarhus University (DK)
• Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
• Linköping University (SE)
• Norwegian School of Economics and
Business Administration (NHH)
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
• Stockholm Environment institute (SEI)
• ProjectZero (DK)
• University of Iceland (IS)
Project leader: Center Director Michael Goodsite,
Aarhus University, Denmark
Nordic Networks
In addition to the Nordic Centres of Excellence, the sub-programme has established ten
Nordic networks operative for some three years and bringing together prominent research
groups in the region to work on effect studies and adaptation to climate change.
Photo: Fernando Soares/iStockphoto
The three Nordic Centres of Excellence
within the ADAPT programme:
Top-level
Research
Initiative
Aim: NCoE NorMER brings together the expertise of
leading research groups from all Nordic countries, and
several North American institutions, to implement a
collective and multidisciplinary research strategy to
explore the biological, economic, and management
consequences of global climate change on fisheries
resources throughout the Nordic region. The Centre builds
a unique, cross-disciplinary framework for evaluating
effects of climate change on Nordic marine ecosystems,
with a particular focus on Atlantic cod.
Participating institutions:
• University of Oslo (NO)
• Stockholm Resilience Centre/Stockholm University (SE)
• Technical University of Denmark (DK)
• Åbo Akademi University (FI)
• University of Bergen (NO)
• University of the Faroe Islands (FO)
• University of Iceland (IS)
• University of Helsinki (FI)
• Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SE)
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GR)
Project leader: Professor Nils Christian Stenseth,
University of Oslo, Norway
NCoE Tundra
• How to preserve the Tundra in a
warming climate
Aim: NCoE Tundra studies how to preserve arctic-alpine
biota in northern Europe. Recent research shows that
shrub encroachment and tree invasion on the tundra have
been much more rapid than previously thought. These
vegetation changes may also speed up global warming.
The NCoE aims to find methods to preserve arctic-alpine
biota in a warmer climate. It also studies the conditions
for maintaining the economic and cultural viability of
reindeer herding and direct land use in order to contribute
to the preservation of open landscapes suitable for arcticalpine biota.
Participating institutions:
• University of Turku (FI)
• University of Umeå (SE)
• Finnmark University College (NO)
• University of Tromsø (NO)
• Norut - Northern Research Institute Arctic Center (FI)
• Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
• Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO)
• University of Oulu (FI)
Project leader: Professor Lauri Oksanen, Finnmark
University College and University of Turku
Photo: Petri Nordlund/iStocphoto
• Marine Ecosystems and Resources under
Climate Change
Photo: Berit Roald/Scanpix
NCoE NorMER
Top-level Research Initiative
NordForsk
Mogens Henze, Technical University of Denmark
Chairman of the Programme Committee
[email protected], phone: +45 45251477
Harry Zilliacus, NordForsk, Secretary of Programme Committee
[email protected], +47 94838681
The Top-level Research Initiative
- A major Nordic venture for climate, energy and the environment
The Top-level Research Initiative (TRI) is a joint effort on
the part of the Nordic countries to find solutions to global
climate challenges - the largest-ever Nordic venture of its
kind.
The Nordic countries have created a platform for cooperation with central players from research, innovation, business and industry.
The TRI is one of the Globalisation initiatives ­declared by
the Nordic Prime Ministers in 2008, intended to increase
competitiveness and promote the Nordic region as a pioneer
in tackling globali­sation. With a programme budget of 53
million Euro, the initiative currently funds 31 Nordic projects
amounting to a collective value of some 94 million Euro.
Joint governance across sectors
Three Nordic institutions - NordForsk, Nordic I­ nnovation
and Nordic Energy Research – act as secretariat for the
initiative, contributing with their combined competencies
in the fields of research, innovation and technology. The
three organisations are all under the auspices of the Nordic
Council of Ministers.
TRI is governed by a Management Board consisting of 15
members representing public financing bodies for r­ esearch
and innovation, as well as the private sector.
The various funded activities involve participants from the
whole Nordic region and a range of ­sectors. Expertise within
research, education and innovation is brought together and
coordinated in collaboration projects with hundreds of participants from all the Nordic and Arctic countries.
The Top-level Research Initiative
addresses six primary thematic areas:
• Climate (ADAPT) = Effect Studies and
Adaptation to Climate Change
• Cryo = Interaction between Climate Change
and the Cryosphere
• Nano = Energy Efficiency with Nanotechnology
• Wind = Integration of Large-scale Wind Power
•Bio = Sustainable Bio-fuels
•CCS = CO2 Capture and Storage
Within the framework of these areas, the initiative
also includes:
Overall objectives
• To promote the Nordic region as a pioneer within climate,
energy and the environment
• To ensure research and innovation of excellent quality by
joining the strongest Nordic environments
• To promote Nordic business
• To promote professional environments across sectors and
enhance mobility of competence
• To create platforms for international cooperation and to
strengthen the Nordic region within EU programmes
Content and results
The TRI has established six Nordic Centres of E
­ xcellence
(NCoE), one Nordic competence centre, 11 integrated
­research and innovation projects and 13 thematic networks within climate and energy issues. The projects
contribute to enhancing society’s knowledge about climate change and to better prepare us for them, such as
through technology development and sustainable energy
solutions.
Participation from industry
One-third of all the TFI projects have active business participation. This participation gives an opportunity to realise long-term investments and to build strategic networks.
International perspectives and dialogue with the EU
Through various projects and networks, the TRI links research, innovation and industry together, by acting as a
platform for further international collaboration. Examples
of such collaboration are a project dealing with the continuation of the International Polar Year (IPY) and Arctic
issues and involvement in the Joint Programming Initiative
(JPI Climate) Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe.
Result-oriented
The Top-level Research Initiative aims to obtain results
through effective plans, organisation and processes,
and evaluations are carried out in order to document its
­results.
Outreach and communication
Communication and dissemination of results through various channels is a priority. The initiative participates on
various arenas in Europe, and o
­ rganises a large annual
conference gathering many categories of professionals
and receiving international attention.
–Advanced climate modelling
–Social sciences and humanities
–Focus on the Arctic
See www.toplevelresearch.org for more
information about the initiative.
Photo: Bud Freund/Digital Stock. design: jnd.no/2012
More information: www.toplevelresearch.org