The German Meteorological Office (DWD, Senior federal authority in the BMVBS) is providing the required climate data for the KlimaMORO projects as a basis for climate effect estimates. Details of the climate scenarios used can be found in the relevant model projects.

water balance, wind, cloud cover, humidity

High resolution climate scenarios show that the effects of climate change differ significantly from one region to the next. Some individual regions will be more strongly affected than others by natural hazards, such as extreme floods, drought, urban heat effects, high-wind events, mass movements (including mudslides, rock falls, avalanches), or by the economic consequences of changes in the agriculture, forestry, energy, tourism or transport sectors.

Therefore, expertise on "Systematisation of regional planning climate effect assessment principles - Guidelines for regional climate effect assessment" is embedded in phase II. This academically sound but practical expertise involves targeted use of vulnerability analyses in spatial planning. Guidelines for regional climate effect assessment will be created as the product.

Comprehensive vulnerability and susceptibility analyses are essential as a basis for assessing climate effects. They are necessary so that:

• Discussions about climate changes and regional impacts can be based on a recognised set of data,
• Pressure to act is created in politics,
• Risk and action areas can be delineated,
• Robust requirements and recommendations for action can be derived, and
• New or existing regional planning designations have a sound technical basis and, above all, have a legally enforceable justification.

The underlying assumptions, the methods used and the results obtained must be communicated to the players involved and to the public in an understandable way, in order to create acceptance for necessary measures and motivation to implement them.

Where binding regional planning targets are to be designated, vulnerability analyses to justify them must be legally sound, i.e. lawful. To achieve this, they must be drawn up clearly and transparently using recognised scientific methods. Otherwise, vulnerability analyses can only be used to define principles or for information, for example to provide information to local communities.

Because of its multi-sectoral and integrative perspective and its wide range of formal and informal instruments, regional planning is potentially an appropriate player for developing and coordinating adaptation strategies and measures in regions.