Ecosystem approach to climate change adaptation and flood risk management in the East Aegean river basin of Bulgaria

The main objective of the sought TA is to support the development of an Integrated Project within LIFE Climate Change Adaptation subprogram, Priority on sustainable water management in drought-prone areas, coastal and flood management. The aim is to develop a comprehensive IP that will not only deliver on its core objective – increased resilience to climate change and natural hazards, but also provide benefits to other environmental objectives as biodiversity protection and GHG reduction through an eco-system based approach to water management, floods and drought risk prevention. The project will be implemented on the territory of the East Aegean River Basin District (EARB) in Bulgaria, by a consortium of 7 public authorities and InfoLogica Ltd, with Plovdiv Municipality as coordinating beneficiary. The EU Climate Adaptation Strategy, the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for DRR and the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development will underpin the planned IP, taking account of the EU agenda - the European Green Deal, the Adaptation Strategy review, and the new EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030. On national level, the IP will target implementation of the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan 2030; Flood Risk Management Plan for the EARB 2016-2021 and its successor FRMP 2022-2027(under development); National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (NDRRS) until 2030 and its Action Plan 2021-2025. The TA foresees 2 Work Packages to deliver its objectives. WP1 consists of project management and coordination activities to ensure smooth project implementation, financing, monitoring and reporting. The WP2 will shape and deliver the full IP proposal– via field surveys, engineering planning, habitats restoration plans, GIS structure, good practice study and exchange. The identification of Green Infrastructure solutions that would best suit each municipality in the targeted area will be identified. --