There is general agreement that the impacts of climate change combined with changes in social and economic conditions are likely to pose significant challenges locally. The project focuses on how projected changes in climate interact with changes in socio-economic and institutional conditions, and how these interactions shape vulnerability and adaptation at the local level in Norway.

The specific interacting natural, socioeconomic and political conditions to which municipalities in Norway are sensitive, have not been comprehensively documented, either for separate municipalities or in comparison with other municipalities.  Morover, neither the adaptive strategies employed to deal with changing conditions in municipalities, nor their effectiveness, have been assessed.  The conditions that might facilitate or constrain the adaptive capacity and resilience of municipalities in the face of ongoing and interacting climate and socio-economic changes have yet to be identified. Although substantial informatiaon has been gathered about local knowledge with respect to climate change, it has yet to be integrated systematically with scientific knowledge.

Finally, research on vulnerability and adaptation is not well connected to decision-making or policy development at any level. NORADAPT will further develop an indicator-based model for climate change vulnerability assessments using a limited number of municipalities as test sites. The model will be made applicable at the local level for different categories of local vulnerability profiles by involving both local and national stakeholders and undertakning a thorough scientific evaluation.  We will also address the critical question of uncertainty when conducting local-scale vulnerability assessments and to what extent it is possible to develop adaptation strategies based on local climate change vulnerability assessments. Lastly, we will address the fundamental question of the role of municipal government in climate change adaptation.