The south of Poland is gradually recovering from the flood. And the questions of what could have been done to better prepare for it are becoming louder and louder – and above all, what we can do now. We asked Ilona Jędrasik, president of the ClientEarth Foundation, Lawyers for Earth, about this. The organization focuses on using legal mechanisms to protect nature, combat climate change and its effects.
Will we learn lessons from this flood?
Ilona Jedrasik: I believe that the authorities see that it is not easy to manage the effects of a cataclysm, to govern a country with crisis management team. The conclusions we should draw from this flood must include pursuing a policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and renaturalizing rivers and areas around them. These are elements of adaptation to climate change, in order to minimize future damage and avoid such situations. Let's look at what was achieved in the town of Pawonków. The town survived the flood without major losses. They were saved by the unregulated river, the green areas left behind around and beavers, in short what naturalists call small retention. Nature is our ally in the fight against climate change.
What do you expect from politicians?
We need a strong system for preventing disasters and strengthening our resilience to them. I also expect that the tragic flood will be an opportunity for political solidarity, not just social solidarity, in building our resilience. Unfortunately, this flood is most likely not the flood of the millennium. Scientists indicate that the catastrophic effects of climate change will increase. The average temperature on Earth has already increased by 1.5 degrees. If we do not limit greenhouse gas emissions, it will continue to rise – at 3 degrees of warming, the frequency and intensity of such phenomena increases by several dozen percent.
What can we do?
Firstly, finally adopt a Polish climate policy, the framework of which should be a dedicated climate protection act. Such an act should include goals and paths to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the obligations of the state and local governments in the field of adaptation to climate change. Secondly, we should wisely use the cheapest solutions – solutions that nature itself offers – small retention performed by beavers, protection of forests, protection of wetlands, including peat bogs, which are a natural sponge – they accumulate water, which helps in times of drought and floods.
So what was missing?
There seems to have been a lack of a sense that the topic of climate change is important and urgent. Of course, COVID, agricultural protests, and the war in Ukraine did not help, calendar election. Unfortunately, the climate crisis will not wait its turn. It is already underway and requires urgent solutions. Two years ago, a draft law was prepared on the preparation of plans for adaptation to climate change in cities with more than 20 thousand inhabitants. It has been waiting for the first reading in the Sejm since March. Adopting this draft should now be a priority for the authorities.
What exactly would such adaptation plans do for cities now affected by flooding?
Wrocław is a city that has had such a plan since 2019, and it is probably best to ask its leaders. Everything indicates that the city will manage to avoid flooding. Adaptation plans give cities reliable information on which areas are most at risk, what critical infrastructure is needed, what funds should be allocated for adaptation to climate change, etc. Now, smaller cities and rural areas should have similar plans.
But cities already have crisis response plans, knowledge about flood areas. What more will such plans provide?
Crisis response concerns the last hours before the expected cataclysm and the moment of its arrival. Adaptation plans force thinking many years ahead and many unfortunate events ahead. They are to indicate solutions to problems, not only when they are already here, but also much earlier counteracting their appearance. For example, by focusing on blue-green infrastructure.
What are these solutions? And how can they protect against flooding?
Let's start with the rivers themselves. The priority should be their extensive renaturation – for example, restoring natural meanders, giving rivers access to areas where they can safely flood, restoring riverside wetlands – of course, where it is possible and safe for residents. That is why the recently adopted EU nature restoration law, the so-called NRL, must become a tool for strategically combating the climate crisis by regenerating key ecosystems.
Each EU country has two years to develop a plan to restore degraded ecosystems, including wetlands, forests and rivers. In Poland, this must become a priority that will restore the balance of nature and strengthen resilience to the effects of climate change.
On the other hand, we hear a lot about the role of specific infrastructure, such as reservoirs, in protecting towns and cities from flooding.
Let's remember that in this part of Poland, the Odra and its river basins have been regulated for a very long time. We have regulated banks, canals and densely populated areas near the rivers. It is clear that in some places restoring the natural course is no longer possible. There, maintaining some elements of the so-called grey infrastructure, such as some retention reservoirs, may prove to be necessary. However, we should not look at this as the only solution to the problem. Where possible, it is cheaper and more effective to rely on nature – natural retention, leaving room for rivers to spread out if the residents are not at risk.
That is why we are calling for the issue of adaptation plans to be addressed, as well as the use of the European law on the restoration of natural resources, which precisely speaks about such solutions. Nature-based solutions also pursue other goals.
Meaning?
In addition to the threat of floods, we have a progressive problem with drought, practically at the same time. Drought no longer occurs once every few or a dozen years, but is with us practically constantly. Retaining water in the landscape allows us to limit drought – because in the case of heavy rain this water will not flow all into the river, but will remain in the soil. Such a solution also absorbs carbon dioxide coal (which forests and wetlands do great), protection of biodiversity. They improve our quality of life, because nature purifies water, air, provides a place to rest.
How to tie all these aspects together?
ClientEarth proposed a climate protection act 1.5 years ago, which would regulate various aspects of the state's actions against climate change. Also, reducing emissions. As long as we burn fossil fuels, the temperature will rise. At the current course policies of the world's countries, we are heading for warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Now we have 1.3 degrees and we are already seeing huge consequences. We will not be able to adapt if climate disasters not only return from decade to decade, but are getting stronger. We must cut emissions and stop climate change.
What exactly is in this bill?
Our project assumes, among other things, the adoption of a climate target for Poland for the 2040s and the definition of emission budgets (emission ceilings that can be used in a given period) for the entire economy and by sector. We also postulate granting the right to live in a safe climate, which includes protection against the effects of climate change, as well as the right to demand that the authorities take action to protect the climate. As we can see today, governments and local governments must do much more than they have done so far. And this applies to all political parties. The effects of climate change affect us all.