RO-ADAPT in Timișoara: the first conference of the National Adaptation Platform
In Romania, adaptation to climate change is discussed mostly in documents: strategies, plans, reports sent to Brussels. It is far less common for the people who produce the data, those who write the policies and those who have to apply them in a town hall or a county council to sit in the same room. The Conference of the National Adaptation Platform, First Edition, was designed for exactly that meeting. It took place in Timișoara on 19 and 20 October 2026 and was organised by the Support Centre for Climate Actions (CSAC-UPT), under the coordination of its director, Assoc. Prof. Rareș Hălbac-Cotoară-Zamfir, in partnership with the National Adaptation Platform RO-ADAPT and with the National Meteorological Administration.
The opening addresses were given by Prof. Liviu Marșavina on behalf of Politehnica University of Timișoara, Dr. Roxana Bojariu of the National Meteorological Administration, Dr. Ana Maria Corina Dumitriu, senior adviser at the Department for Sustainable Development within the General Secretariat of the Government, and Dr. Corina Murafa on behalf of the EU Mission on Adaptation. In his introduction to the conference, Rareș Hălbac-Cotoară-Zamfir stressed an idea that returned in several sessions: adaptation has a human side, tied to education and culture, and without it technical solutions stay on paper.
The programme was built around plenary sessions. The first, moderated by Rareș Hălbac-Cotoară-Zamfir, presented the National Adaptation Platform, the concept of the National Adaptation Hub and multi-level governance. The second was a demonstration of the RO-ADAPT online platform and its geoportal. The third, titled "Foundations of adaptation: science, strategy and funding", moved from climate scenarios to the legislative framework and to the practical question of the European funds Romania can attract. A round table of platform users followed. On the second day, participants also worked in two groups: one dedicated to water, rural territory and ecosystems, the other to infrastructure, economy and society.
The last plenary, also moderated by the director of CSAC-UPT, launched the proposal that gives the conference a concrete follow-up: the national network of experts "Adopt a Community". The idea is for an expert to take on a region, a county or a municipality, to follow what happens there in terms of risks, studies and good practices, and to keep in touch with the local administration. The first adoption intentions were presented in Timișoara, for Timișoara, Dolj, Buzău and the Municipality of Bucharest.
The policy outcome of the conference is the Timișoara Declaration. The text was open to amendment during the proceedings, and its final form, together with its annex, the Adoption Charter, was adopted after the conference with the participants' comments included. The Declaration sets a target that is easy to check: at least five adopted communities by the second edition. Discussions in the working groups remained at a general level, so the document does not claim to pass on user priorities that have already been formulated. It commits the community to continuing the dialogue.
Acknowledgment. The organisation of the conference was funded in part by project 39PHE/2024, supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI - UEFISCDI, project number PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2023-0110, within PNCDI IV.