Lithuania Environmental Protection Agency United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Impacts of climate change and variability on transboundary basins are evident in many regions in the world and pose a challenge to water managers around the globe. The project is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the countries sharing the Neman River to adapt to climate change through supporting dialogue and cooperation on the needed steps to design an adaptation strategy in the transboundary context. It aims to reach a common understanding on future water availability and water use, taking into account possible climate change impacts. Main goals of the project: Assessment and forecast of water resources runoff under different climate change scenarios and economic development tendencies with regard to the use of water resources and industrial capacity for the Neman River basin; Proposals for common indicators of water bodies status (ecological and chemical), along with respective criteria (values), and systems for classification of water bodies’ state and parameters; Improvement of the integrated water resources management using the basin approach in the climate change context; River basin management and climate change adaptation in the Neman River basin (2011 – 2014) The project is one of the Pilot projects on climate change adaptation in transboundary basins under the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) (http://www.unece.org/env/water), partially implemented under the Environment and Security initiative (ENVSEC www.envsec.org). In the framework of the project the following results are expected to be achieved: Current status assessment of the river basin’s water resources and the impact of economic activities on these resources; Local experts’ capacity is increased in adaptation to climate change; Investigation, estimation and forecasting the runoff of the river basin in the context of climate change, taking into account different scenarios for water use, based on the results of hydro economic balances and socioeconomic development; Investigation and assessment of monitoring systems’ (hydrometeorological and hydrochemical), analysis and assessment of the need to optimize these systems for climate change monitoring (including extreme events); Modeling climate change impacts for the river basin and elaboration of common climate change scenarios; Assessment of water quality and estimation of the future climate change impact on water quality; Transboundary cooperation is improved, Elaboration of free access information platform (Internet database), containing data on water resources management and adaptation to climate change for the Niemen River basin countries. Main stakeholders of the project - Ministry of natural resources and environmental protection of the Republic of Belarus; Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources; Vilnius University; Lithuanian Environmental Protection Agency; Neva-Ladoga River Basin Management Board Federal Agency of water resources of Russian Federation. Enhancement of transboundary cooperation, including improvement of exchange of information about water resources use between Belarus, Lithuania and Russia. The project is funded by Sweden through the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) as well as Finland The Neman project has already achieved the following results until January 2014: Assessment of the current status of the water resources of the Niemen River basin (quantitative and qualitative aspects); elaboration of climate change scenarios and forecasting of runoff changes; Pilot implementation of common Lithuanian and Belarusian approach for assessment of water quality of surface waters in the entire Neman River Basin taking into account Lithuanian experience for selected list of water quality monitoring stations (WQMS) and for selected list of water quality parameters was in the first time implemented for the whole Neman River Basin. Series of maps on classification of surface waters quality for the whole Neman river basin were developed; Climate forecasting for the whole Neman River basin was done using CCLM model outputs based on initial and boundary conditions of the Global Circulation Model ECHAM5/MPI-OM. Two greenhouse gas emission scenarios were used: A1B (a relatively high emission scenario) and B1 (a low-emission scenario); Analysis of the meteorological, hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological monitoring systems in the Neman River Basin was conducted and proposals for meteorological and hydrological systems optimization for climate change monitoring were developed; A near-term forecast was made for 2020-2050 and runoff forecasting was carried out using separate Belarusian and Lithuanian regional models based on climate forecasting results; Estimation and forecast of the future climate change impact on the water quality at the highest generalization level was conducted; Vulnerability assessment of expected impacts of climate change for the Neman river basin has been made. The potential and possible adaptation to climate change measures were developed; The internet information database containing data on water resources management has been developed. A pilot version of the database is developed (http://www.cricuwr.by/neman/); The first version of the strategic framework for basin-wide climate change adaptation in the Neman River Basin was developed; A field trip along the Neman river, including workshops in Hrodna and Druskininkai were organized for discussion of the results of the project and follow up activities. 50 international and local experts, representatives of regional authorities from Belarus, Lithuania and Russia took part in the events; Experts of the project participated in and contributed to several meetings under the Water Convention’s programme of pilot projects on climate change adaptation in transboundary basins; Two multi-stakeholder workshops were organized on discussion of adaptation to climate change in the Neman river basin in Minsk and in Vilnius. 120 representatives of regional authorities, water-related sectors, enterprises from Belarus and Lithuania, national and international experts participated in the workshops. Contact information: UNECE Sonja Koeppel, Manager of the project at UNECE +41 22 917 1218, Email: Sonja.koeppel@unece.org Contact information: UNDP Belarus Igar Tchoulba, Programme Analyst Tel. +375 (17) 227 48 76, E-mail: igar.tchoulba@undp.org Iryna Usava, Project manager Tel/fax: + 375 (17) 263 53 31, E-mail: iryna.usava@undp.org