EU Horizon Europe MOUNTADAPT

Project Title: Adaptation Solutions to Reduce Climate Change Impact on Health in the Mountain Area (MOUNTADAPT)

Project Description:

In the face of climate change – like for the COVID-19 crisis – it is vital to act with a level of urgency proportionate to the scale of the threat, to be prepared and informed on the basis of the best-available science and practicing clear and consistent communications to all those involved. Therefore, in MOUNTADAPT, various regional and local authorities and community members will take the leadership to co-design, co-develop and test eleven state of the art climate adaptation solutions across the mountain biogeographical regions, in Austria, Slovenia, France, and Romania.

The global objective is to improve the community-driven resilient transformation of the health system in mountain areas to limit the impact on health and wellbeing of direct or indirect effects of climate change.

This will be achieved through five specific objectives:

1. To improve prediction of short- and long-term health effects of climate change.
2. To boost the responsiveness of the health system in the context of climate change.
3. To Improve health professionals’ capacity to prevent, prepare, detect, and respond to climate change threats for health and increase the awareness and preparedness of the general public.
4. To design, test and evaluate innovative win-win adaptation solutions to feed health system planning.
5. To largely upscale adaptation measures and best practices from demonstration sites to other institutions inside and outside the mountain biogeographical area.

To achieve that,

• MOUNTADAPT will develop robust climate and health models to better understand the impact of climate change on health.
• The project will create monitoring tools that will be directly linked to integrated systems, to assess short term forecasts to communicate warnings.
• MOUNTADAPT will develop an emergency management tool to support health systems to optimally organize staff in crisis time.
• The project will provide adaptation guidance for transforming the health systems to better adapt to climate-associated health emergencies.
• The project will empower healthcare professional with training and campaigning toolkit and awareness-raising campaigns for citizens.
• MOUNTADAPT will establish detailed monitoring protocols and impact assessment frameworks, enabling continuous evaluation of adaptation solutions during and after the project.
• Finally, MOUNTADAPT will provide a full guide for the implementation of its adaptation solutions, with the aim of boosting their replication in new territories.

The EU Horizon project MOUNTADAPT will be conducted by a consortium of 27 partners from ten countries and is led by EUROQUALITY SAS in Paris, France.

The MOUNTADAPT project is organized in 6 work packages (WP). UMIT TIROL is involved in several WPs including WP 3 “Testing and Monitoring “, in which UMIT TIROL will perform the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of selected solutions.

Funding Program: European Commission: Horizon Europe (HORIZON). MOUNTADAPT is a Horizon EU Innovation Action and has received funding from the EU Horizon Action Grant under the Grant Agreement number: 101155958.

Budget:  ca. 5. Mio, UMIT TIROL share: 703,500 EUR

Duration: 36 months (start date not yet available)

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The MOUNTADAPT project releases key research on climate change impacts on health and health systems

How does climate change impact health and health systems? In a first project milestone, the MOUNTADAPT project has released a three-part research series: 

The first research was conducted by the Working Community of the Pyrenees (Consorcio de la Comunidad de Trabajo de los Pirineos, CTP) on Non-communicable diseases & climate impacts in mountain regions and a focus on the Pyrenees. This group found that health in the Pyrenees Mountain range is increasingly affected by worsened air quality, longer periods with the presence of allergens, new vector-borne disease risks, as well as heightened risk of gravitational hazards and infrastructure problems.

The second research in the series, conducted by the University of Eastern Piedmont – CRIMEDIM (UPO) examined existing research on Extreme weather events and their effects on health systems: Implications for mountain areas. Health services in mountain regions face mounting pressure as climate-driven disasters disrupt access to care, damage infrastructure, and increase demand for medical services. To help mitigate this MOUNTADAPT is developing a Disaster Preparedness Checklist.

MOUNTADAPT partner the Emergency Hospital of Timisoara County (SCJUT) conducted research on Climate change´s role in increasing airborne allergens in the metropolitan area of Timisoara in Romania over a few decades. Regions with higher mean annual temperatures are associated with higher concentrations of ragweed pollen. Respiratory illness cases caused by this tend to increase around two weeks later. This delay provides a valuable opportunity for healthcare providers to start early treatment for this patient group.

These findings highlight key risks and areas to act, as well as gaps in research and adaptation strategies.  
Read to learn more about news in the project MOUNTADAPT: https://mountadapt.eu/news-events/