ECCA: a Dialogue Forum in the Global Context
By Sally Stevens
After a conference that reached across Europe and beyond, including contributions from NGOs working in climate vulnerable communities around the world, it was fitting that ECCA2025’s Closing Plenary extended the adaptation conversation globally.
From Paris to Nordic countries in the north, to Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and then on to New Zealand, the final speakers picked out their take home messages from Rimini. But they also had a list of calls to action for the climate science community – including setting some homework!
The final gathering of the ECCA2025 participants in-person and online wrapped up three days of debate, discussion, knowledge sharing, networking and workshopping.
It was led on behalf of the Mission on Adaptation by Irene Bonvissuto, DG CLIMA and Head of EU Mission on Adaptation to the Climate Change Secretariat.
Mission on Adaptation - Take home messages
She spoke of all the case studies shared with the 640+ participants, during four plenaries and 39 parallel sessions: “The lesson I take home is the compilation of those examples but, audience, your homework from ECCA2025 is to make sure your research is impacting on policy. We need to make sure there is systemic and holistic change and that is something you can all contribute to.”
Referring to the Mission’s current task in drawing up the EU Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which will be published October 2026, her call to action was: “We need your input!”
Joining online from the UNFCCC pre-COP30 conference in Germany, Frank McGovern, Vice Chair of JPI Climate, urged the climate science community to ‘get publishing’ so their papers are available to the IPCC in drawing up its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). He said: “Science is fundamental to everything we’re doing here with the UNFCCC in Bonn.”
He pointed to the JPI Climate/MAGICA dialogue initiative the Equinox Process as a new and innovative route for direct conversations between scientists, policy decision-makers and influencers, and climate practitioners.
Multi-risk and multi-disciplinary
Nadia Pinardi, UN Decade Collaborative Center on Coastal Resilience/Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise, set scientists the task of including more capacity building into their projects to reach the goal of equitable climate education. She also urged that ‘science should be more multi-risk and multi-disciplinary’, even at the grass roots of teaching science students in multidisciplinary groups.
Loide Matias da Silva, of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Climate Innovation Unit is the Focal Point for Climate Adaptation, Innovation and Resilience Projects. Her instruction to scientists and policy-makers in the audience was to pursue climate action at a local level, particularly involving community-based organisations and youth.
ECCA2025 is twinned with ECCA’s global equivalent, Adaptation Futures, that this year takes place in Christchurch, New Zealand, October 13-16, as a hybrid event. Bronwyn Hayward, Director of The Sustainable Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research group, University of Canterbury is the co-convenor of Adaptation Futures 2025. It will focus on the Pacific and Indigenous communities. Hayward joined ECCA2025 online to encourage
delegates to attend and join the multilateral conversations that are ‘desperately needed’ to contribute to global action.
Inclusivity in resilience actions
Contributions also came from Sirkku Juhola, Chair of NOCCA2025 the Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, Programme Committee. The conference took place in May and her message to the audience was to takes risks to ensure climate adaptation action is economically feasible and socially just. And from Maria-Gabriella Baldarelli, on behalf of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, who called on ‘cities, provinces, urban and rural area resilience leaders’ to ensure inclusivity in resilience actions.
The final task was taken up by leading co-organisers Giulia Galluccio, of CMCC and MAGICA, and Petra Manderscheid of JPI Climate, who thanked everyone for coming to ECCA2025, the European Commission, Rimini hosts, the Major Partner, European Space Agency, the supporting projects, the speakers, the MAGICA team and everyone behind the scenes who made it such a successful and productive event.
Galluccio declared: “ECCA2025 is accomplished!” Manderscheid added: “I’m overwhelmed by all the exchanges and new conversations in 2025!”
We look forward to seeing you all to the next ECCA.
Thanks to:
MAGICA partners JPI Climate and CMCC Foundation
The ECCA Programme Committee members & advisors
Our major partner European Space Agency - ESA
Our Project Partners DIRECTED, ICARIA, IMPETUS4CHANGE, LOCALISED, MAIA, SCORE and the partners UN Ocean Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience,
Our patrons the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, the Ministry of University and Research, Emilia-Romagna Region, The Municipality of Rimini, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
Our Media Partner Skytg24
Thank to our hosts in Rimini and our venue, Rimini Palacongressi and our Master of Ceremonies, broadcaster and journalist Karen Coleman.
And thank you from the organisers to all the hardworking CMCC Foundation volunteers and content creators.
Special gratitude to the leading organisers Giulia Galluccio and Petra Manderscheid.
Finally, thank you to YOU for joining us and for interacting with us on social media!
Please give us your feedback for ECCA2027 and share your response to what you heard, what you learned and how it has helped your future work using #ECCA2025.
We will have lots more photos, articles, videos and insights to post here and on our website in the coming days so stay tuned!
Please keep in touch and keep on collaborating for Climate Adaptation!
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