Slovenia is raising levees and levies in a nationwide effort to become resilient to heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Climate Now reports from the riverside on the works underway and offers insight on the latest Copernicus climate data.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:05 Hello, and welcome to Climate Now.
00:07 This month, we're here in Slovenia
00:09 to ask how they're adapting to the threat of heavy rain
00:13 after much of the country was hit by devastating floods
00:16 last year.
00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:23 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:33 Before that, let's check the very latest data
00:35 on our warming planet from the Copernicus Climate Change
00:38 Service.
00:39 We can now confirm that 2023 was the warmest year on record.
00:44 This graph of annual averages since 1967
00:47 shows last year was almost 1.5 degrees Celsius
00:50 above the pre-industrial era.
00:52 The higher temperatures are being attributed
00:54 to several factors, mainly more greenhouse gas emissions,
00:57 warmer oceans, and lower sea ice concentrations.
01:01 Switching over to the monthly Copernicus data,
01:03 we can see it was the warmest December on record,
01:06 over 0.8 degrees Celsius above the 1991 to 2020 average.
01:11 In Europe, it was colder than average,
01:13 from Scandinavia to Russia, and then unusually warm
01:16 from Ireland to the Black Sea.
01:18 December was wet for many of us, with a succession
01:21 of storms in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.
01:24 This map of precipitation anomalies
01:26 reflects that, with the wetter blue areas indicating
01:29 above-average rain or snow last month.
01:32 Now to our report asking how Slovenia
01:35 is adapting to the rising risk of heavy rain and flooding.
01:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:43 Slovenia is in the middle of a major flash flood adaptation
01:47 effort.
01:48 There are 250 active sites like this across the country,
01:52 working to protect riverside homes and businesses.
01:55 The water agency director is Nizia Kodre.
01:57 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
02:13 Nearly everyone was hit by the floods last August.
02:17 183 of the 212 municipalities in Slovenia were impacted.
02:21 The country experienced 63% more rainfall
02:24 than average last summer.
02:26 Expert Tanja Cega warns that rising temperatures
02:29 due to climate change will simply
02:30 increase the flash flood risk.
02:33 We will get more heavy rain in the future,
02:37 especially these events during summer when air is warm
02:42 and there is a lot of moisture in the air.
02:47 Different approaches to flash flooding
02:48 are applied in different zones.
02:51 In this dense urban area of Ljubljana,
02:53 the best solution is a much higher embankment wall.
02:55 Downstream, there's enough room to dig a wider riverbed,
03:01 preserve the trees, and slow down the water.
03:04 Engineer Rok Vazarin says natural solutions cost less
03:07 and look better, but need constant upkeep.
03:12 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
03:28 To help pay for these works, the government
03:30 has raised taxes on banks and businesses
03:33 for the next five years.
03:34 Minister Boštjan Šefić justifies the choice.
03:39 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
04:07 The other challenge is convincing local people
04:09 to accept that flash flood adaptation has to happen.
04:13 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
04:34 Well, that's all we have time for,
04:35 but you can find out a lot more about how Slovenia is adapting
04:39 to climate change on euronews.com/climate now.
04:42 And I'll see you next time.
04:44 (upbeat music)
04:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]