Ávarp Guðlaugs Þórs Þórðarsonar umhverfis-, orku- og loftslagsráðherra á norrænni ráðstefnu um aðlögun að loftslagsbreytingum - Ávarpið er á ensku

Good morning, dear guests, attendees, and participants,

Welcome everyone, and welcome to Iceland, those who have traveled overseas.

The human experience, and human history, is a story of adaptation.
But this time, change is happening fast and worldwide. We need to understand our risks locally, and part of that is understanding how global and regional risk can interfere with our local, everyday life.

Of course, the best long-term adaptation solution is ambitious mitigation, but at this point, with the impacts of climate change already visible, we need to work on adaptation alongside our mitigation measures.

This is the sixth time the Nordic Adaptation community comes together, but the first time we have gathered here in Iceland.
It is an honor to host such a great group of international experts here in Reykjavík.

I wish you a productive and pleasant conference with inspiring talks and engaging workshops. I personally hope, - and I know the conference program committee shares my expectations - that our coming together will help identify and further develop our Nordic Vision for Adaptation.

What does climate change look like in the Nordic Countries?

What does it mean to tackle climate change in the Northern Hemisphere in proximity to the Arctic circle?

Let's think specifically about Nordic adaptation and how to showcase it.
What might be the global value of ambitious adaptation in the Nordic countries?

I want to offer three starting points:

A stronger ocean, stronger nature-based solutions and stronger municipalities.

And let’s keep in mind that the key to being strong is not necessarily strength itself but knowing and challenging your weaknesses and working with them, not against them.

Good climate politics, good decisions, and good policy, call for good knowledge. The best possible knowledge, actually. And this is key for adaptation.

However, knowledge is not only measured in published scientific papers. Knowledge is not only words on paper, but words exchanged between people—the strength of our knowledge community.

That is why we are here today. We must come together and share our experiences to maintain an active, engaging, and ambitious knowledge community on climate change adaptation.

Thank you to the Nordic Council of Ministers for your support in bringing us together today, the Nordic Working Group for Climate and Air, and its network on adaptation in the Nordic countries. Thank you all for enriching Nordic policy on climate change and keeping us on our toes.

I wish to extend special thanks to the Icelandic Met Office and the Icelandic climate service and adaptation centre, for taking on the ambitious task of leading the organization of the conference and doing it so well.

And with that, I declare the sixth Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation formally set.

I hope you enjoy each other's company, and local and expert knowledges over the next two days.

I myself hope you come up with all kinds of adaptation solutions for shaping our societies and our ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.

Thank you.