Building Climate Resilience in Southern Serbia, Together
Climate change in Southern Serbia is no longer a forecast. Heatwaves come earlier and last longer, droughts stretch across summers, and floods hit communities that were not built for them. Roads, water supply, farms and the local services people rely on every day are already under pressure.
No single municipality can solve this alone. Rivers, watersheds and weather systems do not stop at administrative borders, and neither do the risks they bring. That is the starting point for a new regional effort to build climate resilience across Southern Serbia.
Workshops in Niš, Pirot and Prokuplje
In October 2026, representatives of cities and municipalities from the Nišava, Pirot and Toplica districts came together in a series of workshops to begin shaping the Regional Climate Resilience Strategy for Southern Serbia. The workshops were held on 8 October in Niš, 9 October in Pirot and 19 October in Prokuplje, organised by the Platform for Energy Transition (PET) and the Regional Development Agency SOUTH as part of the RECAPSS project.
Professor Slobodan Milutinović, the project’s lead expert, guides the process with his expertise in climate vulnerability assessment and strategic adaptation planning.
Participants were introduced to RECAPSS, the methodology behind the strategy and the first findings of the climate vulnerability assessments. Just as importantly, they learned what role their local governments will play in the coming phases, and how they can actively shape the strategy rather than simply receive it.
Where science meets local knowledge
Data can show where risks are growing. People who run local services know how those risks play out on the ground: which streets flood, which villages struggle with water in August, which public buildings become unbearable in a heatwave. The workshops created space to bring these two kinds of knowledge together.
They also made one thing clear. Neighbouring municipalities face many of the same threats, and they will respond to them better together than apart.
From strategy to concrete climate action
These workshops are the first step in a broader participatory process. The result will be a Regional Climate Resilience Strategy, supported by an Action Plan and an Investment Plan. Together, they will help the region identify adaptation priorities, turn them into concrete projects and attract the funding needed to carry them out.
The strategy will place particular focus on nature-based solutions, better management of climate risks, stronger institutional capacities and real involvement of local communities in decision-making.
Why participation matters to PET
At PET, we believe climate resilience cannot be designed behind closed doors. Local governments are where climate policy becomes practical action, but lasting adaptation also depends on citizens, civil society, public institutions, researchers and businesses. By involving local stakeholders from the very beginning, RECAPSS aims to make sure the measures it proposes answer the real needs of communities in Southern Serbia.
About RECAPSS
RECAPSS - Resilience and Climate Adaptation Pathways for Southern Serbia is implemented by the Regional Development Agency SOUTH in partnership with the Platform for Energy Transition and SmartUp Social Innovation Lab from North Macedonia. The project is supported through the European Union’s Pathways2Resilience programme, funded under Horizon Europe, and contributes to the objectives of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change]
