Comparative Assessment of Adaptation Preparedness of Company and State Policy to Climate Changes in Agriculture and Tourism

Abstract

The current research is focused on the extremely urgent issue of adaptation to climate change in two of the most vulnerable sectors of Bulgarian economy, namely agriculture and tourism. The author presents a system of indicators which is the ground for evaluation of the adaptation preparedness at business and state level for each of the studied economic sectors and which helps identify the adaptation policy weaknesses and formulate recommendations for improvement. Based on the methodology used, the results of the study show that adaptation preparedness is alarmingly low in both sectors. Despite the fact that the majority of company representatives declare that they are already facing the negative consequences of climate change for their businesses and that they demonstrate high motivation for implementation of adaptation practices, the presence of various barriers prevents them from moving from the planning to the implementation phase of the selected adaptation strategy. On the other hand, state institutions are currently focused on an initial phase of research and planning of adaptation measures and currently are unable to support Bulgarian businesses in their efforts to adapt to climate change. Bulgaria lags behind most of the European companies such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and UK, which are quite advanced in terms of their climate change adaptation policies. This delay puts the competitiveness of the agriculture and tourist sectors under the risk of climate change threats.