Call for Applications: EU Twinning in Czechia, October 2026 · From Mining Legacy to Resilient and Livable Landscapes
AdaptationHubs matches regions facing similar climate challenges with frontrunner regions ready to share what works. Four EU twinning groups, each bringing together up to five mentee regions with one mentor region, will be organised.
Current Opportunities
Our first exchange in Czechia is now open for applications. Further details can be found below.
Apply by 4 September 2026 — five places available!
Sitting on contaminated land, a fading industrial legacy, or a landscape shaped by extraction? See how the Karlovy Vary Region turned mining scars into resilient, livable landscapes — and bring that playbook home.
Date & Location: Czechia, 7-9 October 2026 — Chodov and selected demonstration sites in the Karlovy Vary Region (physical exchange, arriving and departing via Prague)
Thematic focus: From mining legacy to resilient landscapes — nature-based remediation of contaminated water, regeneration of a post-mining landscape, and scaling municipal demonstration measures up across a town and beyond.
What you'll gain
- A first-hand look at nature-based solutions for contaminated water and post-mining land, tested on the ground in Chodov and demonstration sites across the Karlovy Vary Region
- Direct exchange with the mentor region's technical team — practical lessons on what worked, what didn't, and how to adapt it to your own context
- A peer network of up to five mentee regions from five different countries, working through the same challenges alongside you
- A combination of online sessions and 1.5 days on-site, designed to translate into concrete next steps for your own region
Twinning Details:
Facilitated by Czech University of Life Sciences, IEECP and partners, the exchange is based in Chodov and selected demonstration sites in the Karlovy Vary Region
- Envirocentre Chodov, the municipal demonstration site, serves as a living laboratory for demonstrating, monitoring and explaining nature-based and water-sensitive measures to municipalities, schools and practitioners.
From there, participants will visit two regional field sites in the wider Karlovy Vary Region:
- Hájek quarry: a full-scale nature-based remediation system treating contaminated drainage water, developed under the LIFEPOPWAT project, combining sedimentation, reactive treatment stages, sorption wetlands and an aerobic polishing wetland.
- Bílá Voda and Smolnický kopec: the regeneration of a mining-affected landscape into a publicly accessible recreational and ecological area, and the social dimension of adaptation that comes with it.
Together, the three complementary sites present a coherent transformation pathway: remediation of environmental burdens, regeneration and public reuse, and demonstration leading to municipal scale-up. The discussion will focus on selecting suitable nature-based solutions, transferring technical principles between spatial scales, permitting and financing, operation and maintenance, monitoring and evaluation, public communication, and the pathway from a single pilot to wider municipal application and replication elsewhere. Using the three sites, participants will draft a simple replication pathway for their own municipality or region.
Tentative programme for the 1.5-day physical exchange:
- Arrival in Prague on 7 October 2026, onward travel to the Karlovy Vary Region
- The programme runs from the afternoon of 7 October through the full day of 8 October
- Departure on 9 October 2026
Online meetings: the visit is part of a wider exchange that also includes online sessions before and after to introduce the mentor region's approach, hear the challenges each mentee region brings, and wrap up afterwards. The schedule will be agreed with the selected group; participation is expected.
A second exchange, hosted in Ireland, will be announced shortly.
- Build regional knowledge of climate resilience by learning directly from experts and frontrunner regions.
- Exchange on shared risks and vulnerabilities and on the solutions available to address them.
- Deep-dive into the practical implementation of one concrete adaptation solution, including what it takes to permit, finance, run and maintain it.
- Support the development of multilevel governance structures and regional climate resilience pathways.
- Create lasting peer relationships between regions that face the same challenges.
The exchange is primarily aimed at regional and local authorities, and those working closely with them, primarily in EU Member States. Regions just starting to build their adaptation strategy, and those not yet signatories of the Mission on Adaptation, are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants from associated countries and from countries beyond the EU may also be considered.
Travel and accommodation for the physical exchange are fully reimbursed for one participant per selected region.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
- Up to five mentee regions per exchange, from different EU Member States, each represented by one participant. Applications from associated countries and from countries outside Europe may also be considered.
- Applicants must be regional or local authorities, or work closely with them.
- Matching characteristics with the mentor region: comparable context, risks, and hazards.
Special attention will be given to regions that are less advanced in adaptation planning, to ensure timely action, engagement and peer learning. Regions that are not yet signatories of the Mission on Adaptation are of particular interest, as the exchanges aim to bring them into the fold of the Mission.
Applicants must be able to attend the full duration of the programme, including the online meetings before and after the visit.
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