Climate changes and their impact on current and future threats to the Podkarpackie Province

Abstract

Currently, a forward-looking approach to threat assessment in a particular region is important. This approach applies especially to organizational units that are in the structure of offices at the basic level–the municipality, city and poviat. Currently, when generating hazard forecasts for a specific region, one focuses efforts mainly on objects or natural resources of the area (rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, factories, communication infrastructure), which are a potential source of threats (floods, fires, road collision, poisoning, etc.). This approach is a response to what is known but is unpredictable; such actions are rational and fulfill obligations related to ensuring security for the population. However, the approach does not sufficiently respond to the latest challenges faced by communities related mainly to climate change. Global warming intensifies the occurrence of existing threats and also brings new phenomena not encountered in a given area, such as drought, desertification of the area, and epidemics of new diseases. Based on the observations of the last 30 -40 years, it follows that new phenomena has negative effects on the existence of the population and the economy of the region. Although warnings about the possibility of their occurrence are not new, such changes do not occur in a month or a year; they are often underestimated, and their consequences seem distant and remote. The purpose of the paper is to show, on the basis of examples of events that took place in the Podkarpackie Province, Poland and Europe, that for the security of the population in the region it is important to anticipate threats and implement services to counteract their effects.