Over the last 20 years I have been involved in some form of climate adaptation or resilience work, and I have found gulls a great indicator of whether we are climate ready or not. But first some other lessons.
The tools to help are just the same – we just need to choose one and use it
In 2006 I worked on the first climate risk assessment for an economic investment strategy. We used a tool called ‘Business Areas Climate Impacts Assessment Tool (BACLIAT)’. Since then, there has been an explosion of tools funded by short-term grants. This often creates barriers of confusion over which tools to use. The most successful tool I used was an online risk assessment that small businesses could use and then receive a tailored action plan. This later led to various editions of the weathering the storm guides for businesses and land managers.
Doing something new and long-term requires consistent resource – we won’t get it, so become good at passing the ball
Over the years we have had the UK Climate Impacts Programme, Climate UK running a national network of Climate Adaptation Partnerships, Climate Ready run by the Environment Agency, and a series of Climate Change Committee national climate risk assessments. Where capacity has grown is in areas where independent bodies have been able to retain or pass on the knowledge from one short-term initiative to the next. This is why the work of bodies such as Sustainability West Midlands, London Climate Ready Partnership, and the Welsh National Commission for Infrastructure are so important.
Extreme weather impacts vary – but naming them, putting lines on a map and looking back helps
Heat waves, wildfires, flooding, drought and storms. It isn’t exactly consistent when it happens or what the impact looks like. This can give the impression it is a random series of events that can’t be planned for. Initiatives such as naming storms or our Future Generations Commissioner’s suggestion of naming heatwaves all help to provide more visibility to climate impacts and planning. The conclusion of my PhD was unless you are willing to draw lines on a map, you won’t influence planners. We now have flood, surface water, water abstraction, heat island, and wildfire risk maps or zones to help make the invisible visible. Another tool I found useful was Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCIPs). These involve a review of media reports and interviews with service providers to cover specific past dates during an extreme weather event. This then helped build up a picture of impact for future planning. My Dad is a former history teacher, so he would also argue that looking further back to where churches and wealthy houses were built is a good indicator of where land won’t flood.
Don’t buy a second home – especially not in the Mediterranean
The arguments about second homes, especially in Wales, are well known. But 20 years ago, I was presenting to a wealthy audience in Birmingham around the new development agency investment plans for the next 20 years and how we had tried to consider this new concept called ‘climate risk’. I could tell I was losing them, so I went off script and told them not to buy a second home in the Mediterranean. It immediately got their attention, and that of the local press, but not in the way I had intended. For years I had colleagues posting to me how good their holidays had been in the Med. That hasn’t happened for the last five years.
Climate impacts are unfair – but tackling them will create stronger communities
Work such as Climate Just has helped to map the multiple impacts and capacity to cope of local communities. It is no surprise that the poorest are often most vulnerable. But there is also an opportunity: by tackling the impacts of climate change we build stronger communities. I always remember a conversation at a conference hosted by the King of Sweden (who wore a name badge). A delegate asked, ‘why do Scandinavian countries have such a strong shared sense of community?’. The answer ‘If we didn’t cooperate, we wouldn’t survive a harsh winter or poor harvest. Those that weren’t willing to help their neighbours died alone.’ We are beginning to see this community response with community centres offer safe warm or cool spaces, a renewed focus on improving our public green spaces, and service providers realising their adaptation plans require a range of partners to work together to succeed.
You can’t predict the future – but there are ‘no-regret’ policies that produce multiple benefits
In work for Ashden we looked at a range of co-benefits or multiple benefits for climate change action. The good news is that often the actions required to improve the resilience of a place have many benefits, so even if the flood or heatwave doesn’t occur every year you still won’t regret the policy or activity. For example, floodplains that are kept as parks and cycle and walking routes, street trees and pocket parks, community centres able to offer a range of local services, and supply chains able to deal with a range of disruptions.
Watch the gulls – gulls are a great indicator for climate readiness
When delivering a range of workshops for 100s of small business around climate risk and resilience planning I was always on the lookout for good or bad examples. These included ‘don’t put your evacuation point opposite the exploding fuel tanks you will be running from’, ‘the hospital is not climate proof if all the access roads are flooded’, ‘get a snow plough fitting for your forklift to clear access points on the estate’, or ‘set up a reciprocal arrangement with another non-competing manufacturer to provide a temporary production line’. But the best example was this – A business hadn’t insulated its roof properly, so it attracted gulls from miles around to enjoy the warm roof. They produced a lot of waste that then blocked up the gutters on the roof. When a storm came, the weight of the water on the roof caused it collapse stopping production for the day.
So, remember “If gulls like your roof, when the storms come your home will flood”
Dr Simon Slater, CEO of Cynnal Cymru
Living in a house, not in the Mediterranean, on a hill, near a church, in an average vulnerability rating on the Climate Just map, with no regular gull visitors.
How can Cynnal Cymru help?
Our training courses on Carbon Literacy and Nature Wise, already incorporate elements of climate resilience. Our real Living Wage accreditation process for employers results in income security and pay rises for 1000s of workers which enables individuals to have more capacity to prepare or respond to extreme weather events. We are also running a members and guest event on climate readiness and are at early stages of developing a climate readiness course.
