The impacts of a changing climate will affect the economy and geography of the UK. New research published by the Tyndall Centre documents what actions have already been taken to adapt in the UK.This is part of the process to identify further actions that can be taken to increase resilience. The research is led by Emma Tompkins (now at Leeds University) and including Neil Adger from Tyndall Centre and researchers from Cranfield and Reading Universities.
The team developed a database of adaptations already underway to actual changes in weather and to perceived risks. They evaluate whether these examples are a vanguard of best practice that may diffuse across the economy. These range from planning for storm surge changes in the Thames estuary through to changing agricultural practices.
They concluded that government agency-led adaptation planning has generated low cost actions in infrastructure planning across various sectors in the UK. The resulting database, developed in collaboration with UK Climate Impacts Programme funded by DEFRA, forms an element of a web-based tool that is widely use by private and public organisations to determine their own adaptation needs and options.
The paper is published in the widely read journal, Global Environmental Change.
Tompkins, E. L., Adger, W. N., Boyd, E., Nicholson-Cole, S., Weatherhead, K. and Arnell, N. W. (2010) Observed adaptation to climate change: UK evidence of transition to a well-adapting society. Global Environmental Change 20(4), 627-635. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.05.001
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