“Men argue. Nature acts.”
• Giant Trash Trolls
• Flood Resilience and Fire Risk
• Mapping and Member Insights
• Local Action, National Plans
• Unpreparedness vs Underconsumption
• Protecting from the Predictable
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Welcome to this winter edition of The Geographer
There has been some worrying news recently surrounding the climate COP and the US election, about a move away from tackling climate change, yet the risks of inaction seem more evident than ever. It remains vital that we, as a society, continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it is increasingly obvious that we need to put more sustained effort into protecting ourselves from the impacts that climate change is already wreaking. (As the COP argues about how much money to allocate, the Union of Concerned Scientists has noted that $1 trillion in global climate funds “is going to look like a bargain five, ten years from now. We’re going to wonder why we didn’t take that and run with it.”)
Perhaps the most obvious examples have been wildfires and, more recently, floods, at both the local and the international scale, which have brought the risk of climate change to so many people’s doorsteps in recent months. With one in five households in the UK alone at risk of flood, it is vital that we take more steps to avoid the worst of it. In short, more than ever, we need to start adapting to and investing in the predictable and existing consequences of climate change.
This is a very timely issue, so we have been delighted to work alongside Adaptation Scotland and the Global Center on Adaptation in producing this magazine. We have attempted to explore many of the key issues, outline some of the plans and processes that are underway and, we hope, give some encouragement and inspiration as to all the work going on in the background to tackle this concern. Articles cover everything from the role of behaviour change and policy to mapping, case studies and collaboration in helping to solve these problems, and I hope they will help to provide some guidance as we all start to get our heads around these consequences.
We also have interviews with a member and a medallist, an article on train travel to Italy, education thoughts, an underwater photo spread, and a delightful feature on artwork in the form of trash trolls. Thank you to everyone who has written for us, and to you for your continued support of RSGS. Have a wonderful festive break, and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year at some of our many talks.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS
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In September, RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson (left) presented Clive Mitchell, Head of Terrestrial Science at NatureScot, with one of our first Climate Solutions Corporate Completion Certificates, in recognition of NatureScot’s commitment to climate change education. Learn more about our Climate Solutions courses: at climatesolutionsnetwork.com
In November we presented RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Professor Michael Meadows, for his global contribution to research and international collaboration. A distinguished academic, he holds the position of Professor in the School of Geography and Ocean Sciences at Nanjing University, China, and retains a research position in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town, where he was Head of Department from 2001 to 2017. He has played a central role in fostering cooperation across the geographical community, particularly through his involvement with the International Geographical Union, where he was Secretary-General and Treasurer from 2010 to 2018, and President from 2020 to 2024.
The RSGS’s prestigious Medals and Fellowships allow us to recognise outstanding contributions to geographical exploration and learning. Visit www.rsgs.org/Pages/Category/ medallists for more information on the awards and to access the nomination form. The deadline for nominations is 31st December each year.
Perth Museum is running a special exhibition from 8th November to 16th March. Waters Rising traces stories and objects connected to the impact of flooding, from biblical accounts to Ancient Egypt to North America, and more recent events closer to home. It explores the growing threat of the global climate emergency and examines the impact of flooding and extreme weather events on communities, businesses, and infrastructure in Perth and Kinross.
The exhibition includes photos, memories and stories of flooding from local people. Photos (<25Mb) can be emailed to collections@culturepk.org.uk. Memories can be handwritten onto postcards which are available at designated points in Perth Museum, Perth Art Gallery, and Culture Perth and Kinross libraries. This community-sourced collection will act as a new physical archive of flood memories past and present.
In November we were delighted to present RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Professor Lorna Dawson, for her leading work in soil forensics, her contributions to public communication, and her provision of invaluable aid in solving complex criminal cases. Professor Dawson has 30 years of experience conducting research on soil and plant material. She has advised and reported on more than 150 criminal cases, written more than 100 expert witness reports, and presented evidence in over 20 cases, including the high-profile World’s End pub murders. She is also an expert advisor to the National Crime Agency, and has worked with numerous police forces across the world.
Since September, it has been wonderful to see so many of our members and supporters attending the Inspiring People talks hosted at our Local Groups across Scotland.
In October, we were pleased to present the Coppock Research Medal to Professor Elspeth Graham. Over almost four decades, Professor Graham has distinguished herself as a recognised and respected figure in the field of population geography. In 2012, she became the first woman to be appointed Professor of Geography at the University of St Andrews, marking an important milestone in the university’s history, and highlighting her dedication towards championing the discipline of geography. She has made many outstanding contributions to geographical research, and has played a significant role in shaping both global and Scottish policy.
We continue to make weekly additions to our blog (www.rsgs.org/ blog), covering a range of interesting topics. Recent posts include:
Carbon capture: the 22 billion dollar question
RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson responds to the announcement by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer of funding for a programme of carbon capture and storage. Sir Ernest Shackleton in Dundee. RSGS Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf reflects on some of Shackleton’s connections to Dundee.
Live from Colombia: a look into COP16 on biodiversity. RSGS Deputy Chief Executive Clare Hamilton writes from COP16 in Colombia, offering an insight into the conference and what we can expect.
A toast to the polar explorers: the 20th anniversary banquet of RSGS. Scott, Shackleton and Thomas Robertson of Scotia were all present at a banquet celebrating RSGS’s 20th anniversary in 1904.
Now we are looking forward to the amazing talks to come in 2025: adventurer Andy Torbet recounting highlights from his many shows and adventures; sea kayaker Ed Ley-Wilson talking about journeying into the heart of the sea roads of the Scottish highlands and islands; Professor Roger Crofts questioning what nature means to us, at home and further afield; young geographer Kirsty Fisher reflecting on circumnavigating the globe on a 72ft sailing yacht; broadcaster Paul Murton exploring some of the UK’s most remote and remarkable islands; ultrarunner Jasmin Paris on being the first woman to finish the notorious Barkley Marathon; underwater photographer Lawson Wood reflecting on 60 years of marine exploration and conservation; writer Merryn Glover talking about Nan Shepherd’s explorations of the Cairngorms; geologist Luisa Hendry on inspiring the next generation of engineers and geologists; climber Anna Wells recounting her journey to become the first woman to complete the ‘Winter Munro Round’; cyclist Mike Elm sharing stories from his extraordinary sevenmonth, 8,000km cycle; conservationist Tom Bowser exploring the past, present and future of red kites in Scotland; adventurer Matthew Phillips talking about spending four years on South Georgia working for the British Antarctic Survey; and author Dr Adrian Webb uncovering the achievements of Winston Churchill’s secret chart makers.
Admission to any of these talks is free for RSGS members, students and under-18s, and £15 for others. Tickets are available through www.rsgs.org/events or at the door; please book in advance to be sure of your seat.
We were delighted to present RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Dr George McGavin at his Inspiring People talk in Edinburgh in September, in recognition of his efforts to share knowledge, promote conservation, and make the wonders of the natural world accessible to us all. Dr McGavin spent over 30 years as an academic zoologist, before he ventured into the world of television to reach a wider audience about biodiversity. Since then, he has become a recognisable and popular figure in both the scientific community and the public eye.
A study published in Nature Geoscience in October reported that the Antarctic Peninsula is getting rapidly greener. Landsat satellite imagery has revealed that the area covered by plants increased from less than one square kilometre in 1986 to nearly 12 square kilometres in 2021. The researchers think that most of the vegetation is moss, which will build up a layer of soil, offering a habitat for other plant life. “It’s the beginning of dramatic transformation,” said Olly Bartlett, a remote-sensing specialist at the University of Hertfordshire. “These numbers shocked us,” said Thomas Roland, an environmental scientist at the University of Exeter. “There’s a huge potential here to see a further increase in the amount of non-native, potentially invasive species.” Temperatures on the Peninsula have risen by almost 3°C since 1950, a much bigger increase than observed across most parts of the planet.
Howie Firth FRSGS, Director, Orkney International Science Festival
In September, two Open University speakers took Orkney International Science Festival audiences on a journey from the seabed of the Indian Ocean to the surface of the Moon.
Pallavi Anand, Professor of Ocean Biogeochemistry and Palaeoclimatology, told how plankton are being used to reconstruct past continental rainfall drained into the Bay of Bengal. The great summer monsoon flows of water from rivers affect surface seawater conditions in the bay, and these changes become locked into the lives of tiny marine plankton living in the water. Some of the plankton, foraminifera, have shells which survive them in the seabed sediments. With different species preferring to live at different depths or temperatures, the proportions of various shells give clues to past ocean environments, flows of rivers into the bay, and so the history of the monsoons. The sediments cover millions of years, enabling studies to be done on varied timescales.
The earliest printed map of the world owned by the National Library of Scotland (NLS), dating from the 1480s, can be viewed in the NLS Treasures Gallery in George IV Bridge, Edinburgh until mid-December. This is a classic T-O map or diagram of the world, included in the Etymologia of St Isidore of Seville (ca 560–636). The three main continents of the known world are shown within a spherical ocean, the Mare Oceanum Orientated to the east, Asia is shown at the top, Europe to the lower left, and Africa to the lower right. The continents are divided by the Tanais or Don, the Nile and the Mediterranean, and the three sons of Noah are also named on the map.
The Antarctic region is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet. The unprecedented impacts of climate change include rapid greening of the landmass which can accelerate warming, intense heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and melting ice sheets and glaciers. An advocacy group, Antarctic Rights, has drawn up a draft resolution that would make Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean an autonomous legal entity similar to a sovereign nation. If the resolution is adopted, the region would have a seat at the table at United Nations climate conferences and be able to join in the decision-making processes.
Pallavi’s husband Mahesh Anand, Professor of Planetary Science and Exploration, looked at prospects for the development of a lunar base, 55 years since Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. He said there was a new energy amongst companies and governments to explore the solar system, with the Moon being seen as the ideal starting point to test out technology. Mahesh is a geologist with a long interest in studying Moon rocks. He has been involved in analysis of material brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 mission of 2020, and spoke about the growing clues from lunar rock and soil samples to the existence of water on the Moon. A special treat for Orkney audiences was a piece of Moon rock that he brought with him.
The talks generated much interest, in islands with the sea so much a part of daily life and the Moon familiar in sometimes crystal-clear night skies. Recordings are available on the Festival’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/OISFestival), along with other features including a film on the making of the Pentland Firth developed by Edinburgh geomorphologist Dr Adrian Hall.
Germany’s capital has a problem with rising temperatures and drought, so the city is adopting measures to absorb rainwater, like a sponge, and release it when it is needed. Nine underground overflow basins have been completed, with one still in the making. At 30m deep, this single basin will hold nearly 17,000m3 of rainwater, the equivalent of almost seven Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Berlin has already built on most of its open spaces where water could once percolate into the ground. So when there’s a lot of rain, water flows off the hard surfaces and can mix with sewage. To combat this, the Berlin Senate and water utility BWB set up a ‘rainwater agency’ which advises urban planners on ways to design green roofs and buildings and to come up with innovative ideas for collecting and storing rainwater. The city has also passed a law stipulating that only a small amount of rainwater on new-build properties can flow into the sewage system; the rest must either evaporate or seep into the ground.
The Scottish Arctic Club supports independently organised and self-led adventurous, scientific, educational or artistic expeditions to the Arctic by Scots (by birth or residence) who are under 30 years of age. The next deadline for applications is 31st January 2025. See www.arcticclub.scot for more information and details of how to apply.
Researchers led by Professor Karl Williams, Director of the Centre for Waste Management at the University of Central Lancashire, have developed a permeable concrete mix that incorporates whelk and scallop shells to help trap water and combat localised flooding. When crushed, the shells produce an ideal shape that enhances the porosity of pervious concrete, allowing water to drain through the layer instead of amassing on the surface. The concrete was successfully trialled at the People’s Pantry, a community garden in Blackpool, where it improved accessibility and water management, while also reducing the amount of fish processor waste being sent to landfill. See leftcoast. org.uk/blackpool-uks-first-test-site-seashell-concrete for more information.
In October, an ambitious project on the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate in Somerset was heralded a success. It was the first largescale attempt to reset a UK river to fully reconnect its waters with the surrounding floodplain, by filling in a 1.2km managed, straightened and deepened section of the River Aller to create seven hectares of waterscapes and wetlands. These extremely important natural habitats slow the flow of water, store carbon and provide homes for wildlife.
Put to the test in the midst of England’s wettest 18-month period on record, the landscape improved for wildlife and helped slow the flow of water after several heavy rainfall events, helping to protect local communities downstream. National Trust Project Manager Ben Eardley said, “Trying any new technique is of course challenging but we need to be bold in order to tackle the climate and nature crises.”
At our next AGM, in 2025, we will be seeking to appoint up to four Elected Trustees (members of Board). We are particularly keen to appoint people (of any age) who have experience in public affairs, business development, fundraising or financial management, to help us to expand our charity’s reach and impact over the next few years. If you have the required skills and would be able to volunteer for us for just a few hours a month, please contact Mike on mike.robinson@rsgs.org for more information and to arrange an informal chat. The deadline for formal nominations is the end of January 2025.
A huge Mayan city has been discovered in the south-eastern Mexican state of Campeche, centuries after it disappeared under jungle canopy. Archaeologists using Lidar, a type of laser survey that can map structures buried under vegetation, found pyramids, sports fields, causeways connecting districts, and amphitheatres, in a survey area the size of Edinburgh. They believe that the hidden complex, which they have named Valeriana, may have been home to 30–50,000 people at its peak from 750 to 850 AD, and second in density only to Calakmul, thought to be the largest Mayan site in ancient Latin America.
A Californian company has developed a robot that can conduct precise controlled burns to help prevent future wildfires.
The BurnBot rolls over grass or brush, sets it on fire, keeps the fire contained within the large tank-like body of the robot (greatly reducing the risk of a controlled burn getting out of control), then snuffs out the fire as it passes with a roller on the back, leaving just a trail of ash to serve as a future firebreak. The intense heat within the robot-contained fire even destroys particulate matter, substantially reducing harmful smoke clouds.
In August, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), launched Flood and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI), a £40m project to develop an evidence base and explore solutions for extreme flooding and droughts, focusing on improved forecasting and new technologies. FDRI will enhance monitoring capabilities using near-real-time data from a network of ‘outdoor labs’ on UK rivers.
In addition, a £1.2m three-year project led by the universities of Edinburgh and Bristol, in partnership with UKCEH and with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and NERC, has been launched to deliver more targeted protection against climate change impacts while reducing the time and cost of running computer models that project flooding through to the year 2100.
Currently, flood models rely on historical data and simplified allowances for climate change, which can lead to adaptation measures being under- or over-designed. These models also require significant computing power and time, limiting the number of simulations that can be run. The new research will tackle these issues by developing algorithms that enable faster, more efficient model runs, incorporating multiple parameters and uncertainties.
In November, the world’s first wooden satellite was launched into space as part of a study on reducing the creation of space junk. Scientists at Kyoto University expect the wood to burn up when the device re-enters the atmosphere, potentially providing a way to avoid generating metal particles, which may negatively affect the environment and telecommunications, when a retired satellite returns to Earth. A SpaceX mission carried the small satellite, LignoSat, to the International Space Station, from where it was released into orbit, with its electronic components measuring how wood fares in the extreme environment of space.
Scientists at Edinburgh University are using bacteria to extract rare metals such as lithium, cobalt, manganese and other minerals from old batteries and discarded electronic equipment. These scarce and expensive metals are vital for making electric cars and other devices which depend upon green technology. A team led by Professor Louise Horsfall, Chair of Sustainable Biotechnology, has taken electronic waste, dissolved it, and used strains of naturally occurring bacteria to latch on to specific metals and deposit these as solid chemicals.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which acts as a safety depository for seeds primarily of domesticated plants and their wild relatives that are important to food and agriculture, received a deposit in October of more than 30,000 new seed samples from 23 depositors across 21 countries, including seven international gene banks. This underscores the urgent global effort to conserve crop diversity in the face of escalating climate change, conflict and other crises. The deposit included first-time contributions from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Chad, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Suriname.
While the Seed Vault may have a role in the event of a global catastrophe, its value is considered to lie more in providing back-up to individual collections in the event that the original samples, and their duplicates in conventional gene banks, are lost due to natural disasters, human conflict, changing policies, mismanagement, or any other circumstances.
The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2024, released in October, shows that progress in adaptation financing is not fast enough to close the enormous gap between needs and flows, which contributes to a continued lag in adaptation planning and implementation efforts.
International public adaptation finance flows to developing countries increased from US$22bn in 2021 to US$28bn in 2022, the largest year-on-year increase since the Paris Agreement. This reflects progress towards the Glasgow Climate Pact, which urged developed nations to at least double adaptation finance to developing countries from US$19bn (2019 levels) by 2025. However, even achieving the Glasgow Climate Pact goal would only reduce the adaptation finance gap, estimated at US$187–359bn per year, by c5%.
In addition to finance, there is a need to strengthen capacity building and technology transfer to improve the effectiveness of adaptation actions. The report, an annual assessment on progress in adaptation planning, implementation and finance, provides recommendations to improve efforts, which are often uncoordinated, expensive and short term.
Traditional chocolate production uses only the beans of the cocoa fruit, leaving the rest (the size of a pumpkin and full of nutritious value) to rot in the fields. Now, food scientists at Zurich’s prestigious Federal Institute of Technology have come up with a way to make chocolate using the entire cocoa fruit, including the pulp, juice and husk, and without using sugar.
The key to the new chocolate lies in the cocoa fruit’s very sweet juice, which is 14% sugar. This is distilled down to form a highly concentrated syrup, combined with the pulp and then mixed with the dried husk to form a very sweet cocoa gel which eliminates the need for refined sugar.
From 2025, all chocolate imported to the European Union must guarantee that no deforestation took place to grow the cocoa used in it.
Over one third of the world’s trees (38%) now face an extinction risk according to the latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. More than a thousand experts worldwide contributed to the comprehensive assessment which covers 80% of known tree species. The biggest threats include agriculture, logging and urbanisation. Island biodiversity, in places like Madagascar and Cuba, is most vulnerable as species there often don’t exist elsewhere and numbers are already small.
The Red List also recategorised the European hedgehog from Least Concern to Near Threatened. According to scientists, agricultural intensification, roads and urban development are driving the decline.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, and Clare Hamilton, Deputy Chief Executive, RSGS
There is ever-increasing scientific research to show that climate change is already wreaking havoc with society, not just at the spectacular and devastating scale that we saw in Valencia, but often at a more subtle level. However, with all predictions for climate change to continue to worsen as we keep putting more fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere, we must accelerate our efforts and make some different decisions.
The first and most obvious is that we must cut fossil fuel emissions. If we don’t, the scale and rate of further disruption will keep growing and could accelerate beyond our ability to react. The need for society to adapt to meet the challenges of a changing climate are not optional: even if all emissions were to stop today, the climate has already changed so we must react to the level of warming that is ‘baked in’.
However, it is equally true that we need to start adapting, because we are going to see more and more extreme events that cause damage and loss of life, and it would be utterly irresponsible not to respond. As the awful flash floods in Valencia demonstrated, after a year’s worth of rain fell in two hours, the damage can be horrific. Not just for the terrible short-term personal and financial impacts of floods, drought, wildfires, storm damage, etc, but also because, alongside the dreadful loss of life, the physical damage from these sudden events can take years or even decades to recover from.
In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who investigate global warming’s role in extreme weather, found that the rainfall which struck Spain was 12% heavier due to climate change and that the weather event experienced was twice as likely.
I have a genuine fear that we have become so embedded in a desire or need for austerity that we are not going to find the money to adapt, let alone mitigate, climate change for at least another decade, by which stage we will start to see more consequences like the floods in Valencia or the forest fires in Greece, or many of the other obvious signs that are becoming ever more frequent and ever more evident.
Adaptation is common sense. It is about making changes to our lives, infrastructure and society that protect people from the worst of these consequences. Protecting the natural environment; supporting businesses in adapting to climate change; adapting infrastructure such as electricity networks and railways; protecting buildings and their surroundings, for example from hotter temperatures; protecting public health and communities; mitigating international impacts on the UK, including on food supplies and imports.
It includes building flood defences, natural or otherwise; adapting crops to drier conditions; making infrastructure more robust by repairing and reinforcing key buildings and transport links, like the road at the Rest and Be Thankful; finding ways to cool urban spaces, such as painting roofs white; minimising disease and heat impacts on health by installing cooling systems or managing the spread of disease; or reducing the incidence of wildfires by minimising risk and creating fire breaks.
Alongside obvious projects like flood defence schemes, there is a lot going on in the background to help us adapt. But there are still many challenges. Disease vectors are changing with heat, and physical storm damage to property
“Extreme is becoming the norm.”
is making it harder to insure buildings and activities. There are a multitude of challenges, and we are not yet sufficiently tackling them.
Adaptation has always been seen as a last resort, a response to a failure to reduce our emissions, something that should not be spoken about lest it discourage mitigation measures. It is time for that to change.
While there are some different decisions that might be made in responding to a 100-year event versus a 20-year event, there is still a tendency not to plan for events that seem unlikely or extreme. But extreme is becoming the norm. We need to adapt to the climate that exists today, as well as what is needed to respond to future warming. The longer it takes for us to respond, the greater that response will need to be.
In Scotland, we are starting to see an increasing focus on adaptation, on protecting people and communities from the worst impacts, but this is still at a relatively early stage and it is a complicated thing to do well without simply pushing the problem elsewhere.
Adaptation is a very real need and has the potential to touch all of our lives. It is an essential component of any response to climate change, otherwise we risk losing a great deal to accelerating temperatures. However, we still ultimately need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. As Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, reminds us, “adaptation alone cannot keep up with the impacts of climate change, which are already worse than predicted.”
Adaptation is not just a necessity but an opportunity, and if we collectively get this right, we can at the same time improve the lives of people and communities around the globe.
Mikaela Rambali, Policy Analyst, OECD Environment Directorate
The decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement has been the warmest ten-year period on record, with all climate indicators lighting red. The frequency and severity of extreme climate and weather events, such as floods, wildfires, storms and heatwaves, is increasing. For example, the duration of the fire weather season has increased by 27% globally since 1979. Climate change-induced sea-level rise threatens millions of coastal dwellers and poses a significant threat to communities, ecosystems and the global economy. Storms and floods are driving growing economic damages worldwide, while drought is becoming an increasingly pressing concern in places where it was previously uncommon.
In response to these accelerating impacts, a growing number of countries, including all Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, are adopting National Adaptation Strategy and Plans. These strategies, which are anchored in climate risk assessments, provide a critical framework for directing policy actions across sectors and levels of government. In line with this global movement, the OECD supports governments with data-driven insights and analysis to help them take action today to reduce vulnerability and exposure to tomorrow’s climate impacts.
Recent analysis has shown, however, that adaptation policy implementation often lags behind what is needed. OECD countries’ adaptation progress reports, which are frequently prepared to assess progress, consistently point to a widening gap between national climate resilience objectives and actual policy results. Countries also struggle to demonstrate progress because adaptation is a complex policy topic, spanning across sectors and actors, with constantly evolving and uncertain targets. But despite these difficulties, it is essential that countries continue to assess whether their adaptation policy action is effective at strengthening climate resilience and avoiding maladaptation. The United Kingdom and devolved administrations are pursuing these efforts, though the extent to which they evaluate adaptation progress varies.
To bridge this implementation gap, it is essential to foster a conducive policy environment for adaptation across
different levels of governments and sectors. This is true for facilitating local adaptation: while local governments are on the frontlines of climate change, the capacity and success of local authorities’ actions depend heavily on national fiscal, regulatory and policy contexts. Local authorities play a crucial role for adaptation through land-use planning and ecosystem management, for instance in mitigating the long-term impacts of extreme wildfires, which are becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
“Adaptation policy implementation often lags behind what is needed.”
A conducive environment is also essential for facilitating the mobilisation of finance for adaptation. Countries need to increase attention, not just to align finance flows with climateresilient development, but also to mobilise additional public and private resources for adaptation. This is particularly true for infrastructure, a critical sector at the heart of climate adaptation efforts. It suffers losses from climate impacts, now exceeding US$1 trillion, yet it offers a key opportunity for strengthening community resilience, provided the large financing gap is addressed.
Nature-based solutions (NbS), such as wetlands restoration or urban greening, present a critical avenue for protecting infrastructure assets and services, while delivering ecological benefits. However, there are significant challenges in scaling up NbS due to barriers in policy and finance. Countries have begun to incentivise the use of NbS through changes in planning guidelines, funding mechanisms and reinforcing technical capacities, but a lot more needs to be done. The OECD developed a policy evaluation framework, tested in the United Kingdom, to help countries scrutinise policy design and implementation, governance, regulatory mechanisms, and technical and financial arrangements as a way to overcome policy barriers to NbS adoption.
Last but not least, for adaptation to be long-lasting, it needs to go hand-in-hand with progress towards meeting climate mitigation and other environmental goals related to biodiversity and water. Countries are not on track to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions, and will have to submit new ones in 2025 to enhance their ambition, which is needed to avoid irreversible climate impacts. Increased ambition, translated in near-term emissions reductions, is essential to reduce the likelihood of breaching the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement and limit long-term climate risks.
OECD (2021) Scaling up Nature-based Solutions to Tackle Water-related Climate Risks (oecd.org/en/publications/scalingup-nature-based-solutions-to-tackle-water-related-climaterisks_736638c8-en)
OECD (2021) Strengthening Adaptation-mitigation Linkages for a Low-carbon, Climate-resilient Future (oecd-ilibrary.org/ environment/strengthening-adaptation-mitigation-linkages-for-alow-carbon-climate-resilient-future_6d79ff6a-en)
Anju Sharma, Lead, Locally Led Adaptation, Global Center on Adaptation
As the climate crisis intensifies, locally led adaptation has become a cornerstone of effective climate action. Communities directly affected by environmental changes often have the most intimate understanding of their vulnerabilities, making them best suited to design and implement practical solutions. Empowering these communities ensures that adaptation efforts are both sustainable and inclusive. Unlike top-down approaches, which can overlook local nuances, grassroots efforts are tailored to specific environmental, cultural and economic contexts, creating more effective responses to climate risks.
For example, Scotland’s Isle of Eigg has reduced its carbon footprint by 47% since 2008, primarily through communitydriven renewable energy projects. The islanders harness a combination of solar, wind and hydro power, moving towards complete energy independence. Eigg’s success demonstrates how small, locally led efforts can contribute significantly to climate resilience, offering a powerful model for communities worldwide.
The importance of such initiatives has not gone unnoticed. The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), through its Local Adaptation Champions Awards, recognises and supports these kinds of grassroots projects around the world. The 2024 awards attracted 870 applications from 107 countries, underscoring the growing global momentum for locally led adaptation. Projects ranged across four categories (water security, food security, local entrepreneurship, urban adaptation solutions) demonstrating the diverse ways in which local communities are addressing their specific climate challenges.
integrating agroforestry techniques that blend agriculture and forestry to create more resilient ecosystems. These initiatives highlight how local knowledge can lead to innovative solutions that protect both livelihoods and food production in the face of climate change.
Local entrepreneurship has also proven to be a powerful driver of climate adaptation. In Indonesia, Aliet Green empowers women farmers by promoting sustainable agricultural practices that are both climate-resilient and economically viable. In Sri Lanka, the SLYCAN Trust has developed sustainable business models that prioritise climate resilience, providing entrepreneurs with the resources they need to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Economic development and climate resilience can go hand in hand, particularly when local communities are at the helm.
“Local knowledge can lead to innovative solutions.”
Urban adaptation is another critical area, particularly as cities face growing challenges from rising temperatures, floods and other climate-related risks. The Landprocess and Porous City Network in Thailand is redesigning urban infrastructure to better absorb excess water, reducing the risk of flooding. By incorporating green spaces and permeable surfaces, the initiative transforms urban areas into more resilient environments. In Uganda, the Upcycle Africa project is turning waste materials into construction resources, building affordable and climate-resilient homes for low-income families. These urban initiatives demonstrate the potential for locally led efforts to transform cities into adaptive, sustainable spaces.
Water security, in particular, has been a pressing issue for many regions facing increased droughts and floods. The Meghalaya Basin Development Authority in India is an excellent example of how communities can come together to manage water resources sustainably. By empowering local residents to lead water conservation efforts, the initiative fosters long-term resilience in a region heavily dependent on agriculture. Another notable example comes from the Green Hope Foundation in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, which advocates for environmental justice and water security in vulnerable regions. These projects are not only addressing immediate water shortages but also building the capacity of communities to manage their resources more effectively in the future.
Food security is another critical area where locally led adaptation is making a significant impact. In East Africa, the Nabahya Food Institute is creating sustainable agricultural systems that are better able to withstand climate shocks. By promoting climate-resilient farming techniques, the initiative supports smallholder farmers in producing food despite increasingly erratic weather patterns. Similarly, the Natural Aceh project in Indonesia strengthens food security by
In all of these examples, the key to success lies in community involvement and empowerment. Locally led adaptation ensures that solutions are grounded in the lived realities of those most affected by climate change. This is especially important in vulnerable regions where top-down approaches often fail to address the complexities of local conditions. By focusing on local knowledge, these initiatives are more effective and more sustainable, as communities take ownership of the adaptation process.
The Local Adaptation Champions Awards showcase the importance of supporting these efforts. By recognising and amplifying the voices of local communities, GCA is helping to scale these initiatives and inspire others to take action. Winners receive financial support and global exposure, enabling them to expand their projects and share their lessons with a broader audience. Each award category highlights how locally led adaptation is addressing the immediate impacts of climate change and building long-term resilience.
In the face of an uncertain climate future, one thing is clear: adaptation must be local. From the renewable energy projects on the Isle of Eigg to the agroforestry initiatives in Indonesia, communities around the world are already leading the way. By supporting and learning from these local champions, we can build a more resilient and equitable world for everyone.
Andrew Sudmant, Data Programme Manager, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute
“To view [climate change] in isolation from the rest of the world predicament would be to repeat the mistakes of many narrowly specialised observers who have examined the prospects for the future only through the tunnel of their expertise.” (Stephen Schneider, 1976)
Writing in 1976, a decade that saw the foundations of climate science developed, Stephen Schneider was one of the first to realise that climate action could not be achieved in isolation. While acid rain could be addressed by adding ‘scrubbers’ to industrial facilities, and the ozone layer (which was to become an issue in the 1990s) could be healed with the invention of new refrigerants, climate change required changes to our energy system, our economy and our society that were too fundamental to be undertaken in isolation.
That addressing climate change has far-reaching implications for our society is well recognised. At the same time, 48 years after Schneider’s quote, 36 years after the setting up of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 16 years after climate action was embedded in UK law, and two years after Scotland reduced its 1990 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by half, the design of climate actions remains narrowly focused on GHG emissions. Impacts on biodiversity, the risk of flooding, heatwaves and fires, public health, urban mobility, and economic productivity, among many other impacts, remain sidelined as so-called ‘co-benefits’.
about the way we bring our heritage into the 21st century. Understanding where, when and to what extent there are conflicts between climate action and a range of social, economic and environmental challenges is essential to avoid unintended consequences. Trade-offs are inevitable; a poorly planned transition is not.
Finally, we need to prioritise the co-benefits of climate action in order to ensure we are not forgoing massive social and public benefits. Our research shows that the social benefits from climate action in the UK, in the form of warmer homes, a healthier population, and improved mobility, are eight times larger than the costs of action.
“Homes are retrofitted to make them more comfortable.”
Foregrounding the wider impacts of a shift to net zero has particular importance at the stage of the transition we are about to embark on. Climate action to date, in the UK and globally, has been led by actions to reduce emissions from the energy grid. New electricity has come from natural gas instead of coal, and increasingly from wind and solar instead of natural gas. These changes have happened rapidly. But if you weren’t reading the news or working on climate change it’s entirely possible you could have missed that it happened at all. Electrons from a wind turbine heat your kettle just the same as those from a coal generator. The climate action we are about to embark on, by contrast, will be much more visible, tangible and, unfortunately, political. Homes and offices and shops will need to be zero carbon. Transport networks, food systems, and our water and waste services will be affected.
The case, and in my opinion the necessity, for foregrounding co-benefits lies in the fact that co-benefits are the essential reason actions are already taking place. People cycle for the enjoyment and health benefits of cycling. Homes are retrofitted to make them more comfortable. Public transport networks are built to reduce congestion and make cities more accessible. Parks and wilderness are protected to bring peace and calm and happiness from the knowledge we are supporting nature and biodiversity. To make the case for bike lanes, building retrofits, public transport, parks and wilderness with a focus first on GHG emissions is to put the reasons we do things already as secondary.
There are two wider reasons to emphasise the co-benefits of climate action. First is to recognise and engage with the co-costs of climate action. Closely planted coniferous forests sequester far more carbon than native mixed or deciduous forests but are also far less biodiverse. Retrofitting listed homes and buildings brings forward tricky questions
At the Co-Bens project at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, we are working to further our understanding of the science of co-benefits by working with the UK Climate Change Committee and researchers at the Department of Geosciences at Edinburgh University. With private sector actors including PwC and Abundance Investment we are working to understand how the co-benefits of climate action can help to scale climate investment. With Scottish Climate Intelligence Service and the Scottish Sustainability Network we are working to understand how public sector and local government climate action plans can be developed in ways that realise the co-benefits of climate action. In January 2025 we will be launching the UK Co-Benefits Atlas, a set of visualisations and data sources co-created with stakeholders that support the use of co-benefits in climate science, policy and practice.
Scotland’s ambitious climate targets are already yielding benefits. The expansion of wind farms in the Highlands contributes to clean energy and boosts local economies. Green infrastructure projects in Glasgow and Edinburgh are simultaneously addressing flood risks and creating vibrant community spaces. By placing co-benefits at the forefront of our climate strategies, we can build a movement that resonates with people’s needs and aspirations, making the transition to a zero-carbon future not just necessary, but desirable.
FURTHER READING
SH Schneider, LE Mesirow (1976) climate and global survival
A Sudmant, D Boyle, R Higgins policy as social policy? A comprehensive assessment of the economic impact of climate action in the UK (Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences doi.org/10.1007/s13412-024-00955-9
Ine Vandecasteele, urban adaptation expert, and Kati Mattern, climate change adaptation expert, European Environment Agency
Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world, and climate risks are threatening its energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability and people’s health like never before. How are our societies coping and how can they better prepare to tackle these threats? Climate action has become a crucial area of work, in particular recognising that adaptation is needed together with mitigation.
“Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world.”
While European countries have made considerable progress in putting in place policies to adapt to climate change, the pace and scale of adaptation actions need to increase and widen to cover more areas like the health, agriculture and forestry sectors, according to our research at the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Cities, where most Europeans live, are at the frontline of climate change impacts. They are subject to the urban heat island effect, and an increasing number of people are living in flood-prone areas. The triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are interlinked and reinforcing, and the impacts are even further exacerbated in densely built and densely populated urban areas.
With an increasing number of people living in urban areas, cities have the responsibility and urgency to act, but they also have the potential to be true drivers of change, according to our recent report, Urban adaptation in Europe. Cities can tailor adaptation projects to specific local climate impacts, and consider local needs, sensitivity and culture. Community engagement is also recognised as one of the main enablers of successful adaptation, and this is the level of governance at which this is best done. Cities may also be more ambitious than the national level in their climate targets, and 51% of Europe’s larger cities now have dedicated local climate action plans also with clear objectives on adaptation. Our urban centres have highly diverse contexts, capacities and experiences, and are at very different stages of adaptation readiness, but most are already taking some form of
examples of how those options were put in place. The case studies boost learning across Europe for city planners, policy advisors and practitioners at all other governance levels in Europe (from local to EU). The platform currently includes 134 case studies covering European regions, climate changes impacts, policy sectors and a diverse range of adaptation measures. A recent EEA briefing, Preparing society for climate risks in Europe, highlights new aspects as well as addressing future work looking at how we can close case study gaps for the risks identified under the European Climate Risk Assessment, for transboundary climate risks and key vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and forestry.
Adaptation policies and measures aim to increase resilience. In urban areas, measures may include actions to increase infiltration of excess rainwater, to provide cooling, to avoid construction in high-risk areas, or to inform the population and provide insurance measures and social support networks. Good examples of adaptation projects usually come from cities with sustained political support and funding for adaptation and strong community involvement.
In Poznan, Poland, a natural playground project transforms playgrounds to multi-functional green spaces open to the public and focusing on eco-education and awareness raising on the importance of nature. Similar to the OASIS project in Paris, this allows additional green space to be open to the public so they are able to shelter during heatwaves. Another example is in the city of Ghent, in Belgium, which is already limiting new construction of buildings with a ‘net zero’ requirement, so that if a new construction is to be approved, an equal area of the city needs to be unpaved or converted back to green space.
The EEA will continue to monitor, assess and highlight important efforts on adaptation, including the need to further support small municipalities, which may have fewer financial and technical resources to be able to implement adaptation actions.
The European Union and the EEA are supporting this work through the European climate adaptation
climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu), which includes a searchable catalogue of adaptation options. It offers state-ofthe-art solutions to tackle climate change impacts in Europe. Each adaptation option provides weblinks to case studies. They showcase practical
Adaptation can help to reduce local vulnerabilities, but the current rate of uptake of actions will not be enough. While the importance of adaptation is increasingly recognised, it still needs to be embraced across all sectors and all government levels to prepare our societies to face current and future climate-related impacts. The involvement of citizen groups and the private sector in enabling more widespread investment in adaptation and maintenance of adaptation projects could prove pivotal.
European Environment Agency (2024) Urban adaptation in Europe: what works? (www.eea.europa.eu/publications/urbanadaptation-in-europe-what-works)
European Environment Agency (2024) European Climate Risk Assessment (www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europeanclimate-risk-assessment) Image from iStock
European Environment Agency (2024) Preparing society for climate risks in Europe: lessons and inspiration from Climate-ADAPT case studies (www.eea.europa.eu/publications/ preparing-society-for-climate-risks-in-europe)
Dr Arthur Webb, Chief Technical Advisor, Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, United Nations Development Programme
Tuvalu is widely understood to be among the communities on Earth most immediately challenged by the impacts of climate change, particularly sea level rise. All atoll communities are challenged in this way, but Tuvalu’s small and extremely low-lying island forms, combined with cyclone exposure, make this among the highest priority locations for immediate adaptation response. Sea level rise is among the most clearly understood and well-measured impacts of climate change, and the inherent geomorphology of Tuvalu’s atolls mean that foreseeable and now unavoidable rising sea levels will overwhelm and render their atoll islands untenable within foreseeable timeframes.
The international community has understood the potential exposure of Tuvalu to sea level rise for decades, but strangely has been content to guess its elevation or use imprecise language such as ‘low-lying islands’ for near 30 years. It was only in 2019–20 that a complete national survey was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of the Green Climate Fund resourced project, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (tcap.tv/about-tcap). This clearly defined the relationship between sea level and land elevation across Tuvalu, and we now have an empirical understanding of ‘freeboard’ across this nation. On average across its nine atolls it is a meagre 0.5m above the reach of the highest tides! Such basic science is very often missing in these most exposed locations in the developing world, but the difference the production of such data can make is extraordinary. In Tuvalu’s case, despite years of understanding that this country is very exposed to sea level rise threats, it was only once the reality of the timelines and extent of expected flooding was accurately modelled using contemporary accurate data that bold decisive plans for adaptation were developed.
Tuvalu’s islands will become untenably inundated within foreseeable timeframes, and it follows that Tuvalu is faced with stark choices. Either the nation commits to a scale of engineering as yet unseen in the region and builds adequate new raised land and sea defences to keep the population safe, or they must seek refuge beyond their national borders. The implications of full-scale relocation to Tuvalu’s sense of identity, language and culture are unimaginable, and the Government of Tuvalu, with assistance from UNDP, is drafting bold adaptation plans to secure a foothold in their ocean territory.
Tuvalu’s Long-Term Adaptation Plan (L-TAP, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Gp14MhdaSTs) is capable of securing the national population safely. L-TAP offers the first science informed, technically feasible and pragmatic longterm adaptation plan for Tuvalu. It is built on the experience of Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, and its scale and
ambition are commensurate with what science explains of the future under ever-increasing rates of sea level rise. L-TAP’s formulation was directly related to the recent collection of accurate topographic data and information and the subsequent accurate modelling this allowed.
Without the detailed bathymetry/topography maps developed in 2020 our understanding of sea level rise impacts in Tuvalu would still be grounded in the hazy world of anecdote. Improved information has allowed the most extraordinary progress over the last few years via the UNDP and Government of Tuvalu implemented Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, which has piloted the construction of 7.3 hectares of new raised, safe land adjacent to the capital, Fogafale. Now complete, this land is the largest area of safe flood-free land on the capital, and built to be able to withstand storm wave conditions.
There are many hundreds of atolls spread across the wider Pacific Islands region, and thousands of communities. Most, like Tuvalu just five years ago, have no appropriately accurate land elevation data that can be used to understand the timelines related to intolerable sea level rise inundation impacts, and it follows that few have developed clear plans and strategies the way Tuvalu now has.
“On average across its nine atolls it is a meagre 0.5m above the reach of the highest tides!”
Maps, and more precisely three-dimensional maps used in computer GIS platforms, really can change this situation. Knowledge is power, and whilst it is indeed frightening to see so clearly the realities of sea level rise, the only way to tackle this problem is to clearly understand it. We can’t manage what we don’t measure.
Fongafale today. Above: the shore is outlined in red. Below: the areas shaded green with yellow outline are the land areas that will remain above the reach of normal high tide water levels with an additional 40cm of sea level rise. This amount of sea level rise is now assured; it will occur this century no matter the attention to global emissions reduction. This degree of monthly marine water flooding does not include the potential influence of storm wave impacts and is projected to occur by 2050–60.
Over time the original island (purple) will become untenable because of the increasing extent and frequency of tidal flooding. The plan is for the surface of L-TAP, the reclaimed land that extends north, to be sufficiently developed beforehand so that people, services, amenities, businesses, etc can gradually move to the new raised safe land.
Funafuti Atoll, Fongafale Island lagoon shore, June 2024. The near-complete 7.3 hectares of raised safe land adjoining the national capital is now the safest land on the island, and proof of concept. The work has been heralded as a technical success and is seen as a culturally and environmentally acceptable way to adapt to the inevitable pressure of sea level rise in this most exposed of locations. Its success has seen the Governments of Australia and New Zealand pledge additional funding to work with UNDP and the Government of Tuvalu to build a second area of similar size and elevation.
Gillian Martin MSP, Acting Cabinet Secretary, Net Zero and Energy, Scottish Government
The world’s climate is rapidly changing, and Scotland is not immune from its impacts. Flooding, heatwaves and water scarcity are already becoming more regular features of our weather cycle. And, despite Scotland now being halfway to net zero, we know these extremes will increase as global temperatures continue to rise.
Extreme weather, be it heat, floods or droughts, damages our environment, disrupts public transport and affects our supply of food, goods and services. This has led to people considering the impacts of climate change more than ever before, and a greater demand for guidance on what they can do to prepare for a climate resilient future.
Our third Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3) was launched in September by First Minister John Swinney. Covering the next five years, it sets out a comprehensive suite of more than 200 actions and proposals for Scotland to respond to these impacts in a way which is fair, specific and relevant to individual areas and groups. It also aligns with the Scottish Government’s commitments to a just transition to net zero by 2045.
SNAP3 responds to an independent assessment of the risks facing Scotland, led by the Climate Change Committee, our independent statutory advisors, and incorporates feedback received through our consultation on the draft plan. It sets out how sectors including agriculture, transport and health, as well as businesses and communities, will prepare for more extreme weather events, and it outlines actions that the Scottish Government will take to help futureproof our country against the impacts of climate change. This includes investment of £400 million in rail infrastructure to reduce weather-related disruption, and £5.5 million to complete a national network of Community Climate Action Hubs to drive locally-led climate action.
Scotland (www.adaptation.scot), the Scottish Government will work with local stakeholders to identify local needs and priorities, helping to avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach. This regional approach builds on two successful projects: along the Clyde, and in the Highlands. The new regional partnerships will be particularly important where actions in one place affect another or where successful adaptation action needs many different partners.
“We need Scotland to be resilient, inclusive and well-adapted.”
We also know, because of existing inequalities, that some communities will need additional support as they will have less capacity to adapt. That’s why our Community Climate Adaptation Routemap provides communities with a practical guide on how they can adapt.
Other ongoing work complementing SNAP3 includes the creation of bespoke adaptation plans for all Scottish health boards, the delivery of our National Islands Plan, improving our flood warning and preparedness system, and working to reduce the risk of wildfires across Scotland.
Critical to our adaptation plan is the role of nature and biodiversity, both on land and in our marine environment. Strong natural environments will enhance the resilience of our unique ecosystems and, as such, support our communities to adapt to climate hazards such as flooding, sea-level rise, and more frequent and intense droughts, heatwaves and wildfires.
Businesses will be given advice and support on how they can future-proof their workplaces, with guidance on safety protocols to protect workers during extreme weather and how to review climate resilience in supply chains. Local governments and public services will also be given peer-topeer support so services funded by the Scottish Government can prepare for the impacts of climate change on local populations.
SNAP3’s focus is on inclusive and place-based adaptation, recognising that climate change will impact people and places in different ways. That’s why, along with Adaptation
The continued introduction of green and blue solutions to climate adaptation will bring co-benefits to people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, as demonstrated by recent work by Cumbernauld Living Landscape. They have been working with a number of partners, including the local council and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, to improve local green spaces for the community, and have supported over 200 people at risk of poor mental health to develop skills, using nature, to manage their mental health.
As our climate continues to change, we need Scotland to be resilient, inclusive and well-adapted, and the next five years will be crucial to setting us on the right path. Despite the very real impacts of climate change that we are already experiencing, we can build a more climate-resilient Scotland which will benefit our society now and for generations to come.
Emilie Wadsworth, Senior Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer (Adaptation Scotland)
Scotland’s Programme for Government 2022 set out the aim to consult on a new flooding strategy for Scotland, including how we can build community flood resilience and engage a broader range of partners to deliver more diverse flood management actions faster. Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy is due to be published at the end of 2024, with the purpose of changing our approach from fixing flooding problems to creating floodresilient places: to lay out the principles to improve flood resilience, and to set out strategic changes that are needed. To support the development of the Strategy, Sniffer was commissioned to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders during 2023, working collaboratively with the Scottish Flood Forum and ClimateXChange.
Our approach
“Changing our approach from fixing flooding problems to creating flood-resilient places.”
Place Vision
Land management and place-making decisions at all scales reflect good practice for flood resilience, achieving multiple benefits and working with nature, with long-term thinking and putting people and nature first.
Desired outcomes
• A joined-up approach across policy areas, sectors and society so that land management and policy decisions reinforce each other to support flood resilience rather than conflict, and local priorities are considered.
• A balanced and informed approach to hard engineering and nature-based approaches to flood management.
• Well-designed blue green infrastructure with multiple benefits for net zero, biodiversity, health and wellbeing.
• New developments in areas of high flood risk (current and future) are avoided and flood plains give space for water.
Stage 1 workshops explored the big picture building blocks for a Flood Resilience Strategy from the perspectives of practitioners and communities, and what a strategy could look like. Several key themes were identified that formed the basis of further workshops.
Stage 2 workshops brought together practitioners, policy and community representatives to explore what ‘good’ looks like in terms of a flood-resilient Scotland in 2045, and what is needed to get there, along with some indicators of success.
A policy workshop explored how joined-up policy can support flood resilience. An online survey asked respondents to highlight three key things that would make their place more flood resilient, and key actions or decisions that needed to happen to create flood-resilient places.
What we found
Our first set of workshops identified key issues as:
• land and place;
• inclusive community engagement;
• working together to make good decisions;
• roles and responsibilities;
• sharing our knowledge and stories.
They also looked at what a successful strategy could look like and how to measure success.
In stage 2, participants identified enabling conditions that they felt were required to achieve a flood-resilient Scotland by 2045. These were then clustered under key headings of People, Place and Process, with an additional priority of Relocation.
There is an inclusive approach to involving communities in becoming flood resilient, taking account of those who are most impacted by flooding and climate change.
Desired outcomes
• The needs of those who are climate vulnerable have been addressed and nobody is left behind.
• People who have experienced flood damage have a say in what counts as ‘damage’.
• Community engagement and involvement is a valued multidirectional process.
People, properties, infrastructure and nature are resilient to flooding due to a blend of measures.
Desired outcomes
• The flooding implications of future climate scenarios are understood.
• The public, developers and place-makers are taking a holistic approach to adaptation including for infrastructure and at a property level, with existing housing stock retrofitted and new housing fitted with PFR as standard.
• People are living with water with blue green spaces, climateresilient catchments and resilient coasts.
• People are aware of what is likely to happen when flooding does occur and know how to take action, including being supported to recover well after flooding events.
Relocation Vision
Relocation, when unavoidable, is integrated into proactive flood resilience management and supported in ways that are fair and transparent, with dedicated funding and resources to support people to move and communities re-establish themselves to build thriving neighbourhoods after relocation.
Desired outcomes
• Honest conversations are being held on where relocation may be necessary and the frameworks (legal, financial, planning etc) are in place to deal with this in a considered way before the issue becomes an emergency.
• We are addressing the reality that some homes may be uninsurable from a flood risk perspective.
Cross-cutting enablers
The engagement process identified a number of cross-cutting enabling conditions:
• capacity building;
• data sharing;
• collaborative mechanisms;
• communication;
• horizon scanning and innovation;
• behaviour change.
Outputs of the engagement
A copy of the full report on the stakeholder engagement can be found at www.sniffer.org.uk/flood-resilience-strategy-forscotland
R Jisung Park, environmental and labour economist
Bigger data married with increasingly refined tools of causal inference are two important ingredients that help illuminate previously obscured patterns. In particular, they show just how subtly pervasive the negative effects of hotter temperature can be in the real world, whether in the form of impeded learning, elevated workplace injury risk, higher rates of violent crime, lower firm-level output, or lower worker productivity.
Many of the effects documented are, in any given instance, imperceptibly small – a few percentage points here and there. But the bigness of the data and the intricacy of the causal inferential machinery allow us to identify even such small effects with increasing precision. Because these small cuts are spread across many millions – sometimes billions – of students, workers, and companies, the societal costs could add up quickly.
on so many levels, could it be possible for some part of this correlation to be causal, driven by the cumulative influence of a hotter climate on economic productivity, investment, and growth? Could at least part of Nigeria’s relative poorness be because it is just that much hotter than Norway, and has always been?
While the data discussed in this chapter provide new clues, they aren’t enough to settle this debate conclusively. There are still too many unanswered questions, too many real-world complications that cannot be brushed under the rug; one of these is the issue of adaptation, particularly over longer periods of time.
“Extreme temperature and precipitation events routinely reduce productivity in manufacturing plants.”
In particular, an important difference between recent work and previous work on climate damage is what one might call granularity in impacts. They are decidedly more micro than macro in the sense that there is an emphasis on trying to better understand the specific channels through which a given facet of climate change (eg, extreme heat, flooding) may affect individual level outcomes such as health, productivity, or schooling.
Many early estimates of climate damages, including the influential dynamic integrated climateeconomy (DICE) model, assumed for instance that manufacturing would be unaffected by climate change because it occurred indoors. New evidence suggests that this is far from the case, and that extreme temperature and precipitation events routinely reduce productivity in manufacturing plants, even in highly developed countries like Canada or the United States, though to lesser degrees than in poorer countries. In fact, one recent study suggests that extreme temperatures significantly impact earnings in over 40 percent of industries.
And yet, the rising tide of emerging findings is certainly intriguing. The new data suggests more strongly than ever before that, while institutional and other differences between rich and poor countries may be first-order determinants of economic growth, hotter temperatures may throw enough sand in the gears of human performance and productivity to drive at least some portion of the relationship described above.
These findings should influence how we think about climate change. Increasingly, they are being incorporated into policymaking. In 2020, the US government reconvened the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases. A major goal was to update the social cost of carbon – a policy parameter that plays an important role in determining which government regulations can move forward – so that it might incorporate the emerging insights from this kind of research. As we will discuss in chapter 11, this update alone may have important implications for how the United States, and many other countries that typically follow US leadership on the social cost of carbon, approach climate policy.
If these findings help us think about our future on a warming planet, could they also help us understand our past? Let’s use figure 6.4 to revisit the cross-country correlation from above. If hotter temperature can influence health and productivity
This article was extracted with permission from Slow Burn by R Jisung Park, published by Princeton University Press.
Ben Connor, Head of Climate Ready Place-making, and Emilie Wadsworth, Senior Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer (Adaptation Scotland)
While climate change is a global challenge, the impacts of a changing climate are inherently local. Every place is unique, and so are the impacts of climate change on that place. Placemaking is a creative, collaborative process that includes planning, design, regeneration and managing spaces where people live, work and play. These places can be as big as a whole city or as small as a single neighbourhood or park. The approach builds on a local community’s assets, inspiration and potential. The aim is to create places that promote health, happiness and well-being. Sniffer’s approach to placemaking is to make sure we consider future changes in the environment, in particular the impacts of a changing climate on place and people.
A place-based project can start with getting local people in a room with a map to talk about what matters to them in their local area. Or we can gather public agencies to look at all the different projects going on in a geographical area and how to create better results together.
The Adaptation Scotland programme, delivered by Sniffer, uses a place-based adaptation approach which is tailored to the unique geographical, cultural and economic needs of Scotland’s diverse communities, organisations and localities. Adaptation needs to be integrated into local priorities, supporting the delivery of a broad range of outcomes, going beyond those focused on climate risk.
Adaptation Scotland supports two key strands of place-based adaptation:
the regional and city scale where strategic priorities are being translated into resource efficient and effective collaborative action;
the locality scale where on-the-ground adaptation is implemented and local decision-making needs to bring together local people, businesses and organisations.
Across Scotland there are a growing number of regional and city-based climate adaptation partnerships and collaborations. These range from established initiatives such as Climate Ready Clyde in Glasgow City Region, which originated over a decade ago and has successfully published an internationally recognised regional adaptation strategy and action plan, to nascent collaborations in Shetland, Tayside, and Edinburgh and South East Scotland. Fourteen of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are involved in existing partnerships, with a further eight participating in emerging partnerships.
From our work with regional adaptation partnerships for over a decade, we have identified five principles for partnership development.
1. There is no single blueprint for effective regional climate adaptation partnerships and collaborations. Every place is unique, and so are the impacts of climate change on that place, and the actions required to adapt. However, there is a growing bank of learning, knowledge and experience to build on, in terms of understanding the characteristics and enablers of successful partnerships.
2. Regional collaborations and partnerships must be locally led and owned. Whilst leadership may come from local authorities and political decision-makers, the most effective regional partnerships will achieve buy-in from across different sectors and stakeholders, and represent the interests and needs of communities.
3. Place-based adaptation cannot be considered in a silo, but should be integral to wider placemaking strategies and place-based approaches. Adapting to the impacts of climate change will require widespread and sustained change across all sectors of society and the economy, and a whole-systems approach. Regional partnerships and collaborations will therefore require engagement from a wide range of stakeholders, and effective integration with wider governance structures.
“Adaptation needs to be integrated into local priorities.”
4. Regional collaborations and partnerships should foreground fairness, climate justice and just resilience. The impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed; it is often the most vulnerable in society that are most affected by, and least able to adapt to, climate impacts.
5. Initiating, developing and sustaining regional partnerships and collaborations requires long-term investment of time and resources. More established regional partnerships have taken sustained effort over several years to establish appropriate governance mechanisms, co-design business cases and strategies, and agree financial arrangements, and this work continues to evolve.
We have identified six key elements in approach and delivery of successful partnerships.
1. Governance: establishing a clear governance structure and making direct links to organisational decision-making processes and structures is key.
2. Roles and remit: there should be clear lines of accountability, clarity on individual and organisational roles, and ensurance that team members with a vested interest in the area’s long-term improvement are included in the project team.
3. Engagement: this should be done in ways that are meaningful to people’s everyday lives, bringing together groups with a vested interest in the area. Efforts should be made to understand the motivations and expectations of engagement, and to maintain engagement throughout the process.
4. Scope and frame: identify organisational or local needs and priorities, focus on specific challenges that can be addressed rather than broad issues, and work to communicate adaptation in a positive framing.
5. Approach: space to trial different approaches which are more creative or radical should be created. Work across sectors to embed adaptation across policies. Foster a sense of community and work with the identity of the area.
6. Legacy: a move beyond project-based work to a more sustainable approach built on lasting relationships between organisations is required.
Iryna Zamuruieva, Senior Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer (Adaptation Scotland)
A photograph of a flooded railway station in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, with its train tracks submerged under water, became one of the iconic images of Storm Gerrit that hit Scotland in December 2023. A train station in a village north of Glasgow may not be a sight that comes to mind thinking about climate change, but it is exactly these kinds of places, alongside our homes, streets and even bodies, we need to recentre in the regional and national decisions.
One approach we’ve tried at Sniffer for comprehending climate change at this very local level is through participatory mapping.
The method has a long history within action research, bringing community members together to capture important elements of a place that are often missing from existing official maps.
challenge begins: translating the knowledge gathered into appropriate decisions, funding allocations, changes by the institutions who hold the power, from local to regional to national levels.
“Participatory climate change mapping creates a striking visual of who is most vulnerable in an area.”
The logic behind such work is to make visible, collectively, what otherwise remains hidden or fragmented: anything from places where women might feel unsafe walking, to where more playgrounds are needed, to local water networks and their ownership.
But climate change presents a specific challenge here: locating what can appear an abstract phenomenon in day-to-day life, politics and the surrounding environment.
Over the years, we’ve been involved in dozens of projects that attempted to ground climate change in local lived experience and use this knowledge to influence policy and decisions. A recent example is supporting Outer Hebrides Climate Hub in creating Our Climate Story (outerhebrides.communitymaps. org.uk), a digital and interactive online map that captures how islanders have been affected by climate change. During several months the team has gathered more than 200 responses from all over the islands, from Barra all the way up to the tip of Ness, showing the scale and the depth of the climate impacts on virtually all parts of life.
National climate impacts data makes it clear that, no matter the extent of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, Scotland will experience more intense heavy rainfall, flooding and storms. But the Our Climate Story mapping goes deeper. The contributions on the map represent unique and intimate knowledge residents have with their places on the islands: exact spots where diver birds have been struggling to nest because of the drying lochs, the house that was badly hit in the most recent storm, the flood-induced road closure that meant an ambulance couldn’t get through. Hundreds of examples detail the precise locations where climate change is spilling into people’s backyards and eroding crofts into the sea. All of this is crucial place-specific information, held within the community and not visible in the national climate impacts assessments.
Participatory climate change mapping (adaptation.scot/takeaction/participatory-mapping-approach) can be a transformative exercise. It socialises the knowledge held by individuals or small groups into a collective knowledge and creates a striking visual of who is most vulnerable in an area, providing evidence for decisions on where resources should be allocated. But once the mapping itself ends, the true
Whilst Scotland has some examples of local authorities being directly involved in partnerships that involve participatory mapping to address climate impacts at regional scale (for example Climate Ready Clyde, Highland Adapts, Climate Ready South East Scotland), we are yet to see how the stories gathered have influenced the decisions. It is within local authorities’ legal duties to address the impacts of climate change, but the data they rely on is usually either national climate risk assessments, like those produced by UK’s Climate Change Committee, or commissioned research from specialised think tanks and institutes. It is time that local authorities across Scotland take seriously the wealth and the depth of place knowledge within local communities and build into their decisions, embracing the ‘nothing about us without us’ approach to regional climate policy.
Engaging closely with Our Climate Story responses, something else strikes me: most of people’s climate stories are about loss. Loss of machair and its inhabitants, loss of freshwater lochs, loss of access to healthcare, loss of soils, loss of traditional knowledges and skills, loss of life even. Many of their effects don’t lend themselves to a pin on the map: anxiety, financial hardship, illness, social isolation or the interconnected nature of modern food production. The national discourse on climate change sits in stark contrast to this, rich with ‘risks’ (implying future uncertainty) and ‘opportunities’ (meaning there are good things to come from the climate crisis and the sixth mass extinction we’re living through currently). The participatory mapping of climate impacts in the Outer Hebrides attunes us to something of a different magnitude: loss that is to be prevented, but also grieved appropriately, making systematic large-scale funding of adaptation on the islands and other climate vulnerable places into a matter of accountability and justice.
FURTHER READING
Musical messages: Creating a bespoke climate story for the Outer Hebrides (2024) (adaptation.scot/take-action/ musical-messages-creating-a-bespoke-climate-story-for-the-outerhebrides)
Mapping our place: North Uist (2024) (adaptation.scot/takeaction/mapping-our-place-north-uist)
Highland Weather and Climate Story Map contribution from Lochalsh [edited for clarity]
Name of place: B863 commonly called the High Road leading from Glencoe to Kinlochleven
Share a story of how you have experienced weather and/or climate at this place: Driving home from work on 12th June 2023 the weather was torrential rain plus thunder and lightning. About 10 mins into my journey a landslide happened just in front of me. It was like a very fast-moving river of mud and rock coming off the hills straight across the road. I immediately did a threepoint turn to go back the way I had just come, only to come up against another landslide. This time it was trees, mud and
Harper Loonsk, Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer (Adaptation Scotland)
Climate change risk assessments are becoming increasingly common for governments, businesses and communities. These assessments typically follow a standardised structure: evaluating the hazards and vulnerabilities posed by climaterelated phenomena, synthesising scientific data, and forecasting impacts on specific sectors or geographies. This systematic approach, while invaluable, can sometimes lack the local context, lived experiences and nuances of how people are actually impacted by climate change. As a result, these assessments can be perceived as abstract and, at times, inaccessible.
sense of ownership and transparency to the project. This element is tied to Highland Adapts’ wider goals of creating greater equality of access to climate risk and opportunity information.
“The story map enriched the spatial understanding of climate risks.”
The Highland Weather and Climate Story Map, open for contributions between March 2023 and September 2024, sought to address this gap. The project aimed to collect lived experiences of individuals in the Highland region of Scotland, incorporating them into the region’s first comprehensive Highland Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment. Participatory methods, such as story mapping, reflect a trend towards combining qualitative place-based data with broader quantitative climate assessments, offering a more holistic view of climate risk that takes local knowledge and experiences into account.
The story map was built on an online platform typically used for public consultations on local place planning, adapted by Highland Adapts for this specific purpose. Individuals could interact with a map interface, where they could drop a pin on a specific location and answer questions about their experience with weather or climate events in that area. And a longer survey was developed using the place standard tool with a climate lens, to guide participants through more detailed questions.
The Highland Weather and Climate Story Map collected 160 responses, covering the length and width of the region. The trend towards stories related to individual homes highlighted that it was most successful in collecting stories related to the most emotionally resonant aspects of the built environment. A smaller number of stories related to travel and connectivity infrastructure like rail networks, which are especially important given the Highland region’s large geography. Stories also related to the natural environment, an emblem and culturally important aspect of the Highland region.
One of the strengths of the story map approach is the universal and immediate availability of the stories on the map. As opposed to other forms of data gathering, this approach means that respondents can immediately see their perspective added to the data set, which provides a greater
rocks which was impassable. I was already on my mobile to the police to report the first landslide; they stayed on the phone to me the whole time I was waiting on assistance. I was assisted by the police, plus a local lad and lastly the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. In total I was stuck between the two landslides approximately 1 hour 30 mins.
Have you observed the weather, climate, or natural environment at this place changing over time? No, I only ever worried about this road in the winter during snow and icy spells.
Have you done anything to prepare for or address climate and weather changes at this place? No, I honestly had not given it a thought before this.
The story map initially aimed to gather over 1,000 stories, but resource and time constraints limited engagement, leading Highland Adapts to rely more heavily on online participation than originally planned. This approach experienced anticipated challenges, such as consultation fatigue, unequal access to online platforms, and the limited reach of digital engagement compared to in-person methods. These factors highlighted the importance of face-to-face outreach for capturing a broader range of perspectives, especially from communities with less online access or engagement.
As with all participatory engagement, these constraints risk skewing the data towards those whose perspectives are already shaped by the unequal distribution of climate impacts, a concern especially relevant to spatial mapping approaches. By under-representing marginalised or lowincome communities, whose perspectives are critical, the data risks reinforcing existing inequalities. Therefore, any analysis and future use of this data must acknowledge that the story map’s findings do not fully reflect the diverse voices across the Highland region.
Specific to the adaptation and resilience context, one of the key challenges in the story map project was clearly communicating what constituted a ‘weather or climate story’. In emphasising the relevance of these stories to all places, people and activities, the project’s communication approach initially lacked recognisable and resonant themes. During the project, later communication approaches focused on specific topical weather events or places, but doing so also meant that the findings may be artificially skewed towards these specific themes. Stories also often focused on the ‘when’ and ‘what’ of an event or trend but were more limited in the important details, like how an experience changed how someone interacted with or felt towards a specific place. This further emphasised the importance of in-person or interview-style collection of this kind of story, which more naturally involves follow-up questions and probes into these elements.
Continued engagement with the story map over a period of years or decades could position it as a valuable shared repository of spatial and temporal climate data. Several contributors reported that the weather felt the same as it always had, which could be explained by the concept of ‘shifting baseline syndrome’, where slow changes in climate were not easily perceived. By collecting stories over a longer period, this resource could help communities recognise how hyper-local climates are changing, which is crucial for building support for adaptation measures.
The Highland Weather and Climate Story Map illustrates the potential for integrating community voices into climate risk assessments, particularly by using participatory mapping to capture localised lived experiences. By grounding climate data in everyday realities, the story map enriched the spatial understanding of climate risks, offering a more nuanced and human-centred approach to climate data. Future efforts to incorporate participatory mapping into climate risk assessments should build on these insights and focus on highlighting the unequal distribution of climate risks.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS
The first half of 2024 saw a number of extreme flooding incidents near Perth, and whilst there was some media coverage of the impacts on people struggling to cope, there was little about why it happened or on how to try and avoid it happening again. There is of course only so much we might do about the rain, but we can do something about the nature of the land it falls upon, where and how it drains, how quickly it runs off, and how much damage it does in the process.
In the summer I watched torrents of muddy water flood down Scone’s main street, in the same week that a friend had asked me to help advise over a flood event in Cupar that nearly put his company out of business. Flooding is a complex issue, a result of a combination of factors working together, but in both cases there was a starkly similar ‘MO’.
“We have invested a great deal of effort in rebuilding our landscape to drain more quickly.”
An extremely heavy rain shower hit high ground and, almost instantly, large quantities of water gathered pace and swept downhill, flooding everything in their path.
However, this issue is not just about water. It is also about soil. In both cases the water ran brown, full of soil and sediment (and potatoes) and silting up drains in the process. In both cases there was significant damage to roads and properties. In Scone, roadworks had clearly exposed more soil and the drainage was clearly inadequate. But in both cases the crop in the fields was potatoes and the field had been ploughed downhill.
The intensity of the rain is obviously a factor, but why else is it flooding? This question matters, because without an answer we are helpless to do anything to prevent it happening again. So perhaps the question is, why does the water and mud flash off the land so quickly, and is there anything we can do to stop it or slow it down?
In essence, for the best part of 200 years we have invested a great deal of effort in rebuilding our landscape to drain more quickly and to speed up the rate water runs downhill. But more than ever we are seeing the consequences in our streets, homes and the frailty of our infrastructure. Even as far back as 1849, a local Perth historian (Peacock) wrote about seeing significant increases in water levels in the Tay as a result of increased agricultural drainage in the upper catchment of the river. Since that period, we have seen more actions which accelerate this process further. For example, we have seen projects to ‘straighten’ water
courses and rivers and increase ditches and culverts, so speeding up the flow of water significantly. In addition, we have removed some of the natural defences we have against flooding – trees, bushes, water features, flood meadows –and replaced them with concrete. Add to this the fact that we have increased the amount and depth of ploughing, which destabilises the soil, especially if we then plant root crops which are good for breaking up the ground but make soil more unstable when it rains on a slope. (Potatoes are understood to be about the worst crop to plant for flooding.) We continue to plough up and downhill, not side to side along the contours, so when it rains on a slope we have created channels for the water to run down even more quickly.
If there is soil in flood water, it has probably come from a farm or a building site, and there is a lot more we could do to prevent the water building momentum, to hold it back for longer, and to slow it down when it starts to run off. Topsoil is valuable: it contains most of the nutrients in the soil, so farmers don’t want to lose it.
We should be considering building banks, bunds, natural soakaways and buffer strips full of hedging and soil-binding plants. If done well, the land will then drain itself at a more natural pace and prevent some of the problems. Drains need to be kept clean, and councils could surely do more, but there is a danger this simply puts pressure further downstream, so it still makes sense to prioritise those actions, like field improvements, which will cut floods off at source.
There is something else that these flood-hit sites shared in common. They are both designated for housing developments. Very large numbers of houses are planned for Scone above the existing village, and for Cupar uphill of the existing town. This will probably increase the volume of water run-off, because houses, roads and hard standing are even less porous than heavily drained fields.
One in five households in the UK are reportedly at risk of flooding, so a holistic approach to adaptation is essential. Flooding is often a result of several factors, and therefore there are a range of measures that can be taken to avoid the worst impacts and to minimise damage downhill and downstream. It is vital for almost every existing community in the face of increasing climate change, and every new housing development, that we start to take them.
Laura Burnett, Climate Change Adaptation Lead, Zero Emissions Department, Scottish Water
Scottish Water has said that action and investment are needed to reduce the risk of flooding and drought and protect water supplies from the impact of climate change across the country. As we launched our Climate Change Adaptation Plan in February 2024, we explained that our assets were simply not designed to cope with the more extreme weather conditions we now face on a regular basis, and we outlined the efforts it will take to make services and infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather.
Over the past decade the company, which provides essential water and waste water services for five million customers throughout Scotland, has responded to the changing climate by assessing risks and building resilience into our operations and investment plans. But with growing impacts on assets and services from more extreme weather events locally and nationally, the new plan highlights the steps that must be taken to go further and faster in adapting the assets and services which serve people 24/7 to ensure they remain reliable, resilient and sustainable.
and woodland creation around our water catchments, which enable the landscape to protect our water quality. For example, we are working with Forestry and Land Scotland to create over 4,600 hectares of native woodland and restore peatland in the catchment for Loch Katrine, which supplies drinking water for about 1.3 million customers across much of Greater Glasgow and beyond. Our models suggest this will help secure water quality in the coming decades, as well as providing biodiversity gains and carbon sequestration.
In addition, increased rainfall increases sewer flooding risk, so we are taking steps to remove surface water from our sewer network. In one example, we are installing water butts and planters in 60 residential properties and a church in Prestwick, to capture rainwater and divert it from the sewer network.
“Climate change adaptation is not something we can choose to do; it’s something we must do.”
As part of our Service Excellence strategic ambition, we are committed to “adapting to a changing climate, dealing with our aging assets and meeting customers’ evolving expectations.”
So how is Scottish Water adapting to the challenges posed by climate change?
Over the past decade, we have integrated Met Office climate change models into our water resource planning and our drainage hydraulic models. We have also increased our monitoring of the water environment to understand how the climate is changing, and invested to make many of our assets more resilient to flooding. But climate projections suggest things will get worse, and we need to think longer term in our planning. So, we have assessed the impact of climate change on our ability to provide services, based on two degrees of warming by 2050 and four degrees of warming by 2080.
Our risk assessment has looked at these climate changes across Scotland as there will be different impacts in different regions. The outputs of this risk assessment can be found in our Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which focuses on key areas which are likely to face further disruption unless we act. It describes the consequences on water supplies, water quality, sewer systems, infrastructure and the environment without adaptation. As we said at the time, climate change adaptation is not something we can choose to do; it’s something we must do.
Warmer, drier summers will increase our risk of drought, so we are working to ensure the service we provide is not impacted. We may have to look for additional sources of water supply in some areas, but more importantly we must reduce the amount of water we take from the environment where we can. To do this, we aim to reduce leakage and water loss throughout the system, and we are encouraging our customers to place more value on water, and the water environment, by only using what they need.
Warmer, drier summers also increase the risk of deteriorating raw water quality. We are investing in peatland restoration
Extreme weather and storm events can disrupt our power supplies, so we are investing £13m in additional permanent stand-by generators and hook-ups, to mitigate against local and regional power outages and ensure that we can still provide wholesome drinking water for our customers.
While we will do what we can to secure services, we will also need to work with others, such as power, transport and telecoms providers, to improve our response during incidents, and with government, local authorities, communities and landowners to look at how we manage rainfall and flooding in the future.
If ever a Team Scotland approach was required it is now, as we all face the challenges of climate change.
Ness Wright, Senior Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer (Adaptation Scotland)
Scottish businesses are being increasingly disrupted by extreme weather, from premises and refrigeration units overheating during unusually warm spells, to staff and supplies being unable to travel when the transport network is damaged by storms and flooding. The extreme weather events are part of a long-term change in weather patterns influenced by climate change, and are projected to continue and intensify over the coming decades.
Taking proactive resilience action has many benefits to businesses. It minimises the damage and costs of extreme weather events and ensures business continuity. In addition, many businesses identify new income streams and areas for competitive advantage through the process of addressing climate risks, such as new repair services for buildings damaged by extreme weather, cultivating climate-resilient crops, or using more weather-resilient materials.
The Adaptation Scotland programme has created some tools and resources to help businesses in Scotland prepare for extreme weather and increase their business resilience.
These tools combine the latest climate change science and the lived experience of trade union representatives from across Scotland, which suggests that climate change impacts, without adaptation, threaten health and safety. Conversely, well-planned adaptation action can transform our poorest communities and present opportunities for Scotland’s workers and industries.
The resources include:
“Climate change impacts, without adaptation, threaten health and safety.”
The SME Resilience Checklist (adaptation.scot/take-action/smeresilience-checklist) provides practical checklists for simple actions that businesses can take to protect their People, Products and Services, Premises, Processes and Place. It also includes prompts to encourage businesses to identify opportunities for innovations or new offerings in response to their climate risks and new customer needs.
It is accompanied by case studies of businesses in Scotland taking action to prepare for how climate change may affect their business, improving their business’s resilience to shocks, and identifying new growth opportunities.
a handbook which makes the case for adaptation from a Trade Union (and broader Just Transition) perspective, including examples of how climate impacts are already impacting schools, offices, shops, depots, warehousing, care homes, hospitals and outdoor workplace settings; a workbook which takes users on a step-by-step journey in identifying potential climate change hazards in their workplace and provides information to help union officers and reps in Scotland take action to build resilience and protect workers from the unavoidable impacts of climate change;
checklists that can be downloaded and used by individuals and organisations to identify potential climate-related hazards and possible adaptation responses;
Resources to help identify the hazards that climate change could bring to a range of different workplaces and to develop adaptation solutions (adaptation.scot/take-action/ climate-hazards-and-resilience-in-the-workplace) have been developed in partnership with the Scottish Trade Union movement (Unison and STUC).
webinars introducing the tools and guidance and explaining the process behind their development.
The resources are designed to be used by any organisation, not just by trade union representatives. They address the human consequences of a changing climate and help workers have a central voice in building resilience to climate risks and championing climate change adaptation solutions which also tackle inequality and social justice as part of a just transition in Scotland.
Shaini Naha and Dr Kerr Adams, The James Hutton Institute
Climate change may double the number of droughts in Scotland by 2050, potentially impacting key Scottish industries. This striking warning was issued by a recent study that examined how climate change was affecting water availability in Scotland, especially for the farming and distilling sectors.
The research, commissioned by Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW), and led by researchers from the James Hutton Institute, the British Geological Survey, the University of Aberdeen and SAC Consulting, found that despite the wet and cool Scottish summer we experienced in 2024, Scotland’s climate is changing. This is evidenced by more frequent extreme events impacting the Scottish agricultural sector, such as Storm Babet in 2023, heavy winter snowfall in 2017, and prolonged drought conditions in the summers of 2018 and 2021.
The new research suggests that further reductions in rainfall can be expected in summer and early autumn, especially in key crop growing areas in eastern Scotland. A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, known as meteorological drought, can then evolve into both agricultural and hydrological drought.
Scotland may also decrease in the future, and abstractions from the groundwater systems are likely to become more vulnerable to drought.
Drought conditions can lead to an imbalance between the supply and demand of water, also defined as temporary water shortage or prolonged water scarcity. As a part of this research, we held focus groups with farmers and distillers to understand what water scarcity would mean for their sector. Feedback indicates that water scarcity is already an increasing issue for both the agricultural and distilling sectors. At critical times of the year, even short periods of water shortage could lead to arable, vegetable and fruit crop failure, impact livestock health, and result in unplanned halts to the distilling process.
“Further reductions in rainfall can be expected in summer and early autumn.”
Agricultural (soil moisture) drought occurs when crops are impacted by periods of prolonged dry weather that limits the availability of soil water. In areas of Scotland with limited soil water holding capacity, the soil water deficits may lead to reduced barley yields, an economically important arable crop.
Hydrological drought occurs when low water availability becomes evident in surface and groundwater systems. The projected doubling of surface water drought events by 2050, when river flows are significantly low, could put restrictions on using these surface waters, as happened for the first time in Fife during the 2021 drought. Also, the River Spey, which plays a key role in Scotch whisky production, is expected to experience significant low river flows once every two years, instead of once in every five years at present. Due to reduced summer rainfall and increased evaporation, groundwater recharge in central and eastern
Although farmers already recognise drought as a risk to their business, a smaller proportion had taken action to address the issue, in comparison to the distilling sector. Adaptation strategies available vary by agricultural system. For example, livestock farmers have tested new grass types that can survive better in dry conditions. Farmers who grow arable crops and grass for silage recognised the benefits of effective soil management to better retain soil moisture. Farmers who abstract surface and groundwaters for vegetable and fruit production can adopt efficient irrigation systems and build irrigation lagoons to also store water in times of rainfall surplus.
Distillers who abstract water to create alcohol and cool the distillation process can adopt, and were adopting, technology to significantly reduce the need for water for cooling activities, such as thermal vapour recompression.
Groundwater is seen as a potential alternative source of water for production and irrigation during dry periods. However, further research is needed to understand where and how groundwater can be used to provide resilience to drought locally. Holding water in the landscape using nature-based solutions, such as leaky barriers, is encouraged to increase groundwater recharge.
The study highlights the need for cross-sector coordination when preparing for a future of water extremes, and clear pathways for the adoption of adaptations options with more information on costs and financial support available. To encourage proactive management of water to increase business resilience, particularly in the agricultural sector, the study recommends that farmers increase their understanding of water use within their system.
Further details of the study, its findings and recommendations can be found by visiting the Centre of Expertise for Waters website (crew.ac.uk), which includes summary infographics of the research findings, their implications for each sector, and potential adaptation methods.
FURTHER READING
M Glendell et al (2023) Future Predictions of Water Scarcity in Scotland: Impacts to Distilleries and Agricultural Abstractors (www.crew.ac.uk/publication/water-scarcity-impactsdistilleries-agricultural)
All images © Lawson Wood (Instagram @lawsonwoodmarinephotography) 1. Flamingo Tongue (Cyphoma gibbosum). | 2. Bluefire Jellyfish (Cyanea lamarkii). | 3. Fragile Brittlestar (Ophiothrix fragilis). | 4. Connemara
Clingfish (Lepadogaster candollei). | 5. Anglerfish or Monkfish (Lophius piscatorius). | 6. Plumose Anemone (Metridium dianthus). | 7. Fireworks Anemone (Pachycerianthus multiplicatus) with Lesser Spotted Dogfish or Catshark (Scyliorhinus caniculus). | 8. Plumose Anemone (Metridium dianthus).
Patricia Solís PhD, Arizona State University
Arizona’s desert landscape is already known for its intense summer heat. But in the face of a changing climate and increasing global temperatures, the impact on human health here is profound and profoundly growing. The summer of 2023 was registered as the hottest on the books, breaking scores of climatological records, such as: numerous daily high maximums, hitting the greatest number of days over 110°F/43.3°C, at 55 days; the longest stretch of days over 110°F, at 31 days; the fourth hottest day ever, four times hitting 119°F/48.3°C. But then soon came the new recordbreaking year of summer 2024, shattering the greatest number of days over 110°F/43.3°C, at 70 days, including the hottest September on record and the first time Phoenix saw that extreme mark in the month of October. The greatest consecutive number of days over 100°F/37.8°C reached an astounding 113 straight days.
More gravely, these trends have impacted human lives. In 2023, a record number of heat-related deaths occurred, when 645 people died because of the heat, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. That number represents an increase of more than 50% from 2022, which saw a record at the time of 425 heat-related deaths. The relationship between extreme high temperature and human health is not a straightforward one, as vulnerability is mediated by scores of factors, from age to economic status to living alone. But it is also very clear that the role of exposure to heat via housing insecurity and energy justice plays a critical role in who are most affected by extreme heat in Arizona. Year to year, about half of the heat-related deaths that occur outdoors fall among individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Within the statistics of morbidity from heat-related causes that occur indoors, access to shelter that can be kept cool and cooling technologies such as air conditioning are a factor in nearly every case.
of the problem, and collect solutions bespoke to the mobile home community.
In the United States, the phenomenon of mobile and manufactured housing fills a critical niche for homes that are affordable. The millions of Americans who live in this housing type vary greatly with respect to demographic characteristics. In Arizona, we see many older adults on fixed incomes retire to park communities for the camaraderie and neighbourhood benefits; we also see many immigrant families and working-class households opting for such homes because of accessible costs. While there are some fantastic new manufactured home models available, the older mobile homes, regardless of whether they can be moved or not, were largely built before new energy efficiency rules were put into place in the 1990s, and are susceptible to difficulty to keep cool compared to single family slab-built homes. Low participation in utility assistance programmes is a reflection of eligibility and the lack of sufficient funding for such programmes as the federally supported Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) monies.
“Our team undertook a community geography approach.”
Hidden in plain sight: liberating data to move the needle
When we launched the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience in 2018, our team undertook a community geography approach to try to unravel the impact of heat on human lives, in order to optimize existing solutions, find solutions that were not yet in place, and improve adaptive capacity in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Gathering operational data from the more than 80 organizations that provide some kind of utility assistance to support energy bills for cooling, and leveraging the public health records over a decade of monitoring, we created a simple dot-distribution map depicting households who had benefitted and those who had suffered heat-related deaths. Quickly we were able to see parts of the city where households were experiencing hot-spots of morbidity yet the distribution of utility assistance resources had not reached them. Puzzled, it was the day following a community convening around these maps when I suddenly realized that this pattern coincided with the locations of mobile home parks. This discovery of a ‘blind spot’ in existing cooling assistance programmes ushered in a years-long research agenda to validate these observations, measure the extent
For the next few years, my team and I deployed a series of studies that included thermal readings inside and outside the structures, household surveys, deep dives into parcel level tax records, analysis of power usage records, and community meetings to identify homegrown solutions to adapt mobile homes to the heat. Our findings confirmed that residents of Arizona’s mobile homes are at least six times more likely to experience heat-related illness than those in traditional housing. The older homes, often constructed with poor insulation and limited cooling options, can even trap extreme heat overnight, creating hazardous indoor environments. The lack of shade and trees in many settings ensures long daytime sun exposure. These dangers are amplified for elderly residents and those on fixed incomes, who struggle with the high costs of air conditioning already. Bridging gaps in service through community partnerships To close these solutions gaps, we collaborated with dozens of community organizations and local government entities, and especially the state-wide association of residents, Arizona Association of Manufactured and Mobile Home Owners (AAMHO), to document and disseminate ways to enhance local cooling resources and support. This coalition resulted in a Heat Mitigation Solutions Guide for Mobile Homes, a resource featuring 50 targeted heat resilience strategies, decision-making tools, and case studies tailored specifically for residents of mobile homes. The guide influenced new community efforts, prompting organizations like the local power companies to introduce specialized workshops and resources for mobile home residents, the public health agencies to create new campaigns, and city emergency responders to expand their summer outreach to mobile home communities during heat waves. In support, our team launched crowdsourcing map tools to help identify all of the high-risk residents across the state, creating a comprehensive
cartography of vulnerability for state and local agencies. We informed the United States Census Bureau’s nationwide efforts to map heat risk with this body of research, and this work influenced the Governor’s Office when the 2023 historic Executive Order to address extreme heat response and preparedness was released, where one of the directives included explicit attention to mobile home residents. From research to policy: the passage of HB-2146
The amassed research findings and community-led initiatives laid the groundwork for widespread adaptive action. After distributing several print runs of the copies of the solutions guide, many of the residents across the state began to implement cooling strategies. They recognized the importance of such household-level changes, such as installing awnings over window AC units, skirts around the base of the home, garden trellises, and shade sails, among other efficiency measures that homeowners could install with small weatherization funds. However, the ownership of many homes is a mixed legal relationship: they often own their own home unit but rent the lot from a park landlord that it sits on. This tenure threw into question a new scale of action: residents started reporting that their landlords were prohibiting them from making such adaptive changes on their homes, and forbidding them, even to the threat of eviction, from actions such as including a window AC unit on a particular side of the home where it is visible from the street, and other restrictions.
Recognizing the urgency of the issue, leaders from the resident association and from community agencies providing assistance met with our team to strategize on how to clear this barrier. The result of these efforts was the introduction of a bill in the Arizona State House of Representatives, 56th Legislature 2nd regular session (2024), HB-2146, sponsored and introduced by Rep David Cook (R-LD7) and Rep Matt Gress (R-LD4). During a 45-minute hearing before the Arizona House Commerce Committee in January 2024, when the bill was first presented, residents and stakeholders offered testimony, including myself presenting the years of locallyengaged research documenting the problem and solutions, emphasizing the public health benefits and need for tenant
autonomy in managing indoor temperatures. Committee members responded with a range of perspectives, but shared the eventual conclusion of the right of residents to adapt to the heat.
Inspiration for place-based and community-centred climate resilience
I believe Arizona’s approach to enhancing heat resilience in mobile homes demonstrates the power of research, co-discovery, community partnerships and policy action in tackling climate related challenges. The unanimous passage of HB-2146 offers inspiration to consider how adaptation to climate change could be envisioned essentially a right among the planet’s residents to build their own capacity to respond and prepare. While this case highlights how data-driven, place-based strategies can address the unique impacts of extreme heat, at the intersection of temperature, health, housing and energy systems, it is also a signal of the far way we have to go as a society to remove barriers to adaptation as climate change intensifies.
Arizona House Bill HB-2146 (2024) (State of Arizona House of Representatives, bill text bit.ly/4bCwHv5, testimony recording bit.ly/3LfopPg)
Origins: A new model for building community resilience (2022) (Fervor Creative, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=CtA5fa8ZtN0&t)
“Residents of Arizona’s mobile homes are at least six times more likely to experience heat-related illness.”
Professor Dana Fisher, Director, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity, American University, Washington, DC
After 28 years of failed climate negotiations, scientifically informed emissions reductions set by governments have languished. Consequently, the pace at which the world is mitigating and adapting to the threat of climate change is far too slow to meet the challenge. Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise quickly, as the ice sheets melt and climate shocks like droughts, floods and heatwaves increase in frequency and intensity. Meanwhile, leadership of the climate negotiations at this late hour has been relegated to petrostates and former fossil fuel executives, which has helped make it impossible to agree upon, let alone implement, policies that could save us from the worst of the climate crisis.
[…]
on the climate front is even higher than it is in a public health context, given the many actors with vested interests in maintaining their access to the resources and power in our fossil-fuel-dependent economy.
Whatever the shock is, it will need to mobilise a mass movement against these entrenched fossil fuel interests.
“The type of systemic changes needed to address the climate crisis are possible.”
I call myself an apocalyptic optimist. I believe we can save ourselves from the climate crisis that we have caused; I also believe it will only be possible with a mass mobilisation driven by the pain and suffering of climate shocks around the world. As the social effects of climate shocks grow in both frequency and severity, I predict they will motivate an AnthroShift where personal and economic risk reaches a critical threshold that leads people to alter their behaviours and force governments and businesses to transition aggressively away from fossil fuels. This process requires halting all fossil fuel subsidies and stopping all efforts to extract more fossil fuels to be burned at home or exported for use abroad. Such AnthroShifts can open up windows of opportunity for innovative social change; but only, as I have discussed in detail elsewhere, if the risks are both severe and durable. The Covid-19 pandemic offers a recent example of an AnthroShift where risk durability was too low for the social changes to be sustained long-term. In spring 2020, we changed our behaviours overnight to limit the transmission of the coronavirus and flatten the curve. We wore masks, we home-schooled our kids, we disinfected our groceries, we accepted not seeing family for holidays, and we even made our own bread. The social changes were so notable, in fact, that climate activist Greta Thunberg shrewdly observed early in the pandemic, “The coronavirus is a terrible event… But it also shows one thing: that once we are in a crisis… we can act fast and change our habits and treat a crisis like a crisis.” However, as vaccines reduced the threat of the disease, the world opened back up. Our lives shifted back to normal (or at least close to it), and the window of opportunity for big social change closed.
The social responses to the pandemic showed us that the type of systemic changes needed to address the climate crisis are possible. But they also made clear that without a sustained shock that has tangible costs to people and property, those changes will be ephemeral and social actors will regress back to a business-as-usual trajectory. Imagine what would have happened if Covid-19 vaccines had not been developed or if the disease had mutated in a way that was even more deadly.
There are no vaccines or any other sort of silver bullets to save us from the climate crisis. To make matters worse, the level of shock needed to motivate sustained social change
One question right now is whether such a movement can succeed without resorting to confrontational action. Studies have shown that nonviolent conflict can be successful in bringing about large-scale social transformations in a given region if a critical mass of 3.5% or more of the population participates in the activism. However, beyond responses to repressive and autocratic rule, examples of sustained activism at this level of engagement are scant. So it’s unrealistic to imagine that such a high percentage of the population would mobilise and engage in peaceful climate activism without some sort of large-scale risk as motivation. It is possible that more confrontational activism could be more effective, and calls for such an approach are growing. To date, though, we are nowhere near the level of mass mobilisation needed.
We can look to history to see what kinds of crises have triggered the level of drastic social changes needed to reach a tipping point that motivates an AnthroShift that would be sufficiently widespread and long-lasting to limit climate change: war, economic depression, and natural disaster. Indeed, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent report suggests that world war and widescale economic depression are possible consequences of climate change. The most likely, though, is natural disaster. […]
The climate disaster that is coming is inevitable at this point, but it may also be our only hope for meaningful change. In the meantime, the best way through the climate crisis is to build strong ties within our communities, create solidarity, and cultivate social and environmental resilience capable of supporting one another and exploiting the windows of opportunity when the apocalypse arrives.
This article is adapted from Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action by Dana R Fisher © 2024 Columbia University Press, used by arrangement with the publisher, all rights reserved.
Robert McSweeney, Senior Science Editor, Carbon Brief
In 2004, a group of researchers published a study that accomplished something never seen before. They calculated the specific contribution that human-caused climate change made to an extreme weather event. The extreme in question was the European heatwave in the summer of 2003, a devastating event that killed more than 70,000 people across the continent. The scientists worked out that human influence had at least doubled the risk of such an extreme heatwave occurring. The findings made headlines around the world.
The study kick-started the scientific field of ‘extreme event attribution’. These studies calculate whether, and by how much, climate change has affected the intensity, frequency or impact of extremes, from wildfires in the US and drought in South Africa to record-breaking rainfall in Pakistan and cyclones in New Zealand.
There are various ways of carrying out an attribution study, but scientists commonly use climate models to simulate an extreme event in the current climate and compare them with idealised model runs of that event in a world without human-caused warming.
The difference between the two sets of simulations indicates how the likelihood or severity of that extreme event has changed.
Across all these cases, 74% were found to have been made more likely or severe because of climate change. More than a third of these are heat extremes, which are generally the most straightforward events to link to a warming world. In some cases, such as Siberia’s heatwave of 2020 and the Pacific north-west ‘heat dome’ event of 2021, studies have shown that such extreme heat would have been impossible or virtually impossible without human influence on the climate.
Around 9% of the events and trends in the map were made less likely or severe by climate change. Unsurprisingly, this category is dominated by blizzards and cold extremes, but there are also cases where climate change has lessened the chances of other extremes, such as heavy rainfall occurring in a particular place.
“Attribution has the power to link the seemingly abstract concept of climate change with personal and tangible experiences of the weather.”
Over the years since that first study, the field has gained momentum, not only in academia but also in the media and public imagination. Attribution has the power to link the seemingly abstract concept of climate change with personal and tangible experiences of the weather. And what started as a trickle of studies has turned into a flood. In the ten years following that first scientific paper, around 50 more were published. In the ten years after that, the number has risen tenfold by more than 500.
To keep track of this rapidly growing field of research, Carbon Brief produced an interactive map of every published study on how climate change has impacted extreme weather (www. carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extremeweather-around-the-world). First published in July 2017, we have updated this map on multiple occasions as more and more new studies have been published. In November 2024, we published our latest iteration, which includes a complete redesign of the map to accommodate all the latest studies. It now includes more than 600 studies, covering almost 750 extreme weather events and trends.
This means that, overall, 83% of the events and trends included in the map were found to have been influenced by human-caused climate change. In the remaining 17% of cases, the studies either found no human influence (10%) or they were inconclusive (7%), often due to insufficient data. (It is worth noting that these figures are not representative of all extreme weather events as only a small fraction have been subject to an attribution study.)
Looking at the map itself, it reveals the uneven spread of studies across the world, with the vast majority in the global north. There are a number of reasons for this, including a lack of weather data and monitoring of extremes in many developing countries. Another factor is that the majority of the scientists and their institutions that conduct attribution research are themselves based in global north countries. This imbalance is something that many attribution scientists are trying to address, putting a greater focus on extremes in countries that are often overlooked.
What has also been noticeable in this latest iteration of the map is the large number of studies into extremes in China, following record-breaking heatwaves, severe drought and deadly rainfall events in recent years.
As the field of attribution research evolves, with new methods and perhaps an increasing focus on ‘rapid’ studies, Carbon Brief’s map will continue to display them all, revealing how human-caused climate change is supercharging extreme weather around the world.
Hannah Mallinson, Science Engagement Manager, Royal Meteorological Society
From record-breaking temperatures to torrential downpours, there is no doubt that the impacts of climate change are now a reality of everyday life. With average global temperatures around 1.3°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, global mean sea level has risen by about 21cm, ocean surface temperatures have hit record highs, over 28 trillion tonnes of ice have melted since 1994, and changes have occurred in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
In the UK, attribution studies have shown that the July 2022 heatwave, when temperatures exceeded 40°C for the first time, was made at least ten times more likely due to human-caused climate change. More recent research also revealed that climate change made the autumn and winter storm rainfall of 2023–24 about 20% heavier.
adaptation is important, who is responsible, examples of adaptation on the ground, and instances where progress still needs to be made. A version of the module was delivered to crisis emergency response staff and volunteers working at the British Red Cross earlier in the summer.
“Adaptation is a necessity to protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems.”
With every tenth of a degree of additional warming, the impacts of climate change will become exponentially worse.
To cope with these impacts (to some of which we’re already committed given the current level of warming) and avoid catastrophic losses and damages, we must take measures to adapt. For humans, adapting to climate change means adjusting our behaviour and our infrastructure to deal with the changing climate, both now and in the future.
As of October 2024, current national and global adaptation policies and actions are insufficient to tackle the issue, with inadequate planning and investment globally. To effectively adapt to climate change, action will be required at local, regional, national and international levels, and will be unique to each household, community and country dependent on their risks. Structural and physical adaptation actions include building sea walls, improving drainage, growing new crop varieties resilient to climate change, retrofitting properties, planting trees and greening rooftops. Then there are social adaptation actions, which include education about climate change, household preparation and evacuation planning, and changing cropping practices. Finally, institutional measures are also important, such as implementing financial incentives, raising building standards, regulating water use and creating localised adaptation plans.
By investing in adaptation now, we will not only reduce vulnerability and save lives, but we will save money. Research has shown that investing in adaptation measures today, for example to prevent damage to infrastructure or reduced biodiversity, will be cheaper than the future physical costs of climate change if we don’t act. Evidence also shows that the effectiveness of many adaptation options declines with every increment of warming, emphasising the need for adaptation to go hand-in-hand with significant and rapid mitigation measures.
As the UK’s professional and learned society for weather and climate, the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) is committed to advancing the understanding of climate science and helping individuals, communities, businesses and policymakers understand and prepare for climate impacts. In 2024, RMetS developed a new climate adaptation module as part of its Communicating Climate Change training course. This module delves into what we mean by adaptation, why
Alongside this, RMetS has been working with Cambridge Zero to produce three adaptation case studies of recent extreme weather events: one focused on flood management in Sheffield, one on emergency response and future preparedness to heat risk in Cambridge, and another on flood adaptation planning in Pakistan. The case studies will be published in early 2025 and used across events, science engagement and education activities. Looking further ahead, the Society will be hosting a national meeting focused on climate adaptation in autumn 2025, as well as working on a public engagement activity on the topic. For more information on the RMetS and its activities, please visit www.rmets.org
As our climate continues to change, adaptation is a necessity to protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems, and must accompany drastic, rapid mitigation measures. The longer we wait to adapt, the more difficult and expensive it will be to respond to climate change.
Victoria Ramsey, Senior Climate Scientist, Met Office
The science is clear; our climate is changing. While it is important to mitigate against the very worst impacts of climate change by continuing to drive down greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to our changing climate is also essential. In the UK we’re already seeing how our climate is changing through our observational record. With more frequent heatwaves and more extreme weather, people and businesses need to think about what they can do to adapt to the changes we’re already committed to.
Science-based insight
The Met Office’s UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18) provide essential insights into the likely impacts of climate change across the UK, helping communities, organisations and local authorities prepare for various future scenarios. Through high-resolution models and emissions-based projections, UKCP18 delivers detailed data on climate variables like temperature, precipitation and sea level rise.
To compute the potential future climate, our computer model running the projections divides the globe into grids. The higher the spatial resolution of the grids, the higher the detail. At a global scale our climate model is approximately 60km resolution, meaning each grid square is 60km x 60km. For Europe a higher resolution of 12km x 12km is used. The 12km climate model has been further downscaled to 2.2km scale for the UK, a resolution previously only used for short-term weather forecasts, allowing more realistic simulation of high impact events such as localised heavy rainfall in summer. UKCP18 also includes sea level and storm surge projections. The projections extend out to 2100 for the UK and globally, with the sea level rise projections extending out to 2300.
Putting projections to use
also benefit from the future climate information, as they help in understanding how ecosystems may themselves adapt to the changing climate, allowing for proactive measures to protect wildlife habitats and biodiversity.
The projections can also be used for specific projects focusing on one particular area or impact. For example, UKCP18 was used to create the Climate Projections Summary for Scotland (adaptation.scot/scotland-and-climate-change/climatechange-trends-and-projections). This resource is intended to help build a common understanding of the changes to Scotland’s climate we have already experienced, and the projections of the future climate that Scotland will experience.
Making data accessible
“These tools lower the barriers to accessing climate information.”
Working with Esri UK, we built the Local Authority Climate Service (climatedataportal.metoffice.gov.uk/pages/lacs), a new beta service to help local authorities visualise climate challenges, explore climate projections, and communicate a climate story specific to their local areas. Local authorities are key in building resilience to climate change in our communities across the UK. It is vital that our climate projections are available in a format that makes them most accessible and useful for local authorities to apply in assessing risks and starting to plan how to best adapt to our changing climate.
The Climate Data Portal (climatedataportal.metoffice.gov.uk) is a broader platform allowing a wider audience access to download climate data and explore the implications of various emissions scenarios. The free resources make it easier for businesses or government organisations to combine open climate data with their own data and reveal the future impact of extreme conditions on their operations, including extreme rainfall and temperatures.
There is a plethora of examples for how our projections can be used for tangible adaptation efforts, including informing local decision making, infrastructure resilience, and guiding agriculture and environmental decisions.
Our projections support councils, businesses and residents to plan for risks like flooding, droughts and extreme heat, for example improving flood defences to cope with more intense downpours. Urban planners can also consider green spaces to enhance resilience for expected increases in heatwaves, reducing their effects on public health.
Infrastructure designers can use UKCP18 data to make long-term plans for roads, drainage systems and public facilities, ensuring they’re equipped to handle the effects of shifting rainfall patterns or extreme temperatures. For instance, rainfall projections could help understand the modifications required in urban drainage systems to prevent flooding due to increased heavy rainfall.
The agriculture sector can incorporate UKCP18 data into crop and water management strategies, adapting to expected changes in rainfall, temperature and growing seasons. Conservation efforts
These tools offer UKCP18 data in more accessible formats, enabling local authorities, businesses, researchers and the general public to understand climate risks specific to their areas. Both platforms offer user-friendly interfaces, with mapping tools and visualisation options that break down complex data into actionable insights, accessible to users with or without a scientific background. These tools lower the barriers to accessing climate information, allowing diverse groups to incorporate projections into their planning and decision making.
Adèle Cadario, Programme Lead, Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions, Global Center on Adaptation
As climate change accelerates, ports around the world face significant risks from rising sea levels, extreme weather events and increasing temperatures. These climate-related threats not only jeopardise the physical infrastructure of ports but also disrupt global supply chains, impacting industries, livelihoods and national economies.
Ports are uniquely vulnerable to climate change due to their coastal locations and reliance on complex logistical networks. Rising sea levels pose a direct threat, potentially causing damage to docks, warehouses and other facilities. In the US, the Port of Miami and the Port of New York and New Jersey are already implementing adaptation measures in response to rising seas.
Ports are also increasingly affected by extreme weather events. Hurricanes, typhoons and storm surges can lead to costly damage and operational disruptions. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused major disruptions at the Port of Houston, one of the busiest ports in the US, halting operations for nearly a week.
1. Climate-proofed infrastructure investments can include technically and financially viable measures to reduce vulnerability in the medium and long terms. In Europe, the Port of Rotterdam has launched a comprehensive climate adaptation plan that includes raising quays and constructing storm surge barriers. In the US, the Port of Long Beach is investing in flood protection measures to safeguard its operations from both sea-level rise and storm surges.
The disruption of trade flows can have cascading effects on global supply chains. Typhoon Hagibis caused widespread destruction in Japan, leading to major delays at the Port of Yokohama. Cyclone Amphan, which struck India and Bangladesh, significantly disrupted operations at the Port of Kolkata, highlighting how ports in low-lying regions are especially vulnerable.
“Ports play a critical role in international trade.”
Ports play a critical role in international trade, and any closure or reduction in capacity can lead to significant delays and financial losses. The Port of Rotterdam, one of Europe’s largest, processes about 14 million containers annually. A significant disruption to its operations could affect supply chains throughout Europe and beyond.
In many developing countries, the consequences of port disruptions are even more severe. Coastal nations in Africa and Southeast Asia, are particularly vulnerable. The Port of Mombasa in Kenya is a critical hub for trade across East Africa. A climate-induced shutdown could affect food security and economic stability in countries like Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Impacts of climate change include moderate yet more frequent losses of productivity and increases in operational and maintenance costs. The World Trade Organisation highlights that trade costs in African economies are one-anda-half times higher than in high-income economies, and will worsen with climate change unless strong investments in climate adaptation are made now.
In regions where ports are major employers, shutdowns can lead to significant job losses, impacting local economies. Additionally, delays in the delivery of goods can lead to inflation, affecting everything from fuel to food prices. Adapting ports to the realities of climate change is an urgent necessity. While the challenges vary from region to region, several key adaptation strategies are emerging.
2.Nature-based solutions (NbS) use natural processes and ecosystems to mitigate climate risks to physical assets and socioeconomic activities. Restoring mangroves or wetlands around port areas can help protect against storm surges while also supporting biodiversity and communities’ resilience. Singapore has committed to developing green infrastructure to bolster its defences against rising sea levels and extreme rainfall.
3. Advanced early warning systems for extreme weather events allow ports to prepare and respond more effectively. The Port of Yokohama in Japan has integrated advanced meteorological systems to track typhoons and heavy rains, enabling it to take preventive actions, such as halting operations and securing cargo. Risk management frameworks that incorporate climate adaptation into long-term planning are essential for ensuring that ports remain operational.
4. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Africa are crucial for mobilising resources for climate adaptation and developing climate-informed performance targets, risks mitigation and risks-sharing mechanisms. In ports like Durban, Mombasa or Cotonou, PPPs are being leveraged to invest in climateresilient infrastructure.
The emergence of different risks to ports’ assets and operations, caused by climate-stressors such as heatwaves and warm spells, and extreme climatic events such as storm surges and heavy rainfall, is specific to each region and calls for different sets of adaptation and resilience measures that can be considered and included throughout the assets’ lifetime.
In addition, ports serving landlocked regions need to consider the resilience of their hinterland transport systems. Ensuring that goods can still be transported if a port is temporarily closed due to a climate event requires strengthening road and rail networks, as well as building redundancy into supply chains.
Ports are vital to global trade, and their ability to withstand climate risks is essential for economic stability and growth. Investing in climate adaptation today will help safeguard these critical infrastructures for the future. The future of global trade, economic development and coastal communities depends on how effectively ports adapt to the challenges of a changing climate, now.
Bruce Campbell, Senior Advisor, and Oluyede Ajayi, Global Lead, Food Security & Rural Wellbeing, Global Center on Adaptation
As the world faces mounting challenges from climate change, the need for resilient food systems has never been more urgent. Agriculture, a cornerstone of human survival, is increasingly vulnerable to shifting weather patterns, extreme temperatures and unpredictable rainfall. In the quest to secure global food supplies, organisations such as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) are leading the charge to drive the uptake of resilient crops and transform agricultural practices. A prime example of this work is the scaling up of heat-resistant wheat in Ethiopia, which has the potential to safeguard food security not only in Africa but globally.
Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive sectors, directly affected by temperature fluctuations, water availability, and the frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and floods. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these climate-related risks are expected to worsen in the coming decades, with profound implications for global food production. In regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture is a key economic driver and a source of livelihood for millions, the stakes are particularly high.
In Ethiopia, wheat is a staple crop and an essential part of the national diet. However, rising temperatures pose a significant threat to wheat production. Prolonged heat stress can reduce yields dramatically, leaving farmers struggling to meet both domestic consumption needs and export demands. With Ethiopia already facing periodic droughts and food shortages, finding a solution to protect wheat production is critical for national food security.
temperatures exceed 25°C, but CGIAR’s new heat-tolerant strains can endure temperatures as high as 35°C. Early trials have shown that these new varieties maintain high productivity, even in the hotter conditions that are becoming more frequent in the region.
The success of heat-resistant wheat in Ethiopia could have a ripple effect throughout other wheat-producing regions that are grappling with similar climate challenges. As temperatures continue to rise globally, the development of climate-resilient crops will be key to maintaining food production and preventing hunger. While developing heat-resistant crops is a vital step, ensuring that these technologies reach smallholder farmers is equally important. GCA plays a pivotal role in advocating for the investment and policy frameworks necessary to bring climate-smart agriculture to the field.
By working with governments, international institutions and the private sector, GCA and CGIAR are striving to ensure that the benefits of agricultural research reach those who need it most. GCA acts as a transmission belt to help CGIAR access critical adaptation financing, ensuring that innovative climate-smart solutions like heat-resistant wheat are deployed at scale where they are most needed. This collaborative approach ensures that scientific breakthroughs translate into tangible improvements in food security on the ground.
“Work to develop climate-resilient crops is essential for global food security.”
CGIAR has been at the forefront of agricultural innovation for decades. One of its core missions is to develop crop varieties that can withstand the impacts of climate change, such as drought, heat and salinity, ensuring that farming communities have the tools to adapt to new environmental realities. GCA complements CGIAR’s work by promoting policies and investments that make climate adaptation a priority, and that drive uptake of risk-reducing technologies. GCA’s focus on food systems and agriculture emphasises the need for innovative approaches to address climate vulnerability.
One of the most promising innovations to emerge from CGIAR’s efforts is the development of heat-resistant wheat varieties. In Ethiopia, where nearly five million hectares of land are used for wheat cultivation, the uptake of heatresistant varieties has the potential to significantly enhance food security. Traditional wheat varieties struggle when
While Ethiopia serves as a case study, the lessons learned from this work have far-reaching implications. The world is at a critical juncture, where climate change could exacerbate existing food insecurities and create new challenges for vulnerable populations.
According to the World Food Programme, climate shocks are already a leading cause of hunger, displacing millions and threatening the livelihoods of farmers worldwide. In this context, work to develop climateresilient crops is essential for global food security. Their research and advocacy efforts are not just about adapting to the impacts of climate change; they are about building a more sustainable, equitable and resilient food system for future generations.
As climate change continues to disrupt traditional agricultural practices, the work of CGIAR in developing resilient crops is more important than ever. Their collaborative efforts in Ethiopia highlight the potential for scientific innovation to secure global food supplies in the face of climate uncertainty. By continuing to invest in climate-smart agriculture, we can protect the livelihoods of farmers, enhance food security, and ensure a sustainable future for all.
Alastair McConnell, Chair, RSGS Education Committee
You would think that climate change and climate action would form an integral part of the Geography curriculum in Scotland in 2024. There is no topic that weighs more heavily on the minds of some of our students. There is no topic that has the potential to impact their future quite so indiscriminately as our changing climate.
And yet in both National 5 and Higher Geography, climate change is still an optional global issue. There is the potential for pupils to have gone through both of these courses without ever learning the causes, impacts and management strategies of our changing climate. Of course, the majority of Geography teachers recognise the importance of including this at some point in their courses, and climate change has become the most popular global issue at National 5 level; indeed, the majority of schools choose to cover it.
The logical next step would therefore be to incorporate this essential topic into the list of core topics, and to ensure that we emphasise the mitigation and adaptation strategies that we can still do, to give our students a sense of agency over their future.
The interdisciplinary nature of climate change as an academic
topic should be seen as an opportunity for collaboration between academic departments. An understanding of the science is essential, but it is in Geography that the interactions between our physical and human worlds fit best. Geographers are therefore well placed to develop understanding of adaptation strategies, recognising the potential impact these may have on human behaviour.
“Geographers are well placed to develop understanding of adaptation strategies.”
The project-based elements of the proposed Scottish Diploma of Achievement (SDA) would have been a logical place to deliver an understanding of adaptation strategies. Identifying ways of adapting to our changing climate at a local, national and global scale could have provided a tangible challenge for students to get their teeth into. With the Scottish Government now looking to pull back from the ambition of the SDA, these relevant, interdisciplinary project ideas don’t currently have a place in schools, and this may be seen as a missed opportunity.
Shylah Sutherland, currently studying Liberal Arts at Kings College London
Anyone who has gone through the process can attest that deciding a degree path is one of the most challenging decisions for a student. One factor is the variety (or lack) of courses, creating the perception of narrowed choices. This creates anxiety and suggests there can be no flexibility in their decisions. A Liberal Arts degree can be the perfect choice for some students wanting to retain breadth in their learning.
thinking, problem-solving and teamwork instead of traditional rote learning.
“A liberal arts approach to education is flexible and interdisciplinary.”
Firstly, while courses may vary, a liberal arts approach to education is flexible and interdisciplinary. It was first endorsed by thinkers such as John Henry Newman and Thomas Huxley in the 19th century. Students are given the option to specialise in more than one subject, in contrast to the more traditional single honours. Subjects tend to include humanities such as History, Geography and English, but may additionally include sciences. To accompany core learning, students may be offered modules specifically focused on writing or research. These aim to build critical skills such as analytical thinking. While liberal education is well established, a perception that the approach is unorthodox and untested is prevalent. A liberal arts education strives to be highly interdisciplinary; an approach that is increasingly valued in secondary education.
As discussed in the RSGS’s Curriculum Design: Interdisciplinary Learning blog entry published in December 2023, recounting the RSGS Education Committee’s webinar on Interdisciplinary Learning, the need for curriculum changes is clear but the challenges are many. Issues ranging from austerity to workload make it clear that secondary educational reform is not an overnight fix but requires a long-term plan. Liberal Arts degrees can introduce skills that have not yet been implemented in secondary education. Once the curriculum has been adapted, students who choose to take Liberal Arts will have the chance to build upon already existing skills. In addition, the Curriculum Design: a programme for discussion and feedback blog entry from November 2023 suggests one key piece of feedback for secondary curriculum change: an increased focus on developing general and geographical skills. These should include critical
This feedback for secondary education can already be seen implemented in higher education, especially in Liberal Arts degrees around the country. Rather than encouraging students to view subjects in silos, an interdisciplinary degree pushes students to look for the positionality of authors or narratives that are being told. By doing so, Liberal Arts degrees aim to challenge existing ‘common knowledge’ and uniquely tackle issues and challenges. Interdisciplinary learning is well established in higher education and a lot of disciplines are by their very nature interdisciplinary. One of these is, of course, Geography. The plethora of areas that can be investigated within the discipline (in both physical and human geography) makes its students uniquely suited to take a Liberal Arts degree.
While Liberal Arts degrees may be more known in the North American context, many UK-based universities, such as Durham, King’s College London, UCL and Dundee, offer the course. However, there are some difficulties associated with choosing these courses. The UK Liberal Arts courses may come under different names such as ‘Liberal Arts’ or ‘Combined Honours in Social Sciences’ or ‘Arts and Sciences’, so it is important to read carefully to be sure of the nature of the course. Furthermore, the structure of the degree may vary greatly, much like any other degree. Some courses make students choose a major and devote half their degree (and sometimes dissertation) to a single discipline. Others allow students to ‘craft’ their degree and explore different disciplines throughout their time. Many of these courses allow for the learning of a language and a semester or even a year abroad. Ultimately, the push for interdisciplinary learning in secondary education is a long-term plan which is yet to be implemented. In the meantime, students of Geography should pay attention to higher education Liberal Arts degrees as an option for university.
Alice Chautard, Stockholm Environment Institute; Angélique Umutesi, Loss and Damage Youth Coalition; Minh Tran and Sukaina Bharwani, Stockholm Environment Institute
With half of the world’s population under 30, today’s youth are the first to fully experience the impacts of climate change throughout their lives. From extreme weather to food and water insecurity, young people (especially those from low-income and marginalised communities) are disproportionately affected. Yet, they are far from passive victims. Youth globally are stepping up as leaders, offering fresh ideas, solutions and urgency to climate adaptation. Supporting youth leadership and recognising young people as a central partner in adaptation is vital for meaningful engagement and effective climate action.
In response, weADAPT (weadapt.org), one of the world’s leading platforms for climate adaptation knowledge exchange, has launched the Youth and Intergenerational Climate Justice Theme (weadapt.org/knowledge-base/youth-and-intergenerationalclimate-justice) to amplify and support youth-led adaptation efforts. This theme, led by seven editors (students and young professionals from six countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America) offers resources for education, advocacy and leadership. It promotes cross-generational learning and collaboration, empowering young people to lead efforts toward a more resilient future.
Young people face disproportionate exposure to climate risks. Nearly one billion children are at ‘extremely high risk’ from climate impacts, and 40.3 million were displaced by weather-related disasters between 2016 and 2021, according to UNICEF.
Because of their stage of development, youth are highly vulnerable to health risks from direct hazards like floods, heatwaves and wildfires, and indirectly through economic instability and social inequality. Climate change also disrupts education as extreme weather damages schools and displaces families. Economic instability, unemployment and social injustice compound these pressures. Moreover, many young people are already experiencing loss and damage due to climate change, with limited resources for recovery. These are challenges that are likely to worsen over time, and that, by virtue of their age, young people will face for longer than older generations. Despite this, they remain under-represented in decision-making processes shaping their future.
Youth-led organisations are leading community-based adaptation efforts like strengthening flood early warning systems, promoting reforestation and advancing sustainable agriculture. Indigenous youth are using traditional knowledge to protect their communities while advocating for environmental justice and land rights.
At the policy level, young leaders are actively participating in discussions and negotiations at national and international levels. Through platforms like YOUNGO (the youth constituency of the UNFCCC) and Youth Climate Councils, youth are making their voices heard, advocating for stronger adaptation strategies, loss and damage recovery, and financing, particularly in regions hardest hit by climate change.
Organisations such as the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, and SLYCAN Trust Youth are conducting research to inform policy and practice.
The Youth Climate Justice Handbook, created by World’s Youth for Climate Justice and Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, offers legal tools for advocating intergenerational climate justice.
weADAPT is dedicated to highlighting the work of these young leaders, inspiring others to follow their example, and urging decision makers worldwide to listen to them and actively involve them in shaping policies from the ground up.
Education plays an important role in equipping young people for the challenges of climate change. By teaching youth about climate science, risks and solutions, we empower them to stay safe and lead adaptation in their communities.
“Young people are not just victims of climate change; they are agents of change.”
weADAPT offers a range of free educational resources. For younger children, the COPE book series teaches those aged 6–12 how to stay safe during disasters like floods and heatwaves. For older youth, Y-Adapt, led by the Red Cross Red Crescent, provides an interactive curriculum for ages 13–24, teaching climate adaptation through games and role playing. The Global Centre on Adaptation also offers a Toolkit for Youth on Adaptation and Leadership, which includes strategies for engaging with policymakers and assuming leadership roles.
It’s no surprise that climate anxiety is rising. A Lancet survey found nearly 60% of 16–25-year-olds in ten countries were very or extremely worried about climate change, with over half believing humanity is doomed. To support young people’s mental health, weADAPT has created a Climate Anxiety Toolbox, offering free resources to help them cope and build resilience.
Despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, young people are showing remarkable resilience and leadership. Their innovative ideas and activism are driving policy engagement, research and grassroots adaptation worldwide.
Importantly, education is a two-way process. The resources available through weADAPT’s Youth Theme are designed not only to empower youth but also to encourage adults to learn from and engage with youth-led initiatives. By doing so, adults can better support, make space for and amplify youth voices in decision-making processes, fostering a collaborative approach to climate resilience.
Young people are not just victims of climate change; they are agents of change, bringing creativity, urgency and leadership to adaptation efforts. By learning from and supporting their initiatives and their mental health, and giving them platforms to lead, we can ensure that adaptation efforts are not only inclusive but also driven by those who will inherit the planet.
Laura Young, environmental scientist and campaigner (Less Waste Laura)
How much of our stuff is influenced by social media? That trendy water bottle, cute pyjamas, or the must-have kids present that absolutely everyone else is buying? Social media has had the power to control much of our shopping habits, and has been the fuel behind the consumption machine since the rise of online shopping and the demise of the high street. However, in this world driven by overconsumption, social media is now surprisingly steering a shift toward underconsumption: encouraging people to consume less, and consume more thoughtfully. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, which have long fuelled a buy-more mentality, are now popularising ‘de-influencing’, a movement urging followers to rethink their habits. As a creator focused on sustainable practices, I’ve seen how online spaces can challenge consumerism and foster climatefriendly behaviours. This movement towards underconsumption could be pivotal for addressing climate change and reshaping our relationship with stuff.
Social media doesn’t just reflect norms; it shapes them. As more creators adopt de-influencing, they foster a movement that normalises sustainable lifestyles. Hashtags like #Underconsumption and #SustainableLiving unite communities, transforming sustainability into a mainstream, inclusive pursuit. As these movements gain traction, the more a sustainable mindset becomes a norm rather than a niche concern.
“Adapting to climate change calls for a shift in consumption patterns.”
For years, social media celebrated ‘haul culture’, with influencers showcasing bulk purchases that normalised excessive buying. This frenzy of overconsumption reinforced a disposable mentality driving both waste and carbon emissions. Recently, though, de-influencing has prompted a critical examination of what, why and how much we buy. Deinfluencing isn’t just about buying less; it’s about questioning why we’re buying in the first place and redefining what ‘enough’ looks like. This mindset shift is timely, as climate adaptation calls for realigning our choices with ecological limits and considering the true cost of convenience and excess.
Underconsumption encourages people to buy less than they’re accustomed to, reducing strain on resources, seeing the connection between their stuff and the impact on both people and planet. Social media’s broad reach makes it a powerful tool for spreading this message. From ‘items you don’t need’ to ‘upcycling tips’, creators share accessible, practical advice, emphasising that sustainable choices can be both fulfilling and achievable. This influence is unique as it can spark mass interest in sustainability, often making thoughtful practices aspirational rather than a chore. By challenging convenience culture and favouring quality over quantity, de-influencing aligns with climate goals, reducing carbon footprints, waste, and demand for high-emission industries. It reframes sustainability as an appealing choice, countering fast fashion and single-use items with more thoughtful consumption, helping shift mainstream culture toward a model of satisfaction with less.
The de-influencing trend highlights practical alternatives like second-hand shopping, investing in durable goods, and supporting ethical brands while also encouraging businesses to adopt sustainable practices. It also helps dismantle the wellfunded advertising machines that convince us we need things we don’t, often shining a light on the real quality, or lack thereof, behind trendy goods. This raises important conversations around systemic change; structural and policy shifts are crucial for creating industries that support rather than hinder sustainability. However, social media’s reach and power to inspire millions underscores the impact of collective action through individual choices. The widespread influence of platforms helps to demonstrate that a shift from excess to ‘enough’ isn’t about deprivation; it’s about reorientation toward intentional, mindful consumption.
Adapting to climate change requires more than technology and policy; it calls for a shift in consumption patterns that respects environmental limits and rethinks our relationship with material goods. Social media, once primarily a driver of consumerism, now has the opportunity to shape a culture of underconsumption through the de-influencing movement. By challenging endless buying and promoting mindful living, social media is encouraging a necessary change in norms. This shift, amplified by the vast reach of digital platforms, can pave the way for a more resilient, sustainable planet, showing us that climate adaptation starts with redefining what we truly need.
Professor Raymond Wightman, Sainsbury Laboratory, University
Cambridge; Jan Kycazakowski, Jageillonian University, Kraków, Poland
For as long as scientists have studied trees, we have categorised them into two types: softwoods like pines and firs, which generally grow faster than hardwoods like oaks and maples, which can take decades to mature and make a denser wood. However, our research has uncovered a third category we’re calling ‘midwood’, a discovery which could prove to be valuable in the fight against rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
Trees are natural carbon sinks, absorbing huge amounts of CO2 from the air and storing it in their wood. The tulip tree or yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a top performer in carbon capture. In the mid-Atlantic US, forests dominated by tulip trees store between two and six times more carbon than forests where other species prevail. The tulip tree is already popular in plantations in parts of south-east Asia, and cited as a good choice for carbon capture for gardeners and urban planners in the US.
This species, along with its close relative the Chinese tulip tree (Liriodendron chinense), belongs to an ancient lineage dating back 50–30 million years, a period marked by significant shifts in atmospheric CO2. Only these two species survive. And until recently, their chemistry and structure, which might tell us why these trees are so good at capturing carbon, were largely unknown. Traditional methods for analysing the internal structure of wood overlook the differences between living and dried wood, the latter being much easier to study. That’s a problem because, without water, wood at the molecular level changes. The challenge is to observe wood that still retains its water. We overcame this by using low-temperature scanning electron microscopy to observe wood on a nanometre (nm) scale (over 6,000 times smaller than a single strand of human hair) while preserving the wood’s moisture to give a more accurate impression of what the wood looks like while the tree is alive.
about later than softwoods.
We then explored the magnolia family, including the purpleflowered Magnolia liliiflora, some of the oldest surviving flowering plants that are known for their ornamental beauty. The ones we tested have hardwood-like macrofibrils with a diameter of 15–16nm, meaning the switch from softwood to hardwood likely occurred during the evolution of the magnolias. The tulip tree is a close relative of the magnolias, but its wood does not fit neatly into the hardwood or softwood categories. Instead, its macrofibrils had a diameter of about 22nm, in the middle of the range between hardwoods and softwoods. This intermediate structure was completely unexpected and led us to classify tulip tree wood as ‘midwood’, a new category entirely.
“The tulip tree or yellow poplar is a top performer in carbon capture.”
Why do tulip trees have this unique wood type? We can’t say for certain, but we believe it’s related to the evolutionary pressures these trees faced millions of years ago. When tulip trees first evolved, atmospheric CO2 levels were falling from about 1,000 parts per million (ppm) to 500ppm. This reduction in available CO2 may have driven tulip trees to develop a more efficient method of carbon storage, leading to their unique macrofibril structure. Today, this adaptation likely contributes to their exceptional ability to sequester carbon.
We studied various trees in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden to understand the evolution of wood structures. We collected living samples of plants that represent key milestones in evolutionary history. We found that the size of the macrofibril, a fibre composed mainly of cellulose, the basic chemical building block of wood which gives plants the strength to grow tall, varies significantly between hardwoods (about 16nm in diameter) and softwoods (about 28nm). These differences could explain why hardwoods and softwoods are different and may help us figure out why some kinds of wood are better at storing carbon than others. Understanding how wood evolved can help us identify and exploit plants that might mitigate climate change. The tulip tree alone does not tell us this, so we went further back in time and examined basal angiosperms, a group of rare and ancient flowering plants that still exist as remnants of the earliest stages of plant evolution. One member of this group is Amborella trichopoda, which has the larger 28nm macrofibrils, which suggests hardwood macrofibrils came
We can no longer assume, when looking at a previously unstudied tree, that it falls into the same two categories scientists have placed trees in for years. The tulip tree, with its midwood structure, corresponds with a ‘carbonhungry’ attitude. We are now looking at whether its seemingly unique wood structure is the sole reason it is king of carbon capture, and we are widening our search to find out if there are any more midwood trees, or even more new wood types out there.
These findings underscore the importance of botanical research and the role that botanical collections play in uncovering new insights in plant science. Next time you visit a botanic garden, remember that there are still many mysteries hidden in the plant kingdom, waiting to be discovered.
Clare Hamilton, Deputy Chief Executive, RSGS
Thomas Dambo has been called the world’s leading recycling artist. Born in Odense, Denmark in 1979, Thomas builds sculptures made out of recycled materials whilst dreaming about saving the world from drowning in trash. For the past ten years, he has been building trash trolls – giant sculptures made out of waste wood – and hiding them in forests around the world.
There are now more than 150 trash trolls in 17 countries. Over 100 million people have visited the sculptures and all go away with the same message: that something made out of something old can be just as good as something made out of something new.
Thomas’s sculptures are made from discarded pieces of wood, metal or plastic, with discarded pallets being a favourite building material for the trash trolls. The sculptures help to illustrate the problem of overconsumption and to raise awareness that discarded materials can be a useful and valuable resource in their own right.
“My mission is Waste No More. I give new life to discarded materials by turning them into large-scale artworks,” he says. “The world is running out of resources, and at the same time we are drowning in our own trash. That is what my art is about. Trolls have always been protectors of our woods. Building the trolls from discarded wood, in the woods, sends a powerful message.”
He works in and with local communities, who are involved in several stages of his projects, such as finding the discarded materials and maintaining the works. “The involvement of people is essential in my mission. I can give an example, but it´s the whole world that has to waste no more.”
Find out more about Thomas Dambo’s work in his TEDx talk (www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy1nG9KHTCA) and visit the Trollmap (www.thomasdambo.com/trollmap) to find your nearest troll.
“‘The world is running out of resources, and at the same time we are drowning in our own trash.’”
Holly McNair, Communications Officer, RSGS
Colin Mitchell is Chair of the RSGS Dumfries Group. He was awarded RSGS Honorary Fellowship in 2019 for his services to the Society, and an MBE in 2024 for his services to his community.
Have you always lived in Dunscore?
I was born in Paisley, but then moved to Edinburgh very early on as a wee kid. And then went to school there, and went to university there, and went to teacher training there, and had my first teaching job there. We couldn’t afford to live in Edinburgh; we had to live in Bathgate and travel in. We moved to Dunscore in 1984. And we’ve got two boys: one who lives in Muthill near Crieff with two grandchildren, and one who lives near Stratford-upon-Avon with two grandchildren as well. What did you teach at school?
I taught biology, and I moved down here for promotion, became assistant headteacher, and then deputy headteacher in Maxwelltown High School in Dumfries, and then became headteacher at Dumfries High School for 15 years. Did you enjoy teaching?
Most days. Not all days, but most days were brilliant. I still meet ex-pupils all over Dumfries, in a reasonably small community. When I was a teacher, someone said, ‘could we hold a meeting in your school to start up a Dumfries RSGS group?’ And I said, ‘of course.’ Then I ended up being on that group and the committee, and eventually I became chairman. I was always interested in geography and travel, so I was quite keen to join, so we held a meeting, a committee meeting at my school for many years. It’s been going well ever since, you know, it’s been good.
How did you get involved with the Moffat Mountain Rescue Team?
When I was at university, I was climbing in the Cuillins, and somebody ran in and said there’d been an accident. At that time, there was no formal mountain rescue team, so a local guy just collected us out of the campsite and took us up to deal with this. At the time, I thought that’s quite an interesting thing to do. So, when I was teaching in Edinburgh, I joined the Edinburgh rescue team with the teachers. I think were we called out only once to look for a person. We never found them, but we rescued a sheep and that was it. I moved to Dumfries in 1984 and joined the team straight away. I became a deputy team leader and eventually a team leader, and then stood down from that and became chairman and secretary. I’m now retired from all that; now I’m just a normal foot soldier.
When I was deputy team leader, the team leader was away on
holiday when the aircraft crashed onto Lockerbie, so I had to step up and lead the team through that. And nothing prepares you for that, really. It wasn’t a good few days, but we just got on with it as a team and the folk did well.
I believe you also wrote a book about the rescue team?
Yes, the rescue team turned 50 years old in 2019, so I volunteered to write a book for that, which was quite a difficult task. I asked the team if they could write down their memories of incidents that they’ve been on, and they were very good at that. So, I brought it all together with photographs. I think there were 200 copies, and it sold out. People were very supportive. At the minute, I’m involved with the church here in Dunscore as the session clerk, and it was our 200th anniversary last year, and stupidly, and my wife wasn’t pleased with me, I volunteered to write a book. So, it’s now with the printers, but that was a big job.
You have been involved with the RSGS Dumfries Group for a long time. Have there been any speakers who have stood out to you in particular?
I think they’ve all been really good. I remember Steve Venables; I was into mountaineering. Lots of the people we’ve had here as guests in the house, to give them bed and breakfast. Steve Venables stayed overnight and he asked if there was a library in Dumfries because he was writing a book and he had time, but I said he could just do it here and we’ll supply the coffee. He was great company, like all these people, very quiet, not boasting about what they’ve done.
“We’ve got a really loyal cohort of members in Dumfries, which is great.”
We’ve got a really loyal cohort of members in Dumfries, which is great; quite a lot become friends, and you meet them around town and people say hello, so it’s a good community.
What do you think RSGS does well?
It’s gotten so much better, it’s been amazing. When I first joined, it was an old academic sort of talk group. Mike’s done amazing work, bringing us into this century, and the work’s been great. So I think it’s really good now. The RSGS has got a much wider, national identity. And when you speak to people now, they know what you’re talking about because there’s so much good press done.
So I think, thanks to all you folk at headquarters, it’s just been amazing how the Society has grown. And you know, I think we all want some younger members locally and things like that. I think that’s generally not just RSGS. But it’s getting there.
What does geography mean to you?
I think it just helps us understand our place on the planet and, crucially, our responsibilities to the planet. You get into fine details like maps and things, but that’s really what it’s about. It’s about our place in our world. And I now better understand my place in the world through all these talks that RSGS has set up.
Congratulations on receiving your MBE!
Thank you – it was incredible and also out of the blue. I’ve no idea who nominated me, but we’ve done a lot of things
in the community. It’s nice to be recognised. It was an acknowledgement for me as well, but I may have done lots of things as a volunteer in my time here, even when I had a full-time busy job. But that’s what you do for communities; you play your part. To get an MBE, it’s not just about me, it’s about everybody I’ve worked with. I’ve had great teams of people to work with all the way through.
How much has community played a role in your life?
It has always played a part. I’ve tried to do something for the community, no matter where I was, such as running the clubs in the village, being involved in the church. I was chairman of the community council in the village for a long time. There is a group in Dumfries called Solway Heritage that I’ve worked with, and of course the mountain rescue team and RSGS. So quite a few things I’ve been involved in. I’m trying to wind down my work with them a bit.
Do you have any advice about how we should appeal to a younger audience?
Young people are so busy, but I think if we can just get some of the names to talk that attract young people. There are lots of quite young explorers around the place, and others who do amazing things, and they want to hear their stories. I think both young people and our core membership look forward to hearing about travel and adventure most of all.
What do you think we should pass on to future generations?
Don’t give up. My older grandchildren are 13 and 11, they are very aware of climate change, and I don’t want to overplay it because it eventually gets them very depressed or really low because they can’t work out what you can do personally. The answer is, do your bit. I think we have to just keep moving that message and having events. I think it’s just pushing that message without depressing everybody at the same time because we can make a difference.
“I’ve tried to do something for the community, no matter where I was.”
We are always keen to hear stories from our RSGS Members and Fellows; of their memories, adventures and achievements, that will allow us to build our legacy and develop our community of geography. If you have a story you feel is worth sharing, however short and specific, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Holly (holly. mcnair@rsgs.org); she would be delighted to hear from you.
Robert Lucas FRGS, Chair, Galloway National Park Association; John Thomson, Chair, Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere
National Parks have been created across the world since Yellowstone was designated in 1872, inspired by the Scot John Muir. They come in all shapes and sizes, from a few square kilometres to almost a million (North East Greenland National Park is over 12 times the size of Scotland). Some are wilderness reserves more akin to Scotland’s National Nature Reserves and others are lived-in landscapes. Scotland’s two existing National Parks, and the ten in England and three in Wales, are very much living, working landscapes. They aim to balance the needs of conservation, recreation and communities with sustainable use of resources.
role. It features conditions ranging from the exposed to the sheltered, complete river catchments, open moorland and deep forest, farming both traditional and intensive. It sits on Scotland’s southern edge with climate change squeezing the coast and adding new species to the current rich mix.
“National Park designation is key to putting Galloway on the map.”
Scottish Government has committed to create at least one new National Park by 2026. Some were surprised when Galloway was recently proposed for designation. This southwestern corner of the country is relatively little-known, even amongst Scots, and easily bypassed in the era of predominantly land- and air-based travel. Things were very different in past centuries, when seaborne transport was the norm. Then its lengthy Irish Sea coastline provided ready connection to the wider world, so that it is no surprise that, for example, it is replete with Bronze Age archaeology and hosted the first outposts of Christianity in Scotland.
These historical remains, and the rich cultural associations that go with them, right up to the artists’ colonies of more recent times, were very much part of Galloway’s case for recognition as a nationally important asset. But so too was the wide array of landscapes and habitats that the area enjoys. These range from the highest tops and wildest scenery south of the Highland Line through forests and farmland to a strikingly varied coastline. Such is the region’s diversity of interest and sheer beauty that almost everyone who gets to know it falls in love with it; but they have to find it first, and National Park designation is key to putting Galloway on the map.
A new expectation that the Scottish Government is placing upon our National Parks is that they should lead the way in showing how Scotland should tackle the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. They are being asked to become, in effect, laboratories for the new world towards which we are currently moving at dizzying pace.
Galloway’s diverse natural resource base fits it ideally for this
Over the past century it has witnessed far-reaching land use change. Balancing the demands of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, producing food, storing carbon and increasing biodiversity are the current challenges, but perhaps the most obvious change resulted from the need to create a strategic reserve of timber. The Galloway Forest Park, Scotland’s first and largest, sits at the heart of the area and can lead the way in making this asset truly multi-purpose; delivering muchneeded high-quality timber but balancing that with peatland and other habitat restoration, enhanced access for recreation with its associated health and well-being benefits, and the opportunity for more locally based employment.
There are lessons to be learnt, as not all the past initiatives and approaches have been a success. Some of the rivers that previously supported thriving fish populations, and the angling that these attracted, suffered severe acidification as a result of the then prevailing forestry practices. The ‘new’ jobs promised by a hugely expanded timber industry have not materialised in many of the locations envisaged. Much of the value added to local primary produce has been generated not in the region itself but beyond its boundaries.
The area has institutional foundations on which to build, from agricultural research and training and the work of the Crichton Carbon Centre to the internationally renowned UNESCO Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere. Over the past decade this has developed a broad portfolio of projects designed to bring together people and nature, and to demonstrate exactly the kind of sustainable living and working that is now the ambition for Scotland’s National Parks. Pursuing the same theme, the south of Scotland has now been designated the country’s Natural Capital Innovation Zone. As yet, this is more of a label than a fully worked-up concept. But the overall intent is clear, and if it is to deliver the positive future that the words seek to conjure up, a Galloway National Park dedicated to actively combining the best of the old and the new must surely lie at the heart of it.
Chris Fleet FRSGS, Map Curator, National Library of Scotland
One of the National Library of Scotland’s maps website additions in 2024 has been the 860 field sheets of the Second Land Utilisation Survey of Scotland. This was directed by Professor Alice Coleman (1923–2023), a geographer at King’s College, London, and built on the experience of the First Land Utilisation Survey in the 1930s, directed by Lawrence Dudley Stamp. It employed a broadly similar methodology, including the use of schools and university students – some RSGS members may well have assisted with it – with most fieldwork carried out between 1964 and 1974. The surveys used Ordnance Survey National Grid 1:10,560 base maps, which were hand-coloured and annotated to show land use.
“The field sheets are of unique importance, providing a detailed snapshot of the mid-20th century landscape.”
The project struggled with funding, and although a scattering of maps at 1:25,000 scale were published for parts of England and Wales, only one sheet was published for Scotland. The field sheets are therefore of unique importance, providing a detailed snapshot of the mid-20th century landscape. NLS has georeferenced these, so they can be directly compared with later and earlier mapping. Through a collaboration with Trustees of the Land Use Research Unit established by Professor Alice Coleman, NLS plans to georeference and put online all the field sheets covering England and Wales during 2025.
Second Land Utilisation Survey, detail from Sheet NS98NE, surveyed 1968. Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. View online at maps.nls.uk/series/second-land-utilisation-survey
Hazel Marshall, storyteller
It all started with a football match. In 2005, Steven Carr and fellow Hibernian FC fans travelled to Ukraine to watch their team play against Dnipropetrovsk. As they had occasionally done before, they collected money to give to a local organisation; in this case, Predniprovsk TB Sanatorium.
Usually that would have been it. But this city felt different. Everyone said it was the best trip they’d ever been on. They loved the food and hospitality and people. Many fans wanted to stay connected. They remembered Steven collecting money for the sanatorium and asked him how they could keep in touch. By the end of that year Dnipro Kids was registered as a charity.
They looked beyond the sanatorium to Odinkovka Orphanage, home to 80 children. They also decided to expand beyond gifts to experiences. Steven and others started going to Ukraine a couple of times a year, with the aim of taking the children on trips all over Ukraine. They had one key ambition: to provide great memories.
Over time, the setup of the orphanages changed from big buildings with large numbers of children to smaller familytype homes. The relationship between the orphanages and Dnipro Kids continued to grow. Over the years that followed they saw numerous children settle and grow up in these family homes.
In autumn 2019, Steven went to Ukraine for the usual biannual excursion. But any further trips were thwarted when, in 2020, Covid caused a worldwide shutdown. They were delighted to plan a trip back for April 2022, but then Ukraine was invaded by Russia.
the families had managed to get on a train heading to Lviv. That was all the news he needed, and soon the bus was driving over the border. It wasn’t an easy journey. And then, an hour after they arrived back in Poland, they heard that another three families had managed to get on a train from Dnipro and would soon be in Lviv. There was no question; back over the border they went.
The next day, there was an emotional reunion in Znin, Poland. But there were more problems to come. The families had no visas and nowhere to go. The Homes for Ukraine and Super Sponsor schemes weren’t yet in operation. The initial response from the UK government was to say there was a process for visas in place, but since that process had involved booking the children in for biometrics at the embassy in Kyiv, that wasn’t an option.
“They had one key ambition: to provide great memories.”
In the first few months of the war, the charity tried to persuade the families to evacuate, as Dnipro was in imminent danger of falling to the Russians. It was a dangerous, unpredictable time and no one knew what was going to happen. At first the families didn’t want to leave. Where would they go? None of the official asylum programmes had opened up yet. It was also an emotional risk to leave their homes, not knowing when or if they might come back. Also, the roads were dangerous. There was a high risk of attack. The trains were all full. No route was safe.
Steven felt he had to do more. One night he sat down with his family and said he wanted to go to Ukraine. He felt that because the families knew him it might help with their decisions. His thought was that the families should get out first and worry about the rest later.
Steven flew to Poland but, once there, it still wasn’t clear what he could do to help. Then he found a bus driver who was willing to drive in to Ukraine and help bring the families out, as soon as a likely route could be established. Steven also gave interviews to STV and the BBC, helping to highlight the situation. But there was still no movement from the families.
Just when it all seemed hopeless, he got news that three of
Eventually, with pressure from the media and MPs, the UK government sent a team to Poland. They did the biometrics there and issued the visas a few days later. Then, with help from Virgin Atlantic, the Scottish government and Loganair, the families made their way to Scotland. They were the first group of displaced Ukrainians to come to the UK. In all, 50 children and eight ‘house mothers’ came to Scotland.
Dnipro Kids, with the ongoing support of their football fans as well as many local communities and organisations, swung into action. No one knew for how long the children would be here, so it was imperative to find homes and schools for them and make them feel welcome.
Nobody could have dreamed that a football match would lead to almost 20 years of connection between Scotland and Ukraine and an evacuation from a war-torn country. Two years on the families are still here. No one knows when they will be able to go back.
Reykjavik, October 2024
We, the undersigned, are scientists working in the field of climate research and feel it is urgent to draw the attention of the Nordic Council of Ministers to the serious risk of a major ocean circulation change in the Atlantic. A string of scientific studies in the past few years suggests that this risk has so far been greatly underestimated. Such an ocean circulation change would have devastating and irreversible impacts especially for Nordic countries, but also for other parts of the world.
Science increasingly confirms that the Arctic region is a ‘ground zero’ for tipping point risks and climate regulation across the planet. In this region, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Barents sea ice, the boreal permafrost systems, the subpolar gyre deep-water formation and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are all vulnerable to major, interconnected nonlinear changes. The AMOC, the dominant mechanism of northward heat transport in the North Atlantic, determines life conditions for all people in the Arctic region and beyond and is increasingly at risk of passing a tipping point.
Tipping point risks are real and can occur within the 1.5–2°C climate range of the Paris Agreement. The world is currently heading well beyond this range (> 2.5°C).
In the Synthesis report of the IPCC (2023) it is stated with high confidence that the likelihood of abrupt or irreversible changes in the climate system will increase with the level of global warming, and similarly the probability of outcomes that may be considered low-likelihood but are associated with potentially very large adverse impacts increases. The IPCC further specifies that “risks associated with large-scale singular events or tipping points… transition to high risk between 1.5°C –2.5°C” of global warming.
century but only fully plays out in the next.
Given the increasing evidence for a higher risk of an AMOC collapse, we believe it is of critical importance that Arctic tipping point risks, in particular the AMOC risk, are taken seriously in governance and policy. Even with a medium likelihood of occurrence, given that the outcome would be catastrophic and impacting the entire world for centuries to come, we believe more needs to be done to minimise this risk.
The impacts particularly on Nordic Countries would likely be catastrophic, including major cooling in the region while surrounding regions warm. This would be an enlargement and deepening of the ‘cold blob’ that already has developed over the subpolar Atlantic Ocean, and likely lead to unprecedented extreme weather. While the impacts on weather patterns, ecosystems and human activities warrant further study, they would potentially threaten the viability of agriculture in northwestern Europe.
“Adaptation to such a severe climate catastrophe is not a viable option.”
Many further impacts are likely to be felt globally, including a shift in tropical rainfall belts, reduced oceanic carbon dioxide uptake (and thus faster atmospheric increase) as well as major additional sealevel rise particularly along the American Atlantic coast, and an upheaval of marine ecosystems and fisheries.
A recent OECD report has concluded that “the current scientific evidence unequivocally supports unprecedented, urgent and ambitious climate action to tackle the risks of climate system tipping points.”
Regarding the risk of tipping the ocean circulation in the Atlantic, the IPCC concludes that “there is medium confidence that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will not collapse abruptly before 2100, but if it were to occur, it would very likely cause abrupt shifts in regional weather patterns, and large impacts on ecosystems and human activities.”
Recent research since the last IPCC report does suggest that the IPCC has underestimated this risk and that the passing of this tipping point is a serious possibility already in the next few decades.
Despite significant research into the possibility and mechanisms of a collapse, the probability of such an occurrence remains highly uncertain. The purpose of this letter is to draw attention to the fact that only “medium confidence” in the AMOC not collapsing is not reassuring, and clearly leaves open the possibility of an AMOC collapse during this century. And there is even greater likelihood that a collapse is triggered this
Recognising that adaptation to such a severe climate catastrophe is not a viable option, we urge the Council of Nordic Ministers to (a) initiate an assessment of this significant risk to the Nordic countries and (b) take steps to minimise this risk as much as possible. This could involve leveraging the strong international standing of the Nordic countries to increase pressure for greater urgency and priority in the global effort to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, in order to stay close to the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement.
Sincerely, the signatories [signed by 43 of the world’s foremost climate scientists]
Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive
There is a normalcy to travelling by train. It’s not completely free of stress, but it is probably the least stressful form of travel, especially once you’re on board. One of the greatest joys is turning something mundane like getting on the train to Edinburgh into a bigger adventure. It feels like you’re starting your holiday instantaneously.
“Train travel is a calmer way to go on holiday as it forces you to decompress.”
My wife and I did this in October, after finally carving out some time for a long-anticipated break. The plan was for a walking holiday with Glasgow-based Macs Adventure (macsadventure.com) to the Cinque Terre National Park in Liguria, a stunning area of northwest Italy with five colourful villages carved into the steep hillsides connected only by train or slightly vertiginous walking paths. But first we had to get there.
Fortunately, the Man in Seat 61, Mark Smith, runs a brilliant website (seat61.com) which aims to help make international rail travel as comfortable and affordable as possible. That isn’t to say it’s without its complications, and juggling the various ticketing options and schedules still took some effort. I owe my wife Katrine a huge debt of gratitude for having the patience and wherewithal to wrestle her way through the various logistics of a five-day Eurail/Interrail pass (interrail. eu).
Alongside choosing when to travel, the most important and exciting question to answer was where. If we were catching the train to northwest Italy, where did we want to break the journey? With Perth as our starting point, the simplest first stop was London, which immediately lent itself to a visit to Stanfords map shop, a favourite go-to in Covent Garden. We found somewhere to eat and squeezed in a theatre show, The Duchess of Malfi, making the most of the brief stopover.
Of course, from London the Eurostar takes you to a series of continental rail hubs. Amsterdam opens up northern Europe and Scandinavia, or Brussels and Cologne lead to Germany and the Danube. Katrine, though, had set her heart on a stopover in Avignon in Provence, so we left the palatial grandeur of St Pancras for Paris. After the quick hop from
London we arrived in Gare du Nord at 10.30am, with nearly two hours to cross to Gare du Lyon in the east, from where it was only another three and a half hours to Avignon. Thanks to our rail pass it was also first-class seats, one of the perks of organised rail travel.
Avignon was a lovely place to stop over, the old town full of winding streets and mystery, tucked inside a remarkably intact medieval wall and home of the old Papal Palace. We had two nights to explore before we continued our journey south. This was our most challenging day on paper: Avignon centre to the TGV station, then the TGV to Nice. With less than 15 minutes to make the connection to Vintimiglia in Italy (confusingly spelt Vintemille in French), we were lucky to make it.
French and Italian railways have clearly decided they cannot work together, so it is just local trains to get over the border and down into Liguria. We had 18 minutes to change platforms in Vintimiglia for the train to Savona. But it is a small station, and there was only one Trenitalia train.
Similarly, Savona to Camogli. These are all regular local services and stop everywhere, so it didn’t matter so much if we missed a connection. We found ourselves plunging into a series of tunnels, then intermittently bursting out into forested valleys and sunny Mediterranean vistas.
Getting the train to Cinque Terre seemed very fitting, as it is the principal means of getting around in the area. The five main villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore are served by very regular trains, every 15 minutes or so. There is also a less regular ferry. The only real alternative is to walk between the villages, although some sections of path depend on having a head for heights as they contour round the steep hillsides, and heavy rain can make
them more treacherous still. We did lose two days of walking to the weather.
Despite being off-season, there were a lot of tourists, but the villages were beautiful. There was a sort of Italian, shabbychic, high-rise feel: villages and houses, with trompe d’oeil facades, perched precariously on cliffs above pretty steepsided harbours, which act as both shelters and gateways to the wind-kissed Mediterranean. It is truly stunning.
The journey home was more straightforward and the changes more relaxed. First the early train to Milan, then late morning we headed to Zurich; predictably efficient and magnificent views of lochs and mountains for most of the second half. Finally, we boarded a mid-afternoon TGV back to Paris. The lure of a night in Paris (and a fondue Savoyarde at Pain Vin Fromages) was too strong, so we planned an extra day here before heading back to London and on to Perth. As ever, the slowest part of the journey was Edinburgh to Perth via Stirling, the final 120km of a 2,000km journey.
In today’s fast-paced world, train travel is a calmer way to go. It’s a calmer way to go on holiday as it forces you to decompress. It’s less stressful and more immediate. It’s an opportunity to add to the adventure by building in breaks. It’s much greener than flying. And with care it doesn’t have to be over-expensive.
Alastair Bonnett (Ivy Press, September 2024)
Maps have always held the power to transport us, from one place to another, and from one state of mind to another. Beyond their utilitarian function, maps have an extraordinary ability to tell stories, reveal truths and inspire revolutions. This selection of 40 maps chosen by social geography professor Bonnett spans the ages from ancient parchment scrolls to cutting-edge digital creations. Each is a window into a different facet of our world, shedding light on the complex interplay of geography, geopolitics, art, history, science and society.
Angela Harding (Sphere, September 2024)
Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
Dr Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith (Penguin, October 2024)
“A blue-green sketchbook sits at the edge of my studio desk. It is covered in decorative paper that is now frayed and tattered. These marks are evidence of its travels, as far north as Shetland and as far south as the Isles of Scilly. It has sat beside me on beaches and cliff tops, on small island planes and huge ferries, on trains and bicycles.” Printmaker and illustrator Harding’s beautiful book features over 50 illustrations of dramatic seascapes and reflective rivers, alongside photography of the stunning places that inspired the artwork, in a joyful celebration of water and wildlife across Britain.
Offer ends 31st March 2025
John Shears, Nico Vincent (National Geographic Society, November 2024)
only £30.00 (RRP £45.00)
In March 2022, an international polar expedition team found the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance, lost in 1915 after being crushed by ice and then swallowed by the Weddell Sea. The vessel remains incredibly intact, as crystalclear photography and digital scans reveal. Polar geographer and expedition leader Shears and expedition subsea manager Vincent give a thrilling first-hand account of their expedition in this first book to fully document the discovery.
Readers of The Geographer can buy Endurance for only £30.00 (RRP £45.00). To order, please phone 01628 633673 between 9am and 3pm, or visit www.centralbooks.com/endurance.html, and quote discount code ENDUR30.
The Weinersmiths set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of original research, and interviews with leading space scientists, engineers and legal experts, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space tech and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the deep knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms and create space nations. They investigate whether the dream of new worlds won’t create a nightmare, and consider whether and how to become multiplanetary.
Mark Wedgwood (Book Guild Publishing, October 2024)
In 2022, Wedgwood cycled 7,300 miles across all 204 Ordnance Survey Landranger maps, in a six-month odyssey to every part of Scotland, England, Wales and the Isle of Man, visiting the most extreme and the most mundane places, discovering pleasant surprises, and learning that you can lose yourself in emptiness and enjoy peaceful cycling just about everywhere. Carefully devised cycling routes introduce lesserknown places, strange anomalies and endearing stories of a country that offers a catalogue of truly uplifting experiences.
Sherri Goodman (Island Press, September 2024)
Former US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) Goodman shows how the US military is confronting climate change, the biggest security risk in global history; how the military evolved from an environmental laggard to a climate and clean energy leader; and how a warming world exacerbates every threat, from hurricanes and forest fires to terrorism and power plays by Russia and China. The Pentagon now considers climate in war games, disaster relief planning, international diplomacy, and even the design of its own bases.
Phone 01738 455050 or visit www.rsgs.org to join the RSGS. Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU Charity SC015599