Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme (SCCAP)
Programme setting out Ministers objectives, policies and proposals to tackle the climate change impacts identified for Scotland.
Part 2 - The Adaptation Programme
Objectives, Policies And Proposals
This section sets out Scottish Ministers objectives in relation to adaptation to climate change, and their proposals and policies for meeting those objectives, as required by Section 53(2)(a)(i) and (ii) of the Act. These address the risks identified in the report under section 56 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment), as required by Section 53(2)(b) of the Act.
As required by Section 53(2)(a)(v) of the Act, the period within which the proposals and policies will be introduced is as follows:
Proposals: Some proposals are likely to become firm policies once development work is complete and/or financial resources allow; other proposals may be options to consider over the course of the Programme or for introduction in future Programmes.
Policies: Policies will have either been introduced or will be introduced over the lifetime of the Programme.
Objectives
Each of the following theme Chapters contain objectives describing what is aimed to be achieved in the long-term (up to 2050). There are 9 objectives for the Programme spread across three themes (Figure 1).
Policies and Proposals
Attached to each objective are the policies and proposals that provide the focus for the lifetime of this Programme [45] in order to progress towards the long term objective.
For the purpose of the Programme, a 'policy' is considered to be a course of action which has been wholly or largely decided upon. In many cases, policies will have committed funding and/or legislation and timescales. A 'proposal' is considered to be a suggested course of action, the details of which might change as the course of action is explored and evidence is gathered.
Climate Ready Natural Environment
Introduction
This Chapter considers the most important impacts of the changing climate on the natural environment and sets out the Scottish Government's related objectives associated with the identified climate risks.
The following issues are considered in this chapter:
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services - Scotland's habitats and species and the goods and services provided by its plants, soils, rivers and lochs and other natural capital.
- The health of the seas around Scotland and the species that live in them.
- The role of land management and marine planning in protecting and enhancing habitats and biodiversity.
- The productivity of our land and seas and what this means for Scotland's land-based and fishing industries.
How is the changing climate likely to affect our natural environment?
Climate change will have important consequences for nature in Scotland.
Agriculture -Scottish agriculture may experience positive change in some areas and negative change in others.
Primary producers in Scotland may benefit from both improved growing and grazing conditions and higher global food prices. However, these positive impacts could be largely or partially offset by negative impacts. These include an increased risk of extreme weather events such as droughts or floods, resulting in a decline in agricultural productivity and damage to farm buildings and infrastructure. An alteration in the prevalence and spread of pests and diseases affecting either livestock or crops may also occur, lowering yields. Intense rainfall events may lead to crop damage, soil compaction and erosion and inflict longer term damage to agricultural land.
The variability in weather conditions is already making farming more of a challenge. Farmers have always had to work with the weather and adapting to climate change is already becoming part of routine farming business. By taking steps now, such as securing water supplies for irrigation or reducing soil erosion risks, farming businesses are reducing the threats from the impacts of climate change.
Land based businesses are also well placed to help wider society adapt to climate change. For example, working with land managers to consider natural flood management measures to reduce surface water runoff rates have a positive effect by decreasing water levels and increasing resilience to damage. Additional benefits include the prevention of soil poaching by livestock and the control of livestock parasites, such as the snail that causes liver fluke, that thrive in waterlogged soil. Many adaptation measures that can be implemented on farm also provide cross-cutting benefits to water and air quality and biodiversity. For example, the use of cover crops to improve soil structure by increasing soil organic matter has benefits for biodiversity. They provide a habitat for many different species above ground as well as improving the activity of microbes in the soil.
Forestry - In Scotland the key risks and opportunities for the forestry sector and woodlands from climate change appear to be increased problems of windthrow and drought, wildfire, pests and diseases. An increase in productivity in tree species that are matched to the new conditions could also be observed.
A programme of related research is currently underway to improve our understanding of climate change impacts on woodlands and forestry and how resilience to threats, such as extreme weather events and pests and disease affecting trees and forests, can be improved in future. We need a move towards planned adaptation in woodland creation and management, as well-structured and diverse forests that can better withstand change and extreme events.
Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops or animals. This land use is based on long-term planning to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. Online guidance has been developed to assist land managers in making decisions on appropriate adaptation strategies for the longer term.
Biodiversity and Ecosystems - Changes to soil biodiversity and function brought about by the changing climate could have severe implications for the wider ecosystem - reducing its ability to provide nutrients and water to sustain plant growth, and therefore leading to a decline in biodiversity and ecosystem function. In addition, an increase in flooding and erosion is likely to affect water quality, as potential pollutants, such as sediment and nutrients, are transported into water courses.
The pattern of land use may also change, for example the expansion of land used for agriculture - and potential displacement of other land uses to new areas - could have a potentially negative impact on biodiversity. Efforts to increase agricultural yields could have damaging effects on soils, contributing to ecosystem degradation. Increased demand for water by the agricultural sector may lead to over abstraction - reducing water flow and quality which is detrimental to habitats. Drying of soils and peat bogs could limit their ability to regulate and purify water, leading to a decline in water quality.
Our ecosystems could also be disrupted by invasive non-native species, pests and diseases, with species being displaced or even becoming locally extinct. Warmer temperatures may also cause species to move north or higher up hills to follow their preferred 'climate space' [46] .
This all points to the need to maintain and enhance our ecosystems so that they are more resilient to the pressures of a changing climate and more able to withstand both extreme events and long term change. A healthy ecosystem will be able to adapt over time whilst still maintaining its core functions and thus continuing to provide the ecosystem services we need.
Marine Environment - Coastal flooding resulting from sea level rise and storm surges may damage coastal habitats through saltwater intrusion. Over the next century sea level around Scotland is going to rise. This is mostly due to the global heating and resulting expansion of ocean water, with a smaller contribution from the melting of ice-caps and glaciers. In Scotland, some of this rise will be mitigated by vertical changes in the level of the land.
We may see the arrival of new commercial fish species into Scottish waters and/or the loss of existing species, as the climate warms. The reduced ability for marine species to make shells and skeletons as the oceans become more acidic could impact heavily on Scotland's important shellfish industry. The disruption to or loss of marine ecosystem services, for example if there is increased occurrence of harmful algal blooms, could have a significant impact on Scotland's economy, of which a large contribution comes from the fishing and aquaculture industries. Future temperature increases could provide enhanced opportunities for non-native species at each stage of the invasion process.
Coastal Erosion - Coastal erosion is a naturally occurring process which affects, periodically, most soft coastlines in Scotland. It is important for the creation, conservation and integrity of many unique coastal habitats and landscapes. However, the consequences of erosion can be significant in economic and personal terms and therefore, it is important to intervene only where erosion directly threatens homes or businesses. This is because flood and coastal erosion risk management projects often have substantial impacts on the coastal environment, leading to hydrographic changes which can change sedimentation pattern and may lead to erosion / sedimentation processes in adjacent areas. Defences may also lead to accelerated erosion of the coast.
Tourism and the Natural Environment - Warmer weather could result in increased tourism, although flooding may cause the loss of, or damage to, natural and man-made economically important coastal assets and visitor attractions - such as beaches, ancient monuments and golf courses. The loss of particular habitats and species could damage Scotland's tourism industry, which is heavily reliant on our natural environment. Increased occurrences of harmful algal blooms [47] could also have significant economic consequences when access is restricted during periods of high visitor numbers.
Objectives, Policies and Proposals
This Chapter contains the objectives and the policies and proposals to drive the progress towards meeting the objectives. The objectives describe what is hoped will be achieved in the long-term (up to 2050), and the policies and proposals set out the priorities for this Programme.
The following objectives, policies and proposals address the relevant risks identified for Agriculture, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Flooding and Coastal Erosion, Forestry and, Marine and Fisheries by the CCRA. The objectives are inter-related and are being addressed in a coherent way, recognising that they are mutually reinforcing with strong synergies across them.
What is already being done?
The impacts of climate change on Scotland's natural environment are being addressed through actions under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the Land Use Strategy, River Basin Management Plans, the developing framework of marine planning at a national and regional level and a wide range of environmental legislation. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy has been updated to meet new international targets for 2020. Climate change impacts will be explicitly taken into account.
A key priority is protecting and enhancing Scotland's peatlands. Over 40% of Scotland's land cover has peaty soils. These store vast amounts of carbon and we need to ensure that that carbon remains locked up in the soil. Climate change will affect the way that peatlands take up and store carbon. We are therefore already acting to take climate change into account in peatland management practices. Healthy peatlands will also be more resilient to climate change: for instance they will absorb heavy rainfall or will be less prone to drying out.
Case Study
Peatland Restoration by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ( RSPB)
Adaptation means increasing resilience to current or future change in order to moderate harm. Unfortunately, many of Scotland's peatland habitats are not resilient to climate change because they are in a degraded state. Degraded peatland is more likely to dry out with higher temperatures and lower rainfall, and further erode in increased heavy rainfall events. Both these processes lead to a poor habitat for wildlife and increased CO 2 emissions from further damaged peatland. The more degraded a peatland the lower its adaptive capacity and the greater its carbon losses.
Peatland habitats are more resilient to climate change impacts if they are in a healthy condition. Restoration of damaged peatland back to a healthy condition is important if it is to fully provide a habitat for wildlife and a steady flow of services to people, including wildlife to enjoy, carbon storage, a source of clean water, recreation and employment.
Many peatlands are damaged and therefore are vulnerable to a changing climate. RSPB Scotland is actively involved in the restoration of damaged blanket bog at its Forsinard Flows nature reserve.
Drains and ditches have been blocked across Forsinard to raise the water table, enable the bog surface to re-vegetate and new peat to form. Trees in forestry plantation have also been removed. The work has attracted wading birds, such as golden plovers, and breeding birds like hen harriers, short-eared owl and meadow pipits are returning to the areas previously covered by trees. Restoration has increased the resilience of the habitat and ensured it can withstand periods of dry weather and warmer temperatures.
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Scotland's coastal and marine ecosystems also store carbon. Through Marine Planning and the Marine Protected Area ( MPA) network we can safeguard habitats such as saltmarshes, seagrass beds and kelp forests protecting and enhancing these long-term carbon sinks.
The following table sets out what is currently being done by Scottish Government and key public bodies at a national level to help build resilience and deliver the objectives for the natural environment. It includes a wide range of existing and planned policies, legislation and on-going action.
| Objective N1 - Understand the effects resulting from climate change and their impacts on the natural environment | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| N1-1 | Raising awareness of the implications of climate change for nature. | Supporting the use of long-term datasets and publication and promotion of information describing the implications of climate change for nature by Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH) and Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA) through Scotland's Environment Website, public information and SNH Trend Notes. | Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, ClimateXChange |
| N1-2 | Increase understanding of the implications of climate change for nature through data gathering, analysis and research. | Continuing research and data gathering is needed to detect, quantify and understand the impacts of climate change on nature to inform adaptation policy and management. | Scottish Government, ClimateXChange, BICCO-Net, Universities, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency. |
| N1-3 | Undertake spatial modelling, based around different scenarios, of potential risks to existing forests in order to evaluate the impacts that climate change could have on different forest types. | Will provide forestry-specific interpretation of climate impacts so that forest managers are clear on what changes are happening and can be expected and can plan in the long-term accordingly. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| N1-4 | Improve understanding on how we can develop more resilient forests, identify adaptation strategies for all types of woodlands, and demonstrate these in forest settings. | Will allow forest managers to make the required changes. Much of this will be taken forward through the new Research Forest in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park which will be trialling and demonstrating adaptation actions. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| N1-5 | Enhance collaborative research into tree pests and diseases to develop understanding of the etiology, pathology, epidemiology and management of pests/diseases in a changing climate. | Will ensure that we are as prepared as possible for managing forests and other ecosystems in the presence of pests and diseases. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| N1-6 | Marine Scotland will use marine research strategies and monitoring programmes to gather data on the impact climate change is having on the seas. | Research and monitoring findings from various initiatives will help inform decision making on adaptation across all sectors. For example -
|
Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) with support from others e.g. Scottish Natural Heritage, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Marine users, ClimateXChange |
| N1-7 | Continue support for the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership ( MCCIP). | MCCIP develops high quality evidence - e.g. Annual Report Card, Climate Smart Working Report - on the impacts of climate change on the marine environment that inform policy and decision making. The Report Card explores the issues, challenges, opportunities and achievements in putting climate change adaptation into practice. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) |
| N1-8 | Understand the risks associated with coastal flooding through development and implementation of local flood risk plans. | Through development of local flood risk plans SEPA, local authorities and other responsible authorities will identify potential causes and consequences of flood risk and prioritise appropriate mitigation measures. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Local Authorities, Scottish Water |
| N1-9 | Supporting citizen science and voluntary environmental monitoring. | Biological records are a powerful tool in assessing the impact of climate change and are highly valued by research scientists. Vast amounts of environmental data can be collected over a wide range of environments over a long period of time. The data collected for the annual 'Big Garden Birdwatch' helps NGOs and agencies monitor the effects of climate on bird populations. Nature's Calendar is a Citizen Science project in collaboration with the Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology ( CEH). Volunteers are shown what and when to look for and asked to record the signs of the seasons where they live. The results inform us of how climate change is affecting the natural cycle. Citizen science also helps encourage an interest and responsibility for the natural environment. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, The Conservation Volunteers, Education Scotland |
| N1-10 | Developing datasets to support flood risk, river and coastal management. A requirement of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act is to develop a programme to integrate necessary data. | Datasets of flood risk and coastal change information available to all flood risk management practitioners to inform effective flood risk, river and coastal management practitioners, including a programme of data capture using Light Detection and Ranging ( LiDAR) and Scottish Detailed River Network ( SDRN), will inform effective decision making. | Scottish Government, OS, Scottish Water, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Local Authorities and other public and private sector bodies |
| N1-11 | Continue to fund the Strategic Research Portfolio in Rural and Environmental Science to improve the evidence base on the likely impacts of climate change on Scottish agriculture and ensure effective knowledge transfer of research outputs. | Research results will reduce uncertainty and provide the basis of future policy development and advisory activity for the agricultural sector. | Scottish Government, ClimateXChange, Main Research Providers: Scotland's Rural College, James Hutton Institute, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, Moredun Research Institute, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh |
| N1-12 | Deliver the current programme of research work on the effects of climate change on Scottish food security. | Research will assess the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food production in Scotland and ways in which impacts can be mitigated against and or adapted to. | Scottish Government, Scotland's Rural College, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, ClimateXChange |
| N1-13 | Manage and monitor changes to Scotland's transport infrastructure environment to detect impacts and changes on biodiversity and vegetation growing cycles through: • Transport Scotland Biodiversity action plan; • Transport Scotland Cost Effective Landscaping, and; • Network Rail Standard - Management of Lineside Vegetation. | Use transport network auditing regimes under these policies to monitor new biodiversity impacts and detectable alterations in vegetation growing season cycles. | Transport Scotland |
Case Study
Drought risk and impacts of climate change on land capability
In updating the Land Capability for Agriculture ( LCA), the James Hutton Institute have been looking at how to incorporate climate change into these guidelines. The Institute have looked into drought risk and how it is linked to the expected additional irrigation demand for particular crop types.
During this process, certain catchments were identified as having unsustainable use of water resources which will be further exacerbated by climate change. As land use has a key role in managing climate change, a preliminary assessment of changes in water supply and demand has been produced. This assessment could be further developed to provide additional guidance on sustainable abstraction levels.
James Hutton Institute
| Objective N2 - Support a healthy and diverse natural environment with the capacity to adapt | ||||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? | |
| N2-1 | Review objectives and priorities for action in Scotland's Wild Deer: a National Approach ( WDNA) Prepare best practice guidance for deer management groups to support the code of practice on deer management under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended. | Will support sustainable deer management and minimise adverse impacts from deer on ecosystems and landscapes, such as excessive grazing and trampling causing erosion of carbon rich soils. | Scottish Natural Heritage, other public bodies and land managers | |
| N2-2 | The Scottish Planning Policy includes green networks, green space, street trees and other vegetation, green roofs, wetlands and other water features, and coastal habitats in helping Scotland to mitigate and adapt to climate change. | Green infrastructure can help nature to adapt to climate change by strengthening habitat networks, reducing habitat fragmentation and providing opportunities for species to migrate. It also helps people to adapt by providing other benefits like sustainable drainage, flood alleviation, coast protection, cooling in urban areas, and places for people to walk and cycle. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, Local Authorities, other public bodies, and land managers | |
| N2-3 | Demonstrate adaptive management in National Nature Reserves to help explain the implications of climate change for nature and demonstrate management that takes account of these implications. | This work will contribute to adaptation by raising awareness and understanding amongst managers of protected sites and wider land. | Scottish Natural Heritage and partners | |
| N2-4 | Manage designated sites for land based biodiversity. | Identify the consequences of climate change for protected places and the Natura network and put in place adaptive measures. | Scottish Natural Heritage and partners | |
| N2-5 | Pilot the use of the Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH) Wildlife Management Framework to integrate climate change risks into wildlife management decisions (including deer). The Framework includes questions around the impact of management actions on the ability of the species to adapt to climate change and on woodland expansion. It will be tested within SNH and then rolled out for use by others, including land managers. | This is a tool to support decisions around wildlife management issues such as controlling non-native species, managing conflicts between species, or ensuring sustainable use of species as a resource for food or sport. This should help make such decisions more robust in the face of climate change, and so contribute to adaptation. | Scottish Natural Heritage | |
| N2-6 | Develop the ecosystem approach into a usable set of tools for use by decision makers including through the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2020 Challenge, and the Land Use Strategy. | The ecosystems approach promotes a holistic approach to land management which will help to build resilience to climate change and ensure that wider benefits from nature are taken into account in decisions. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, James Hutton Institute and partners. | |
| N2-7 | Reduce the pressure on ecosystems from invasive non-native species ( INNS). | A co-ordinated approach will be used for managing non-native species, using new regulatory powers under the WANE Act and more accessible advice and promotion to support the Code of Practice, will help build resilience to climate impacts. Priority will be given to preventing the establishment and spread of INNS but priorities will also be developed for restoring ecosystems degraded by INNS where it is feasible and appropriate to do so. This approach will help to enhance the resilience of ecosystems by reducing the pressure from INNS. Much of this work will be taken forward under the 2020 Challenge for Scotland's Biodiversity and River Basin Management Plans. Preventing the establishment of INNS includes identifying the pathways by which they spread and putting in place biosecurity measures to address these, as well as contingency planning, early detection and rapid response. There are strong links to policy N2-16 on INNS in the marine environment. | Scottish Government, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, NGOs, land managers and other members of the public (such as water users). | |
| N2-8 | Implement the Land Use Strategy ( LUS) and associated action plan - incorporates principles for sustainable land use and includes a commitment to investigate the relationship between land use change and ecosystems processes to identify adaptation priorities. | The Land Use Strategy ( LUS) incorporates Principles for the sustainable use of Scotland's land and actions which will aid the achievement of a long term future Vision for Scotland's land resources. The LUS regional pilots in Scottish Borders and Aberdeenshire will be utilising the LUS Principles and taking an ecosystems approach to consider land use and land use change in their area. In addition, the LUS Action Plan Proposals contain a number of specific milestones which relate to climate change adaptation such as the publication of Achieving Diversity in Scotland's Forest Landscapes which provides guidance on planning future forests in a changing climate. The Action Plan also contains strong sharing knowledge and learning from research, demonstration projects and good practice. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency | |
| N2-9 | Implement the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy which promotes action to enhance the health & resilience of the terrestrial and marine environments, and the benefits they provide to people, taking account of climate risk & principles for helping nature adapt (Scottish Natural Heritage " Climate Change and Nature in Scotland"). | Climate risk is fully integrated into the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Research under the strategy will contribute knowledge regarding the priority risks for biodiversity that need to be managed. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland | |
| N2-10 | Promote the UK Forestry Standard and Climate Change guidelines. | The guidelines help raise awareness of the Standard to build the resilience of forests to the impacts of climate change. | Forestry Commission Scotland, forest managers | |
| N2-11 | Embed climate change adaptation considerations, and potential responses such as habitat networks and green networks, into wider land use planning decisions through the use of Forestry and Woodland Strategies, regional land use strategies, and Strategic and Local Development Plans and development master-plans. | Habitat Network information will be used to inform land use plans so that the creation and management of woodland and other habitats can be targeted to further strengthen these networks and increase their resilience to climate impacts. | Scottish Government, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Local authorities, others. | |
| N2-12 | Improve the condition and connectivity of native woodlands; promote natural regeneration as a means of increasing resilience to climate change, and take other steps to increase adaptive capacity in woodlands. | More native woodlands in favourable condition will increase their capacity to adapt to climate impacts. | Forestry Commission Scotland, Forest Enterprise Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Private sector forest managers | |
| N2-13 | The National Marine Plan ( NMP) will set out objectives and policies for sustainable development of Scotland's seas; promoting economic growth while ensuring growth occurs in balance with the protection of natural and historic heritage. | In accordance with the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Ministers and public bodies must act in a way best calculated to mitigate, and adapt to, climate change so far as is consistent with the purpose of the function concerned - as such the NMP includes objectives and policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Objectives and policies relating to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change are embedded throughout the sectoral chapters of the National Marine Plan. Future regional marine plans, sectoral plans, licensing and consenting decisions which affect the sea will have to be taken in accordance with the National Marine Plan. The NMP will be reviewed after 5 years to take account of new information on climate change impacts and ecosystem services. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland), Marine Scotland Science, Regional Marine Planning Partnerships | |
| N2-14 | Regional Marine Plans ( RMPs) will be developed from 2014 and will shape regional objectives and policies for coastal and marine management and include policies relating to climate change adaptation (and mitigation). | RMPs will be required to include objectives and policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, ensuring that development and activity in the marine environment planned for at a regional level will mitigate, and be adaptive to climate change where appropriate. An adaptive approach will be taken to marine planning at a regional level, meaning that up to date information on climate change and how best to mitigate or adapt will be taken into account. Like the NMP, RMPs will also be reviewed after 5 years. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland), Regional Marine Planning Partnerships | |
| N2-15 | Manage designated sites for the marine environment. | Protection of the marine environment helps maintain a healthy ecosystem that in turn supports the natural services that help mitigate climate change. For example:
|
Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Government (Marine Scotland), Scottish Environment Protection Agency | |
| N2-16 | Develop mechanisms to minimise the introduction and establishment of invasive non-native species into Scottish waters. | Early detection of non-native species and putting in place biosecurity measures to limit their impact and spread are important ways of reducing the pressures on the marine environment in a changing climate. For example:
|
Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) and partners | |
| N2-17 | Implement River Basin Management Plans ( RBMP). The RBMPs set out how we can enhance the environmental quality of rivers, lochs and seas, delivering greater benefits for the environment, and safeguarding them for future generations. | These will help ensure resilience to climate impacts in terms of maintaining and improving water quality. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, responsible authorities and land managers | |
| N2-18 | Support the development of Local Flood Risk Management Plans. This will manage waters and coasts at a river catchment level and include local flood risk management plans. Some aspects of this plan-led approach are innovative, particularly the heightened approach to sustainable flood risk management. This work will include research demonstration projects to assess the benefits of working with nature to lower flood risk. | Local plans will include opportunities to slow or store flood water by enhancing, altering or restoring natural features and characteristics across catchments (natural flood management). By working with nature these measures will also often have benefits for biodiversity and water quality. This will give us robust evidence to encourage local authorities to implement natural flood management and build in a level of protection that over the years could mitigate the future impacts of climate change. It also raises awareness among landowners of their role in adapting to climate change. | Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, responsible authorities and land managers |
| N2-19 | Improve the condition of rivers Special Areas of Conservation as part of River Basin Management Plans. | Implementing river basin management plans will be critical in ensuring that inland water bodies achieve good or better status. Special Areas of Conservation are a mechanism for helping nature adapt. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland (Natural Scotland) |
| N2-20 | Assess and manage coasts, promoting adaptive coastal management that works with natural processes. | This will be done through:
|
Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Local Authorities |
| N2-21 | Promote the Farming For A Better Climate Programme. This is an advisory programme for land managers to help them mitigate climate change and adapt to the impacts of climate change which includes web-based advice & guidance, demonstration farms, farm events, seminars, conferences and raising awareness through publications in farming press. | Raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities that climate change will bring to land managers. Transfer knowledge and practical skills to increase adaptive capacity of Scottish farming, as well as developing greater business resilience across the sector. Topics covered include soil aeration and drainage maintenance, sheep health and breed choice, better use of water for irrigation and opportunities for natural flood management. | Scottish Government, Scottish Rural College |
| N2-22 | Support the projects Future Proofing Scotland's Farming, Scotland's Farming Innovation Network and Planning for Profit. These are skills development programmes that aim to prepare agricultural businesses for the impacts, opportunities and risks that both climate and economic change present. | Raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities that climate change will bring to land managers. Transfer knowledge and practical skills to increase adaptive capacity of Scottish farming, as well as developing greater business resilience across the sector. Topics covered include building soil fertility, effective field drainage, reducing flood risk and improving soil performance and planting trees for shelter belts and to protect water courses. | Soil Association Scotland, Quality Meat Scotland, National Farmers Union Scotland, Scottish Agricultural Organisations Society, Zero Waste Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland. |
Case Study
Implementation of Restoration and Natural Flood Management ( NFM) measures and liaison with land managers
The Eddleston Water is a sub catchment of the River Tweed measuring 69 square km with the main stream measuring 12km. It covers a large area of hill and improved grassland, north of Peebles in the Scottish Borders. Tweed Forum is working with 12 farmers and land owners in the valley to facilitate a co-ordinated approach to Natural Flood Management ( NFM).
NFM can be identified as those techniques that aim to work with natural hydrological and morphological processes, features and characteristics to manage the sources and pathways of run-off to reduce the damaging effects of flood waters.
In the Eddleston Water, work to 'slow the flow' and 'increase storage of flood waters' is on-going at 20 separate sites. The techniques being utilised include: Planting of native woodland on floodplains and in hill cleuchs. The trees and coarse grass generated will help slow the surface flow rate which will help take the peak off the flood water. New water retention ponds have been created to capture flood water. Re-meandering of canalised ditches and watercourses will encourage a more natural watercourse ecosystem to develop. The installation of log-jams in the headwaters to slow down run-off, will benefit water quality, wildlife and the fishery, to name but a few.
Promoting all the benefits that these measures have is called 'The Ecosystem Services Approach'. It is through land managers working together that real progress can be made. The benefits to the farm, the environment and the local community can be significant.
This is a partnership project involving: Private land-owners, Tweed Forum , Scottish Government, Scottish Borders Council, SEPA, Dundee University, Forestry Commission Scotland and British Geological Survey.
Eddleston Water Project
Tweed Forum
| Objective N3 - Sustain and enhance the benefits, goods and services that the natural environment provides | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| N3-1 | Implement the EU reform of the Common Agricultural Policy post 2014 to ensure that climate change adaptation objectives are considered. | EU Common Agricultural Policy provides a level of income security to farmers as well as incentives for measures aimed at supporting rural businesses and communities to develop and diversify as well as environmental protection and conservation measures. The EU has agreed the shape of the CAP support system until 2020 and Scottish Government is continuing to work with stakeholders on prioritising the details of the final programme, which is due to commence in 2015. Public consultations on both Pillar 1 (Direct Payments) and Pillar 2 (Rural Development) have taken place in 2013-2014 to ensure stakeholders views are considered. There are a number of options that could be used to support adaptation in agriculture including, capital grants for resilience measures such as improved farm infrastructure and buildings, funding for skills initiatives that provide training and guidance on adaptation and financial incentives to support the uptake of adaptation measures on farm to encourage uptake and improve farm business performance. | EU, Scottish Government |
| N3-2 | Support Scotland's Animal Health Regime to help prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms. | Climate change may lead to the introduction and spread of livestock diseases and threats to public health. Animal Health Regime Veterinary Surveillance programme has an important role for early detection of new and emerging diseases in livestock. Contingency plans set out actions to be taken in the event of a serious outbreak of an animal pest or disease. | Scottish Government and Veterinary Surveillance Partners: Scottish Rural College, Moredun Research Institute, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency |
| N3-3 | Support Scotland's Plant Health Service to help prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms. | Climate change may lead to the introduction and spread of plant diseases and threats to public health. Inspection, monitoring and surveillance activities under Scotland's Plant Health Service is vital to ensure Scotland's high plant health status is maintained. Contingency plans set out actions to be taken in the event of a serious outbreak of a plant pest or disease. | Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture |
| N3-4 | Promote the use of Ecological Site Classification, Forest GALESand other decision support systems to help forest managers to determine appropriate species and silvicultural systems in a changing climate. | Forest managers will have access to existing decision support systems to help decide on species suitability in a changing climate. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| N3-5 | Implement the Scottish Windthrow Contingency Plan to help minimise the financial impact of wind damage to commercial forests. | Will help minimise the financial impact of wind damage to commercial forests. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| N3-6 | Support the Scottish Wildfire Forum to help ensure that land managers and the emergency services work together to prevent and manage wildfires. | Enhance preparedness for forest fires through partnership working. | Scottish Wildfire Forum members |
| N3-7 | Publish resources for managers of productive forests to help them develop more resilient forests in a changing climate and in the face of tree health threats. Promote these resources, and provide support to forest managers. | Will help forestry management practices adapt and will help reduce the impact of tree pests and diseases on forests, woodland and related open ground habitats. | Forestry Commission Scotland with input from partners Forest Enterprise Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, private forestry sector and the third sector. |
| N3-8 | Promote tree health response contingency planning to enable rapid on-the-ground action to deal with new tree health threats and to enable targeted deployment of emergency measures. | Will ensure that forest managers make the most effective response to tree health threats. | Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, private forest managers |
| N3-9 | Develop Operational Guidance for managing incidents of wildfire for fire and rescue service managers and personnel. | Guidance for fire and rescue service managers and personnel. | Scottish Government |
| N3-10 | Enhance operational capacity to enable earlier detection and subsequent management of tree pests and diseases. | Will ensure that forest managers make the most effective response to tree health threats. | Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, private forest managers |
| N3-11 | Common Fisheries Policy ( CFP). Influence the EU reform of the CFP to ensure that it recognises the impacts of climate change and is flexible to environmental change. | Achieve a CFP that is flexible to environmental change. | EU, Scottish Government |
| N3-12 | Improve targeting of species by using selective fishing gear and reducing discards through conservation credits and TR2 schemes. | Selective gear and fewer discards will improve sustainability of fisheries management. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) |
| N3-13 | Manage the impacts of climate change to help fishing industries achieve Maximum Sustainable Yield ( MSY) by 2015, where possible, and by 2020 for all stocks at the latest. | MSY should be set at a level that takes into account the impacts of climate change. | EU, Scottish Government |
| N3-14 | Introduce new Technical Standards for containment by Scottish fish farms. Enabling provisions for Technical Standards are included in the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013. | All finfish farms operating in Scotland will have equipment, appropriate for conditions in which they operate, to contain fish. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) |
| N3-15 | Fishing and aquaculture industries to develop and introduce new technologies for environmentally sustainable commercial fishing and aquaculture. | The Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 includes powers to prescribe technical requirements for equipment (nets, pens and mooring systems and training to: (1) ensure installation and deployment of equipment that is well maintained and appropriate for the site conditions; (2) impose a duty for adequate training to use prescribed equipment, and requirements on operators to keep records in relation to training and equipment. These powers will require adherence to Scottish Technical Standards ( STS) which are currently in development. STS covers open pen, land-based facilities, ponds, raceways and hatcheries - nets, pens, mooring systems and screens; and sets standards for design, construction, materials, manufacture, installation, maintenance and size of equipment. They will take account of site specific environmental conditions e.g. wave height, wind and current speeds; and flood risk assessments for land-based, pond and raceway sites; and future-proofed for technological developments, novel farming approaches, and moves further offshore or climatic changes. Technical Requirements for fish farm equipment will reduce the risk of storm damage and fish loss, minimise escapes, and limit the risk of spread of fish disease. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Marine Science Scotland |
| N3-16 | Sourcing For Growth Initiative A knowledge hub to match food manufacturing companies with producers of quality Scottish produce has been set up to build on the nation's growing gourmet reputation. | The Sourcing for Growth initiative will help Scottish producers prepare to meet manufacturers' demands for raw materials. It will enable manufacturers and farmers to work together to take advantage of the opportunities of Scotland's growing food industry. This will encourage local businesses to work together therefore reducing supply chains and help protect Scotland's food producing markets. | Scottish Government |
Case Study
Creating Resilient Forests II
Changing climate could result in catastrophic pest, disease and wind events for some species. With uncertain climate impact predictions and diverse views on adaptation methods, using a range of management and stocking strategies should help to increase resilience. Examples include the use of Continuous Cover Forestry, different thinning and spacing regimes and diversified plantings. Any emerging threats (e.g. pests) may then only affect a smaller proportion of the total forest investment.
Queen Elizabeth Forest Park
Forestry Commission Scotland
Research
The Scottish Government is funding research into the resilience of Scotland's biodiversity to climate change and land-use change. The research will deliver findings in five areas:
- Assessment of the roles of biodiversity in ecosystem function, to inform our understanding of the place of biodiversity within The Ecosystem Approach.
- Identification of the interactions between the changing climate and Scotland's species, habitats and ecosystems, including the main risks to Scotland's biodiversity which need to be managed, and the main contributions of Scotland's biodiversity to mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
- Identification of the potential consequences of land use changes for Scotland's biodiversity.
- Measurement and prediction of the responses of selected species, habitats and ecosystems to changes in the climate and in land use.
- Identification and development of management strategies and practices to address anticipated impacts and increase the resilience of Scotland's biodiversity to climate change and land use change.
Other research programmes on climate impacts and adaptation in the natural environment include:
- Invasive non-native species ( INNS) data gathering in the marine environment, managed by Marine Scotland and SNH. Gathering data regarding the presence of INNS in the marine environment will allow the threat posed to be properly assessed.
- Marine monitoring programmes, managed by Marine Scotland and MSS. The programmes will allow marine plan and/or atlas information to be updated, and updated overall assessments of the seas to be undertaken.
- Research vessel monitoring, is being managed by Marine Scotland with support from partners such as SNH and SEPA. Research vessels will gather data to assist with assessment of ocean acidification in Scottish seas. Data used for other monitoring requirements e.g. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, will also be used to establish how climate change may be influencing Scottish seas.
- The Forest adaptation research programme, run by Forest Research, will evaluate future climate impacts, identify adaptation strategies and understand how we can develop 'resilient forests'.
- The Scottish Research Forest, managed by Forest Research. Forest management approaches to enhance resilience can be trialled and demonstrated in the context of a working forest. Plans for the research forest include trials and demonstration of species, provenance and management system suitability; and how to enhance resilience to, plan for and deal with extreme events.
What else needs to be done?
In some cases, existing and planned action may be enough to achieve the objective. The following tables set out other possible additional courses of action. Some or all of these may become firm policies once development work is complete and/or financial resources allow.
| Objective N1 - Understand the effects resulting from climate change and their impacts on the natural environment | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| N1-14 | Establishment of a co-ordinated Energy Sector Climate Change impacts research programme which would consider the impacts of changing energy generation on biodiversity and ecosystem services. | The research programme could include consideration of the impacts of changing energy generation on biodiversity and ecosystem services. | Scottish Government |
| Objective N2 - Support a healthy and diverse natural environment with the capacity to adapt | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| N2-23 | Encourage the consideration of climate change impacts (and how they will be addressed) in Forest Plans, and support this with grants and regulations so as to ensure that forest plans support ecosystems and habitat resilience and allow resilience-building measures to be trialled by forest managers. | This will be important in ensuring that forest plans support ecosystem and habitat resilience. | Forestry Commission Scotland |
| Objective N3 - Sustain and enhance the benefits, goods and services that the natural environment provides | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| N3-17 | Greater recognition of the role of integrated land management in tackling climate change (as opposed to sector-based responses) and this being backed up by Scottish Government policy and support mechanisms. | Land Use Strategy Regional Land Use Framework pilots will be utilising the LUS principles and taking an ecosystem approach to consider land use and land use change in their area in an integrated manner. | Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
Climate Ready Buildings and Infrastructure Networks
Introduction
This Chapter considers the most important impacts of the changing climate on buildings and infrastructure networks and sets out the Scottish Government's related objectives.
The following issues are considered in this chapter:
- 'Buildings' - existing and newly constructed buildings, including historic and traditionally constructed buildings, and man-made surroundings such as green and blue spaces.
- 'Infrastructure' - road (trunk and local) network, rail network, ports, harbours, ferries, canals and airports; energy transmission and generation; energy efficiency; water collection, and supply demand and treatment.
- Planning policy - both on land and at sea - which affects where man-made structures and surroundings are located.
The location, design, development and size of buildings and other structures can affect the surrounding natural environment. Equally, the provision of clean water is reliant on our lochs and rivers, so this theme has important links with the Natural Environment theme. The impacts of the changing climate on buildings and infrastructure is also likely to affect our economy and society, so this theme also has important links with the Society theme.
How is the changing climate likely to affect our buildings and infrastructure?
Businesses, individuals and key services rely on infrastructure on a daily basis - for energy, for water, for heating and for transport. Disruption to these assets will likely have a knock-on effect for our economy and society. Put simply, the changing climate will generate positive and negative impacts and challenges across the infrastructure and the built environment that we rely on.
Infrastructure: Disruptive impacts to road and railway infrastructure from severe weather, especially flooding, landslides and high winds are likely to occur with the changing climate. Climatic impacts to our transport networks will invariably result in stresses across other sectors; for example, flooding of transport networks will cause disruption to emergency services at a time when their services are likely to be in particular demand.
Case Study
How climate change impacts could affect First ScotRail's ability to run normal rail services
In recent years First ScotRail has had to respond to increasingly disruptive weather events. This prompted the company to look at current and future weather and climate risks in more detail, with support from Adaptation Scotland. The project, led internally by ScotRail's Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Manager, benefited from managerial input from facilities, performance, communications and health and safety units. Transport Scotland and Network Rail also participated in the project.
Adaptation Scotland facilitated workshops to help participants identify existing vulnerabilities and future climate change risks for Scotland's rail network. An important part of the process was identifying how outside influences could affect ScotRail's ability to run normal rail services. The Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Manager said "it was useful to involve other departments and stakeholders who would not normally consider how climate change might affect them or other rail users".
Adaptation Scotland recommended developing a flexible adaptation plan to enable ScotRail to take timely action in light of uncertainties and changing business needs. Adaptation Scotland supported ScotRail to test its new business adaptation plan template, and ScotRail now has a fully operational adaptation plan.
First ScotRail
Adaptation Scotland
Flooding of energy infrastructure is likely to disrupt supply to households and businesses. Any increase in frequency or intensity of storms and flooding may increase the incidence and/or severity of damage to power lines and substations. Power disruption on the Scottish networks is more likely to result from wind damage than from flooding, although impacts do occur occasionally. In recent years, the networks have recovered well from periods of disruption and the distribution network operators have robust response arrangements and plans in place to minimise disruption wherever possible. However, until a storm abates and flood waters subside, access to the affected sites may not be possible and it may not be safe for repairs to be carried out. Without adaptive action, climate change impacts could lead to more frequent and prolonged disruption to electricity supplies.
Climate projections indicate that annual rainfall may remain fairly stable, however it may be variable within the year, and is subject to more uncertainty at local levels. A decline in water availability and water quality in some areas may impact on water resources. Scottish Water uses climate projections in longer term water resource planning to ensure that it can make appropriate choices to ensure resilient service.
Climate change also presents risks to water quality - the expectation for increased variability means there may be more runoff of nutrients and soil particles. A key element in managing this will be increased monitoring to understand how catchments may be changing.
A decline in water availability and water quality is likely to impact on private water supplies ( PWS) which already suffer from greater challenges in terms of meeting existing quality standards. Private water supplies ( PWS) are the responsibility of the owners and users of the supplies and regulated by local authorities through the enforcement of legislation relating to PWS. There are around 20,000 PWS in Scotland, providing water for 3% of Scotland's population.
Scottish Government currently has a programme of work underway to assess the issue of quantity and quality of supply by private water supplies. These include:
- A grant specifically aimed at improving the quality of private water supplies. A non means tested grant of £800 per property is available.
- A research project to review the impact of varying water quality on the effectiveness of ultraviolet treatment (this is one of the most common types of treatment for PWS).
- A research project to understand the wider impacts and risks of private water supplies to public health and economic development. It will concentrate on the larger "Type A" [48] private water supplies that supply business premises and will include a review of the options for improving them including a connection to the public supply.
Buildings - Damage to properties from rain penetration and mould/algal growth not only results in financial costs, but can also affect the health of the occupants. In Scotland the greatest threats to infrastructure and the built environment will come from water, wind and heat. Property and buildings may be threatened because they are located in areas that are at increased risk of floods or landslips. There is currently limited information on the probabilistic projection of wind speed, although, wind-driven rain is likely to become more prevalent and any increase in surface water discharge from buildings will need to be managed. Space for landscaping however, offers opportunities for mitigating the impacts of wind driven rain.
Buildings and other structures of significant historical importance may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and special consideration must be given to how these cultural assets can best be preserved in the face of a changing climate. Increasing sea levels and the impact of coastal erosion also makes protecting Scotland's vulnerable archaeology and coastal landscapes vital.
Planning and Green Infrastructure - The consultative draft Scottish Planning Policy of 2013 includes climate change as a Principal Policy, one which should feature in all planning activity. The draft policy aim is to strengthen resilience in relation to greater climate variability for example:
- ensuring new development is adapted to withstand more extreme weather, including prolonged wet or dry periods;
- working with natural environmental processes, for example through the development of green infrastructure and sustainable urban drainage systems to reduce flood risk; and
- promoting landscaping and natural shading that cool spaces in built areas during hotter periods.
Objectives, Policies and Proposals
This Chapter contains the objectives and the policies and proposals to drive the progress towards meeting the objectives. The objectives describe what is hoped will be achieved in the long-term (up to 2050) and the policies and proposals set out the priorities for this Programme.
The following objectives, policies and proposals address the relevant risks identified for the Built Environment, Energy, Transport and Water by the CCRA. The objectives are inter-related and are being addressed in a coherent way, recognising that they are mutually reinforcing with strong synergies across them.
What is already being done?
The following table sets out what is being done by Scottish Government and key public bodies at a national level to help build resilience and deliver the objectives for buildings and infrastructure networks. It includes a wide range of existing and planned policies, legislation and on-going action.
| Objective B1 - Understand the effects of climate change and their impacts on buildings and infrastructure networks | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B1-1 | Research to identify necessary resilience measures for new buildings including:
|
By providing the design community with tools and better information on adaptation measures for climate change, this should lead to better designed buildings suited to the environment in which they will be located. | Scottish Government |
| B1-2 | Research to identify necessary resilience measures for existing buildings / heritage assets including:
|
Make buildings/heritage assets more resilient to climate change. Progress on mapping anticipated coastal erosion/flood risk will be measured by the development of a methodology for assessing climate change risk to historic sites, the creation of a climate change risk register for properties in the care of Historic Scotland and the incorporation of these into management planning and resource allocation. The results of research into climate change threats to the historic environment will be published and current guidance amended where appropriate. | Scottish Government, Historic Scotland |
| B1-3 | Research to assess the benefits of property level flood protection products. | Property level flood protection products can improve the flood resilience of homes and businesses. The results of the research will be used to produce a 'blueprint' to help local authorities consider how these products can be most effectively installed. | Scottish Government Scottish Flood Forum |
| B1-4 | Implement Secure and Resilient - A CNI Strategy for Scotland. The strategy provides the overarching vision and strategic direction for all Critical Infrastructure ( CI) resilience stakeholders in Scotland, with the ultimate aim of enhancing the resilience of CI in Scotland. | Will enhance the resilience of energy infrastructure to flooding and other climate related risks. In particular, it will enhance the resilience of the critical national infrastructure ( CNI) which is essential for keeping the country running. | Scottish Government, CNI Site operators, UK Government, Energy Regulator, Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
| B1-5 | Trunk Road Customer Care Survey, Passenger focus survey (rail passenger survey every six months) and National Household Survey. | Stakeholder attitude surveys will produce yearly assessment of public attitude on disruption. The various surveys undertaken by Transport Scotland will ask questions on the stakeholder's perception and attitude to severe weather and climate change. It will aim to build up a picture of transport users attitudes to climate change disruption in particular. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-6 | National Transport Strategy (2006) Review of climate impacts on transport networks with future recommendations; Monitoring report on (visitor) demand against (transport network) capacity. | Will help to assess the suitability of existing transport routes and nodes that specifically support lifeline services when the effects of high-winds and storm disruption are taken into account between 2013 and 2018. This work will be undertaken in conjunction with the recommendations within the 'Annual Review of Life-Line Services'. It will also monitor demand against capacity across all transport modes. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-7 | A report on risks from fog projections | Will help to determine if there will be significant effects from fog on the transport network. | Transport Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B1-8 | Research under the Landslide Implementation Plan (2008) Will collect and analyse information/data to determine which areas of the transport network are susceptible to landslips. | Delivery of the recommendations and findings from the Landslide Study to reduce exposure of roads to landslides. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-9 | Support the report on "Wetter weather, public transport and traffic/congestion patterns in urban areas". | The report will improve understanding about how wetter weather, along with an increasing emphasis on public transport, may change traffic and congestion patterns in urban areas. | Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B1-10 | Establish a central coordinating point for information and data collection relating to climate effects on the transport network and for developing knowledge sharing activities for this sector. | Transport Scotland's Road Asset Management Plan ( RAMP) will be the central coordinating point for information and data collection relating to climate effects on the trunk road network. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-11 | Scottish Road Network Climate Change Study (2005) Continue to implement and deliver the programme of design, research and policy initiatives identified in the Scottish Road Network Climate Change Study. | Completion of actions listed in the Study will enhance the resilience of the road network. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-12 | Engagement with World Road Association and UK and European Road/Transport Authorities. Yearly report update published on Transport Scotland's website outlines benefits accrued from links with European transport agencies. | Exchange information and share best practice experience with transport providers in other countries on coping with wetter conditions, with particular emphasis on flooding. | Transport Scotland |
| B1-13 | Flood Risk Management Plans - The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 requires the development of Flood Risk Management Strategies ( FRMS) and Local Flood Risk Management Plans ( LFRMP). | Local Flood Risk Management Plans will include full consideration of properties and key energy, transport, water and ICT infrastructure which may be at risk. This work builds on the National Flood Risk Assessment published in December 2011. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Water, Local Authorities, other responsible authorities |
| B1-14 | River Basin Management Plans ( RBMP) The RBMPs set out how we can enhance the environmental quality of rivers, lochs and seas, delivering greater benefits for the environment, and safeguarding them for future generations. | Will ensure greater resilience in terms of water quality and quantity. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, responsible authorities and land managers |
| B1-15 | Study of impact of flows on sewerage network. Study will use both rainfall and wider climate change data. | Will set out how Scottish Water will take account of sewerage flows when improving and maintaining its waste water assets in future. | Scottish Water, Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
| Objective B2 - Provide the knowledge, skills and tools to manage climate change impacts on buildings and infrastructure | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B2-1 | Policy to introduce, under the building regulations, a new requirement to extend non-domestic sustainability labelling to school buildings. This will increase awareness of sustainability features and continue their adoption. | This ties in with the Scottish Futures Trust Schools programme and is a pathfinder for extending sustainability to all non-domestic buildings. It will encourage the sustainable design and construction of all new buildings. For example, the introduction of measures to minimise the potential for summertime overheating. Defining higher standards to measure sustainability will enable higher quality buildings to be created and for such benefits to be formally recognised. | Scottish Government |
| B2-2 | Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems ( SUDS) Working Party National promotion of SUDS. [ SUDS are water management practices and facilities designed to drain surface water in a manner that will provide a more sustainable approach than the conventional practice of routing run-off through a pipe to a watercourse.] | Guidance to inform and educate homeowners and asset managers on the control of surface water around buildings and infrastructure. | Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Water, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland, Transport Scotland. |
| B2-3 | Water Use Efficiency To introduce under the building regulations a new mandatory standard for water efficiency provision in dwellings to reduce carbon emissions and fuel. | Providing greater resilience to households even at times of relative water shortage and saving water and energy as mitigation benefits. | Scottish Government |
| B2-4 | Implement Historic Scotland's Climate Change Action Plan (2012-2017) This plan aims to improve the condition of the historic environment and reduce the number of historic buildings and monuments at risk from the impacts of climate change. | Risk assessment will be undertaken to evaluate which sites managed by Historic Scotland are most at threat from coastal erosion, flooding, damp and mould and rainwater penetration. This will improve decision-making for prioritising the on-going conservation and maintenance programmes, thus ensuring the long term survival of the most valuable assets. Technical reports and new guidance will reference the latest research by Historic Scotland on adaptation measures for traditional and historic buildings, including updating of Guide for Practitioners 6. | Historic Scotland |
| B2-5 | Joint agency climate action programme The Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH), Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS) and Historic Scotland are working towards a programme of action to help protect historic sites and property from the impacts of climate change. | Provision of advice on the management of historic sites, including archaeological sites, and property exposed to flooding, coastal erosion and other impacts. Reduction in flood risk through the use of natural flood management. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland |
| B2-6 | Liaise with industry on thermal generation (generation of electricity from sources that create heat, such as coal, gas and nuclear). To improve communications and promote joint working, the Scottish Government established the Thermal Generation and Carbon Capture and Storage Industry Leadership group as a joint liaison between Government and industry to steer and guide policy direction on matters relating to thermal generation. | Will review the efficiency of power station cooling processes in light of climate change projections and ensure that climate change adaptation is fully considered in the future development of thermal generation and CCS policy in Scotland. Whilst energy policy is reserved, the Scottish Government has a role to play in developing CCS and Thermal generation due to responsibilities and duties in relation to planning, consents and environmental regulation. | Scottish Government. Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Industry |
| B2-7 | National and Regional Marine planning frameworks | National and Regional Marine Plan, which include clear policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in relation to marine development and activity will be taken into account in decisions relating to infrastructures which incorporate marine and terrestrial elements. | Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) and Marine Planning Partnerships |
| B2-8 | Transport Scotland Asset Management Strategy Utilise National Flood Risk Assessment ( NFRA) to identify locations of potential flooding across transport network. | The Transport Scotland Asset Management Strategy will take account of the future climate. It will determine which areas of the transport network are susceptible to flooding, inundation, subsidence and ground water to improve knowledge on capacity and capability of these assets. | Transport Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B2-9 | High Winds Strategy (2009) Strategy for managing the impacts of high winds on the trunk road network. | Regular reviews of the network to identify locations where wind management procedures should be developed. | Transport Scotland |
| B2-10 | Third and Fourth Generation road maintenance contracts Revise/update maintenance regime procedures to prioritise subsidence and incorporate weather events into repair work programme. | Updates will help: · Transport networks and emergency responders react effectively to unexpected climatic events; · Road networks to be more resilient to weather events and planning repair work to take account of changes in weather patterns; · Ensure works to prevent subsidence are dealt with as a priority, and comprehensively, where financial resources allow. | Transport Scotland |
| B2-11 | Implement the Scottish Integrated Maritime Transport Strategy. | Will assess the vulnerability of coastal transport infrastructure to sea level rise and flood risk. Will also assess potential sea level rise risk at specific Scottish ports. | Transport Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B2-12 | Road Scotland Act (1984): Asset Management Plans and Network Rail Asset Management Policy Enhanced monitoring of bridges and other structures within inspection regimes for those structures known to be at risk. Further development of risk assessment for scour, debris impact & inundation as guidance and changes evident from inspections become available. | Will help manage risks to road and rail bridges. | Transport Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B2-13 | Road Scotland Act (1984): Implement Resilience Plans | Maintain the current level of winter preparedness across road networks. | Transport Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland |
| B2-14 | Local Forest Management Strategies to Tackle Slope Instability. Focused work at key locations on the National Forest Estate. | Will help combat slope instability to prevent damage to the transport network. | Forest Enterprise Scotland, Transport Scotland |
| B2-15 | High level output specification for railways; related to the public performance measures to consider "severe disruption". | This is about measuring the volume of trains running through a severe disruption and this is a key performance indicator for the next rail franchise. | Transport Scotland, Network Rail |
| B2-16 | Gather data to inform Scottish Water's investment programme from 2015 onwards which will address adaptation needs of water infrastructure. | Understand how future and existing assets and operations should be adapted to minimise the threats from climate change. Information on the programme and how the water industry operates is available from the Scottish Government website. | Scottish Water |
| B2-17 | Integrated approach to catchment modelling | Improved monitoring of rainfall, river and surface water flows. | Scottish Water |
| B2-18 | Manage leakage to water distribution network Annual leakage levels agreed between Scottish Water, Scottish Government and Regulators. | Reducing leakage reduces the overall demand on available water and energy supplies giving greater resilience should there be either water or energy constraints. | Scottish Water |
Case Study
Use of Sustainable Urban Drainage system at Tollcross Aquatic Centre Glasgow
The original swimming pool at Tollcross, Glasgow was extended to form a new aquatic centre as part of the preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2014. The works created an opportunity to demonstrate environmental responsibility in the control of surface water. This was reflected in the use of a sustainable urban drainage system to deal with the water run-off from both the extended roof area and car park.
The car park is constructed from Tarmac Dry, a propriety permeable pavement system. Any surface water carrying hydrocarbons/pollutants is cleaned as it percolates down through the stone sub-base before infiltrating to ground. Water is also allowed to drain away via a HydroBrake to the existing surface water sewer at a 'Greenfield' flow rate of 1.26 l/sec. Water that does not drain via the HydroBrake or through infiltration is temporarily stored in the voids of the stone sub-base until it can eventually escape. Roof run-off is restricted to 'Greenfield' flow rate (1.8 l/sec) by means of a HydroBrake and then flows to an infiltration trench receiving 1 level of treatment. Surplus water is temporarily stored in a crated attenuation tank. Once capacity is available remaining surplus water drains from the tank via the HydroBrake and infiltration trench to the Tollcross Burn.
Scottish Government
| Objective B3 - Increase the resilience of buildings and infrastructure networks to sustain and enhance the benefits and services provided | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B3-1 | Building Regulations Guidance The Building Regulations set standards for design and construction which apply to most new buildings and many alterations to existing buildings in Scotland. These standards and guidance are kept under review to allow them to reflect best practice and adapt to changes in climate. Current guidance is being reviewed to consider potential impacts of climate change on buildings with regards to wind driven rain and the effect of increasing air-tightness within buildings on air quality. |
|
Scottish Government, Historic Scotland |
| B3-2 | Planning Advice Notes ( PAN) provides advice and information on technical planning matters. As part of the modernisation of the planning system, the planning advice notes are being reviewed and consolidated. Revised PANs are to be underpinned by the principles of sustainable flood risk management. | The consolidated PAN on flooding, water and drainage will provide advice and guidance for applicants, developers and local authorities on the role of sustainable flood risk management. It will highlight the role of climate change adaptation with regards to flood risk and the water environment and promote the avoidance of development in medium to high flood risk areas. It will also provide guidance on sustainable drainage systems ( SUDS). | Scottish Government, Planning Authorities |
| B3-3 | Scottish Planning Policy ( SPP) (Climate Change) identifies that short and long term impacts of climate change should be taken into account in all decisions throughout the planning system. Scottish Planning Policy is the statement of the Scottish Government's policy on nationally important land use planning matters. | The SPP sets out how the planning system should help address climate change through mitigation and adaptation measures, providing relevant examples for planning authorities to consider. For example:
|
Scottish Government, Planning Authorities |
| B3-4 | Raise awareness and provide access to knowledge via Sust: Sustainability in Architecture programme based at Architecture and Design Scotland. | Assist with the education of commissioning clients and designers on the issues and techniques relevant to sustainable design. This will help to provide the design community with tools and improved knowledge with regards to adaptation measures for climate change. | Scottish Government |
| B3-5 | Commission and promote demonstration projects in association with funders/developers about the benefits of incorporating sustainable design in their projects. | A number of initiatives are already underway or planned. For example:
|
Scottish Government |
| B3-6 | Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland. Delivering heating and insulation measures across Scotland to help improve energy efficiency and reduce energy demands of existing housing stock in the most fuel poor areas. | Condensation, damp and mould are expected to become more usual as our climate changes. Our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland by improving the energy efficiency of existing homes will make them warmer and easier to heat, and warmer homes are less prone to condensation. Our programmes will also help tackle fuel poverty helping reduce the effect of a changing climate on the most vulnerable in society. In addition, the energy efficiency improvements to homes are expected to help reduce overall energy demands on our energy infrastructure thereby helping to increase resilience. | Scottish Government, Local Authorities, Energy companies |
| B3-7 | The Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing sets a minimum standard for energy efficiency in social housing. All social housing will be expected to meet the standard by 2020. | By 2020, social housing will need to meet a minimum standard of energy efficiency. This will make it easier for people to heat their homes to a comfortable level. This will help tackle fuel poverty, and also help reduce the likelihood of condensation and mould by keeping homes warmer. | Scottish Government, local authorities, Registered Social Landlords |
| B3-8 | Improve Housing Quality by ensuring all houses meet the tolerable standard, and that all social housing meets the Scottish Housing Quality Standard ( SHQS) by 2015. | The tolerable standard is a minimum condemnatory standard which all houses in Scotland must meet, and includes being substantially free from rising and penetrating damp as well as having satisfactory thermal insulation (defined as the presence of loft insulation where a property can have it). | Scottish Government, local authorities, Registered Social Landlords, home owners |
| B3-9 | Develop draft regulations for consultation by 2015 which would set minimum standards for energy efficiency in private sector housing, likely to be under section 64 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. | Over time, minimum standards for private sector housing will lead to improvements in energy efficiency. This will make homes warmer and easier to heat, reducing the likelihood of condensation, mould and damp. It could also encourage behaviour change in raising awareness of the need for adaptations amongst home owners. | Scottish Government, working group of key stakeholders, home owners |
| B3-10 | Promote Keeping Scotland Running - A Guide to Critical Infrastructure Resilience Includes guidance to assist Government, Industry and Strategic Coordinating Groups ( SCG's) in the implementation and delivery of enhancing resilience through sharing of best practice and risk/resilience analysis and assessment methodologies to support the wider 'Secure and Resilient' CNI Strategy in Scotland. | Will help enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure to climate change. This would ensure that the emergency planners are better sighted on risks affecting critical infrastructure and are better prepared to deal with the impacts of climate change on these sites. | Scottish Government |
| B3-11 | Civil Contingencies Act (2004): Transport resilience community engagement Provide short briefing/ guidance note for businesses and transport operators on the effects of climate change. | Encourage transport operators to take climate change into account when developing their business continuity plans. | Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland, Transport Scotland, Transport Operator companies |
| B3-12 | Improving driver skills in extreme weather (road and rail). | Development of education programmes and learner training to cover how to drive in extreme conditions through: · Eco-driver programme in the Rail Franchise simulator to improve driving in extreme conditions; · Freight sector engagement with Road Haulage Association and Freight Transport Association. | Transport Scotland, Learning driver organisations |
| B3-13 | River Basin Management Plans ( RBMP) The RBMPs set out how we can enhance the environmental quality of rivers, lochs and seas, delivering greater benefits for the environment, and safeguarding them for future generations. | Will ensure greater resilience in terms of water quality and quantity. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, responsible authorities and land managers |
| B3-14 | Market Driven Supply Chain This project will support and maintain food and drink supply chains to fully exploit opportunities in the Scottish, UK and international markets, ensuring food and drink can be fully distributed. | Assist businesses to adapt to the future pressures on Scotland's infrastructure caused by climate change. | Scottish Government Scottish Enterprise |
Research
The following research projects are underway or are planned to help meet the Objectives under this theme:
- A report on risks from fog projections, led by Transport Scotland in partnership with SCOTS, will review available information on fog projections. This will help to determine if there will be significant effects from fog for the transport network.
- Research under the Landslide Implementation Plan (2008), led by Transport Scotland, will collect and analyse information/data to determine which areas of the transport network are susceptible to landslips. Recommendations from the Landslide Study will continue to be implemented and delivered. Completion of actions listed in the study will reduce exposure of roads to landslides.
- Report on 'Wetter weather, public transport and traffic/congestion patterns in urban areas' by 2015. This will be led by SCOTS [49] and the report will improve understanding about how wetter weather, along with an increasing emphasis on public transport, may change traffic and congestion patterns in urban areas.
- Research on evaluating occupant interaction with ventilation systems in dwellings. Ventilation standards are set by building regulations, supported by guidance within Section 3, Environment, of the technical handbooks. This project will examine whether a reduction in uncontrolled infiltrating air to dwellings may need to be replaced by a controlled means in order to maintain indoor air quality for the building and occupants.
- Research on proposed changes to U-values. The U-values are set by building regulations, supported by guidance within Section 6, Energy, of the technical handbooks. Details are required to aid the understanding of the principles of limiting infiltration, linear thermal bridging, precipitation and condensation and the application of these principles to improve Scottish construction practice.
What else needs to be done?
In some cases, the existing and planned action may be enough to achieve the objective. The following table sets out other possible additional courses of action. Some or all of these may become firm policies once development work is complete and/or financial resources allow.
| Objective B1 - Understand the effects of climate change and their impacts on buildings and infrastructure networks | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B1-16 | Develop an Energy Sector Climate Change impacts research programme. | Develop an improved understanding of the climate impacts for energy, identified in the UK CCRA, where consequences or likelihood are unclear, unknown or require further evidence. This will include:
|
Scottish Government |
| B1-17 | Assessment of potential sea level rise risk at specific Scottish ports. Will determine risk to current operating limitations at such ports. | Will help developments at new and existing ports take account of sea level rise risk and ensure all port operations are able to function at current standards. | Transport Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency have key role as statutory advisor. |
| B1-18 | Tomorrow Railways and Climate Change Adaptation ( TRACCA) | Specific for the Rail Network in Scotland, this proposal will drive the consideration of climate change issues within rail network decision making. | Transport Scotland, railway partners |
| B1-19 | To consider a long-term approach to the management of surface water to ensure that sewer systems are resilient to climate change. | An integrated approach to the drainage of surface water arising from impermeable surfaces such as roofs and roads that takes account of all aspects of the drainage systems and produces long-term and sustainable actions that will ensure they are resilient to the changing climate. | Partnership between Scottish Water, Local Authorities, Scottish Canals, developers, homeowners |
| Objective B2 - Provide the knowledge, skills and tools to manage climate change impacts on buildings and infrastructure | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B2-19 | The drafting of regulations to implement Section 63 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. This aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency of existing non-domestic buildings. | This should ultimately lead to improvements to the internal and external fabric and building services of existing buildings. Thereby increasing their energy efficiency. This should also increase the longevity of such buildings. | Scottish Government |
| B2-20 | To extend the requirement for sustainability labelling beyond schools to other non-domestic buildings. | Sustainability labelling has only been fully developed for new school buildings and dwellings, at present there is no immediate intention to develop sustainability labelling for other non-domestic buildings, this is to allow industry to familiarise themselves with recent introductions. | Scottish Government |
| B2-21 | Establish a Scottish Government Energy Sector Flood Risk work stream (as part of the Energy Sector Resilience group). | Develop improved knowledge of flood risks to wider energy infrastructure based on latest data available. | Scottish Government, Energy site and network operators |
| B2-22 | Network Rail Strategic Business Plan to demonstrate how severe disruption caused by weather will be addressed. | Maintain the current level of winter preparedness across rail networks. | Transport Scotland, railway partners |
| Objective B3 - Increase the resilience of buildings and infrastructure networks to sustain and enhance the benefits and services provided | |||
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B3-15 | High Level Output Specification and Scottish Ministers Guidance to the Office of Rail Regulation. | The rail industry will contribute towards a greener Scotland and rail regulation must not act as a barrier in making the rail network and operations resilient to predicted future changes in the climate. | Transport Scotland, railway partners |
| B3-16 | Introduce new Guidance on good public transport interchange design to cope with more extreme weather. (for bus shelter design, railway station etc.) | Passenger infrastructure will be designed and delivered to cope with more severe weather. | Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland, Transport Scotland and in conjunction with manufacturers |
Climate Ready Society
Introduction
This Chapter considers the most important impacts of the changing climate on Scotland's society and sets out the Scottish Government's related objectives.
The following issues are considered in this chapter:
- The resilience of communities against climate change impacts and in particular on vulnerable people.
- The impacts from a changing climate on people's health and wellbeing.
- The preparedness of the emergency and rescue services to deal with climate change impacts.
- The impacts on businesses and industry from a changing climate.
There are strong links between Climate Ready Society and the other themes in the Programme. For example, there are links with the Buildings and Infrastructure Networks theme where the impacts of climate change on buildings can affect the health of occupants if not properly managed. Our success in adapting transport and energy infrastructure to the effects of a changing climate will in turn impact on the resilience of households, communities and emergency responders.
How is the changing climate likely to affect Scottish society?
Health and wellbeing - Climate change may impact on people's health and wellbeing. For example, an increase in severe weather episodes such as flooding may result in an increase in mental ill health due to distress of displacement, loss of personal possessions and financial losses.
Wetter, warmer winters will have the potential to lead to increased algal and fungal growth in buildings, with consequential effects on those vulnerable to allergy diseases (e.g. asthma) and other respiratory diseases. Measures taken to control the spread of pests and diseases could lead to access restrictions in the countryside.
There may also be positive effects for people's health and well-being. A projected rise in mean annual temperature, coupled with a projected reduction in rainfall levels presents an opportunity for healthier lifestyles such as walking, cycling and other outdoor activities which would have a positive outcome on both physical and mental health. Higher temperatures may also lead to a reduced reliance on heating, helping to alleviate the detrimental effects of fuel poverty.
Emergency and Rescue Services - Climate change is likely to have an impact on the emergency and rescue services as severe weather events become more frequent. Responding to the consequences of climate change will present challenges and increased demands on all emergency and volunteer services.
When extreme weather events occur, the Fire and Rescue Service, the Police, Ambulance Service, Health Boards and other local responders are called on to respond. They are required under civil contingencies legislation [50] to work together to ensure the response is co-ordinated effectively.
A projected increase in the frequency of severe weather events, such as flooding, landslides and wildfires will increase the overall pressure on the emergency and rescue services which may impact on the ability of the services to respond. Pressures on the emergency services are also likely to increase due to warmer summers which could potentially lead to a greater uptake of outdoor activities, increasing the risk of accidents which the emergency services will need to respond to.
The voluntary sector also plays an important role, working alongside statutory responder organisations and communities, to plan for, respond to and recover from emergencies. There is a growing need for the voluntary sector to be increasingly integrated with broader emergency response structures and processes, for example through improved information about the sector's capabilities being available to statutory responders, memorandums of understanding between voluntary sector organisations, and joint training and exercising. The Resilience Advisory Board Scotland (Voluntary Sector) brings together statutory and voluntary sector organisations to jointly develop policy. This group runs an annual seminar which focusses on increasing the capability of the sectors to work together.
Communities - More frequent severe weather may disrupt the lives of individuals and communities. Preparing society to help with adaptation measures is key if the risk of climate change for communities and in particular, those most vulnerable, is to be reduced.
More targeted support may be required for the poorest in society, who are likely to be most vulnerable to the impacts and least able to afford protection. The Scottish Government was one of the project partners in research on Adapting to the Differential Social Impacts of Climate Change in the UK [51] . This suggests that not only are people living in the most deprived areas often more exposed to specific climate change impacts, they also find it harder to recover when they occur. The individuals and groups most likely to be affected by climate change include: children and young people; those with health problems; with poor mobility; living in places at risk; with low levels of income; who lack awareness of the risks of climate change; who lack insurance cover; and who are less well supported by family, friends and agencies.
The impacts of the changing climate are also likely to be felt by rural communities in particular. Disruption of transport and communication links due to flooding will disproportionately impact on rural communities which are heavily reliant on them. Rural communities are also more reliant on private water supplies, which may be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than public supplies, such as waterborne diseases.
To ensure existing inequalities do not widen with climate change, social impacts will need to be addressed in adaptation measures. The Scottish Government held a joint conference with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Adaptation Scotland on Climate Justice: Delivering Socially Just Adaptation in Scotland in 2012. [52]
The Scottish Government published in October 2013 a research report Flood disadvantage in Scotland: mapping the potential losses in wellbeing. This report maps the communities that are most socially and spatially vulnerable to flooding and proportions of neighbourhoods in each local authority classed as being 'extremely flood disadvantaged'.
The Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund, which can support community adaptation projects that are also low carbon, was refreshed in 2012-13 to ensure that disadvantaged and more vulnerable communities are able to benefit from the Fund.
Case Study
Communities addressing the challenges and opportunities that their area faces as a result of climate change
The Carse of Gowrie community has been working together over the last two years to address the challenges and opportunities that the area faces as a result of climate change.
The work started in 2011 when Perth & Kinross Council and Adaptation Scotland ran a series of community engagement workshops. This helped people from across the area to find out about the changes in climate expected for the region and, discuss how these changes might impact the community.
Following on from these workshops, community members formed a sustainability group to take forward local projects to build resilience and support the region in adapting to long term climate change. The community is now involved with a wide range of projects including state of the art online mapping work to record many community features. The maps will be used to help address current risks through the creation of a 'crowdmap' for recording and monitoring the consequences of weather events or recording animal and bird sightings. The analysis of data collected will provide an evidence base which will allow them to adapt and plan for long term climate change. An increased awareness of local climate change impacts has also led the community to get involved with projects to reduce carbon emissions, improve environmental sustainability and create networks for biodiversity to make the area more resilient.
Perth and Kinross Council
Adaptation Scotland
Businesses - The changing climate will present threats and opportunities to businesses and industries in Scotland. Some negative consequences will affect all kinds of businesses, such as: increased risk of flooding of buildings and other assets; disruption to transport and communication networks, with staff unable to get to work, and; disruptions to supply chains.
The risks of a changing climate for each individual business needs to be understood and addressed to safeguard longevity as well as potential opportunities explored.
There are also likely to be specific consequences from climate change which could have a financial impact on certain types of businesses.
Insurance Industry: The insurance industry is directly exposed to climate change risks at home and overseas through the risks to underwritten products and decisions on where to invest its assets [53] . The cost of repairing damage to property and infrastructure from flooding and coastal erosion is likely to increase. Insurance is a reserved matter, and the UK Government has included powers in the Water Bill to implement an agreement with the insurance industry to enable people living in the most flood-prone areas to get affordable flood insurance. The industry's proposal - called Flood Re - would replace the current voluntary agreement (the Statement of Principles). Flood Re would protect many of those most at risk by in effect capping flood insurance premiums. The proposal would mean that premiums would be set according to property values and that people would know the maximum they could be asked to pay.
The Scottish Government is working with Defra, the insurance industry and the other devolved administrations, to make sure that the Scottish perspective, and the work being done in Scotland to manage flood risk, is taken into account in the development and future implementation of Flood Re.
Supply Chains: The Scottish economy may be affected by the impacts of climate change overseas. These effects may be considerable, and possibly larger than the immediate impacts of climate change in Scotland. Supply chains may be affected by restrictions in the availability of key products caused by climate impacts such as extreme events, flooding or drought. Transport disruption caused by climate change related events overseas can also affect supply chains.
At a global scale, the impacts of climate change could also lead to restrictions on food supply - leading to higher prices and lower availability in Scotland. However, food security in Scotland is unlikely to be as severely impacted as that in many other parts of the world.
Trade and Investment: Scotland's trade and investment will also be affected by climate change overseas. At present, the largest proportion of our trade and investment is with other European countries and the United States, which are relatively well equipped to manage the impacts of climate change. However, as our trading and investment patterns change, Scotland may find itself exposed to greater risks from climate change impacts overseas.
However, the risks to Scotland may be low, relative to many other countries and, together with its transition to a low-carbon economy, this may make Scottish businesses more attractive to investors, provided the risks that we do face are managed appropriately.
Objectives, Policies and Proposals
This Chapter contains the objectives and the policies and proposals to drive the progress towards meeting the objectives. The objectives describe what is hoped will be achieved in the long-term (up to 2050) and the policies and proposals set out the priorities for this Programme.
The following objectives, policies and proposals address the relevant risks identified for health and wellbeing, emergency rescue services and, businesses and services by the CCRA. The objectives are inter-related and are being addressed in a coherent way, recognising that they are mutually reinforcing with strong synergies across them.
What is already being done?
The following table sets out what is being done by the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and other public bodies at a national level to help build resilience and deliver the objectives for Scotland's society. It includes a wide range of existing and planned policies, legislation and on-going action.
| Objective S1 - Understand the effects of climate change and their impacts on people, homes and communities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| S1-1 | The Food Standards Agency ( FSA) to continue to develop a greater understanding of the main food borne disease related pathogens in terms of their transmission routes and vectors to identify opportunities to control these. | FSA continues to conduct research relevant to high risk pathogens. For example, the recent publication of research into E. coli to identify practical ways for reducing E. Coli in cattle. This will allow the FSA to consider methods such as the use of probiotics in feed, vaccination of animals and further bio security measures on farms. The FSA food surveillance sampling database also holds all data from participating Local Authorities on the results of food samples analysed for pathogens, providing information of emerging risks. | Scottish Government, Food Standards Agency |
| S1-2 | Research to identify and develop an understanding of communities, in particular vulnerable groups to the impacts of climate change. Building on work on Climate Change, Justice and Vulnerability by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2011), the Scottish Government has worked to map flood disadvantage in Scotland. This work considers how underlying social vulnerability can exacerbate the impact of flood events and enables a closer look at the vulnerability characteristics of flood disadvantaged neighbourhoods. A report providing a first look at flood disadvantage in Scotland was published in autumn 2013. | Develop a robust research base to support informed medium and longer term operational decision making. We are considering how this work can be updated with new data from SEPA's flood maps. | Scottish Government |
| Objective S2 - Increase the awareness of the impacts of climate change to enable people to adapt to future extreme weather events | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| B3-1 | Building Regulations Guidance The Building Regulations set standards for design and construction which apply to most new buildings and many alterations to existing buildings in Scotland. These standards and guidance are kept under review which allow them to reflect best practice and adapt to changes in climate. Current guidance is being reviewed to consider potential impacts of climate change on buildings with regards to wind driven rain and the effect of increasing air-tightness within buildings on air quality. |
|
Scottish Government |
| S2-1 | Eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 as far as practicable. Energy efficiency is one of the three key influences on fuel poverty, along with household income and fuel costs. | Greater instances of extreme weather can be expected to change the demand for heat. Rising fuel prices may continue to cause fuel poverty. The main aim of this policy is to reduce fuel poverty. It is supported by other actions such as the energy efficiency elements of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard ( SHQS) (which social housing must meet by 2015); the proposed Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing ( EESSH) with first milestones to be met by 2020; and our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland ( HEEPS) providing and levering in further incentives to improve energy efficiency. | Scottish Government |
| S2-2 | Scottish Government to continue to raise awareness and provide information to society on how best to adapt to a changing climate. | Adaptation Scotland is supporting communities vulnerable to climate change impacts. A toolkit for communities and community-facing organisations has been developed, built around a Training Module: Building Resilient Communities - preparing for the impacts of climate change. | Scottish Government, Adaptation Scotland |
| S2-3 | The Food Standards Agency ( FSA) to improve the understanding of food safety related behaviour by consumers and targeted education to assist in greater consumer knowledge and understanding of risks in the domestic sector. | The FSA conducts regular social research into consumer behaviour. Every 2 years a UK survey, which has a specific element for Scotland, provides information on consumers understanding of risks, their knowledge and their attitudes in relation to food safety and healthy eating. The FSA also holds regular citizen forums to gather the views of consumers on numerous policy matters. Both of these allow the FSA to target information to improve consumer's knowledge via relevant channels including events, published literature, PR and media. It is anticipated that climate change will bring new risks and challenges to food safety and healthy eating, being able to identify these and assist consumers in mitigation of risks will continue to be important. | Scottish Government, Food Standards Agency |
| S2-4 | Develop psychosocial disaster recovery guidance to support a better response to people who have experienced trauma. This is part of the Scottish Government's Care for People guidance. | Development of areas to support a better response to people who have experienced trauma. This is part of the Scottish Government's Preparing Scotland work on resilience. | Scottish Government |
| S2-5 | Develop and promote resources which support capacity building in communities, to help build resilience to emergencies, including responding to severe weather events. Provide advice and information for responders, community groups and the voluntary sector to promote greater awareness amongst individuals and communities of what they can do to protect themselves, their homes and businesses from the consequences of emergencies, such as severe weather events. | This information and advice will help create more resilient communities. Resources available on Ready Scotland are used by community groups to help them work with emergency responders to develop community emergency plans. | Scottish Government in liaison with local communities and voluntary sector. |
| S2-6 | Continue to develop the Ready Scotland website as a source of advice and information for the public about preparing for and managing the potential consequences of emergencies, including severe weather events. | Ready Scotland aims to raise awareness of the risks and consequences of a range of emergencies and to provide the public with practical advice and information to support their preparedness and resilience. In an emergency situation, Ready Scotland provides specific advice to the public on the appropriate actions to take. | Scottish Government |
| S2-7 | Undertake all risk resilience assessments across each of the National Infrastructure ( NI) sectors, including the impacts of climate change. | Improved knowledge and preparedness of exposure and vulnerability to climate change risks. | Scottish Government, CI Operators |
| S2-8 | Promote and support SEPA flood risk awareness raising activities providing the public with advice and information about their flood risk and on potential preventative action that can be taken by individual householders in advance of a potential flood. | Increased public awareness of their flood risk and greater sign-up to SEPA's Floodline direct warnings service will increase communities' preparedness and resilience. | Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
| S2-9 | Deliver Flood Warning Dissemination Programme to enable Floodline messages to be delivered direct to all registered users. This will help provide better flood warning for members of the public in advance of an anticipated flooding event. | Better flood warning and on-going risk assessment giving as much notice is key to adaptation as it allows the emergency services and the public to prepare for and respond to potential flooding incidents. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
| S2-10 | Increase awareness of flood risk and flood resilience in schools by working through the Curriculum for Excellence. | Within the framework of the Curriculum for Excellence, the project will raise awareness of flood risk in schools and build the knowledge, skills and capacity of learners (and their families and communities) to develop their resilience and enable them to adapt to climate change. School flooding workshops run by Heriot Watt University, involving an interactive flooding model, will demonstrate the importance of making room to store and slow water in the urban environment and help change individual behaviours about slabbing over gardens etc. | Scottish Government, Education Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Heriot Watt University NERC |
| S2-11 | Ready For Emergencies resilience resource for schools. This explains the risks associated with flooding and severe weather and helps raise awareness of how to cope with such emergencies. | The resource covers flooding and severe weather and builds the understanding and preparedness of school pupils to the risk and coping with emergencies, including those from climate change impacts. | Education Scotland |
| S2-12 | Improve education on flood risk management to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of community resilience. | Enhanced education on flood risk management for future generation of householders and flood risk managers, and help with future flood-related job recruitment. Will help encourage people to take action to protect themselves, their family and their property even in areas which have not experienced flooding before. | Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Education Scotland |
| S2-13 | Support the Scottish Flood Forum. This Group provides advice and support for communities and businesses to help build resilience and reduce their flood risk. The Group also offers assistance to individuals and communities after flooding events. | The independent Scottish Flood Forum ( SFF) works directly with communities and businesses to reduce their flood risk. It also provides recovery support after flooding events. The SFF helps build community resilience and individual responsibility. | Scottish Government |
Case Study
Argyll and Bute Community Emergency Planning Initiative
In winter 2012, a severe gale left many parts of Argyll without power for up to 4 days. After recovery was complete the subsequent debrief identified a need for Argyll and Bute Council to work with communities to improve their resilience during weather related emergencies. The council wanted to ensure that individuals are better prepared for severe weather and to encourage them to think less about what the emergency services can do for them and more about what they can do for themselves.
The Council project team created a handbook for Argyll communities based on the guidance and toolkit from the Scottish Government's Ready Scotland website. Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, NHS Highland, HM Coastguard, Scottish Government, British Red Cross, WRVS, Argyll Voluntary Action, Scottish Power and Scottish Southern Energy all contributed. The handbook 'A Guide to Helping Your Community Prepare an Emergency Plan' was then issued to all 54 community councils in Argyll. The handbook can be found at http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/community-resilience.
The production of the handbook has been backed by a programme of engagement by the Council, Argyll Voluntary Action and a range of partner agencies, providing support and advice to those communities which wanted to get involved. Action by communities has been very effective, with over 50% of communities in Argyll and Bute now preparing community emergency plans.
Argyll and Bute Council, with support from the Scottish Government, have also issued "emergency kits" to communities involved, which will help if they need to implement their emergency plan. The kits include things like a wind up radio, battery operated torches and foil blankets.
When severe weather hit Arran and Kintyre again in March 2013, the work done by communities proved very valuable in helping to co-ordinate the response to, and recovery from, the resulting emergency.
Further information about this and other case studies of good practice in building community resilience to emergencies can be found at www.readyscotland.org.
Argyll and Bute
Scottish Government
| Objective S3 - Support our health service and emergency responders to enable them to respond effectively to the increased pressures associated with a changing climate | |||
| No. | Policy and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| S3-1 | NHS Scotland Boards to develop individual Climate Change Adaptation Plans in accordance with the NHS Scotland Sustainable Development Strategy. | Mandatory requirement for each NHS Board to have a Climate Change Adaptation Plan due to an increased burden on NHS emergency health care services and social and welfare services in dealing with the impact of sudden extreme weather events. | NHS Boards |
| S3-2 | Scotland Property and Asset Management Plans to provide, maintain and develop a high quality, sustainable asset base to ensure the delivery of high quality health care. | Ensure that NHS Scotland provides, maintains and develops a high quality, sustainable asset base that supports and facilitates the provision of high quality health care and better health outcomes and, that the operational performance of assets is appropriately recorded, monitored, reported and reviewed and, where appropriate improved. In addition, there may be gains in terms of reduced vulnerability to current climate variability as well as contributing to the long term sustainability of the estate. | NHS Boards |
| S3-3 | VTEC/E.Coli 0157 Action Plan | The Action Plan will seek to address all current gaps in responses to VTEC/E.coli infection in Scotland, and to have a beneficial effect on other diseases that may be spread via the same pathways as VTEC/ E. coli O157 (e.g. protection of private water supplies) due to an increase in temperature. | Scottish Government, VTEC/E.coli Action Group |
| S3-4 | NHS Procurement and Estates to consider accommodation design for housing IT equipment. | Ensure that IT suites in NHS properties take account of heat generated by equipment, and that any potential overheating issues are addressed at the time of installation of equipment. | Scottish Government, National Services Scotland, National Procurement, NHS |
| S3-5 | Revise Scottish Capital Investment Manual to take account of changes in sustainable development policy and strategy. | Scottish Capital Investment Manual is reviewed and revised as necessary. | Scottish Government, Health Facilities Scotland |
| S3-6 | Improve Regional Resilience Partnerships' risk and preparedness impacts assessment guidance. This will provide a more consistent approach to assessing the potential for emergencies, including severe weather events and widespread flooding and RRPs' ability to respond to the consequences of these emergencies. | A process to prioritise emergencies that might occur across Scotland and measure RRPS' capability and capacity to respond. A revised process was issued in December 2013 - Risk and Preparedness Assessment guidance. RRPs are currently completing the first versions of these and will use information from the UK National Risk Assessment ( NRA), National Resilience Planning Assumptions ( NRPAs) and Local Risk Assessment Guidance ( LRAG) together with Scottish specific and regional expertise to carry out assessments. | Scottish Government, responder agencies |
| S3-7 | To enhance the capability of Scotland's Fire and Rescue services through assessing their operational preparedness and response capabilities to severe weather events. | Current assessment of operational preparedness and response capability to severe weather events. | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service |
| S3-8 | Continue to assess the potential impacts of environment factors on the delivery of police services through the Scottish Police Service Strategic Assessment. | The police service will continue to assess the impact of environmental factors on possible increases in demand to deal with for example, more severe and more frequent weather events or possible increases in organised outdoor events. This forms part of the routine and regular strategic assessment process. | Scottish Police Service |
| S3-9 | Preparing Scotland suite of guidance to support legislative compliance, good practice and enhanced resilience across Scotland's responder agencies and wider resilience community. | Provision of guidance for responder agencies on complying with their duties under civil contingencies legislation. | Scottish Government |
| S3-10 | Develop and extend training of accredited 'incident commanders' to provide greater resilience across the emergency and rescue services to deal with major or critical incidents. | Improved multi-agency operational capacity to ensure resilience of command to deal with any major or critical incident. | Scottish Police Service |
| S3-11 | Promote and support the production of 'Lessons Learned' from agency debriefs on weather related events and action the lessons learnt through changes to policy, processes and training. | Collective responsibility to identify lessons from single and multi-agency debriefs on climate-related events and action the lessons through changes to policy, processes and training. | Scottish Government, responder agencies |
| S3-12 | Delivery of a wide programme of specialist and technical training. | Equipping Fire and Rescue Service to respond to all types of incidents, including those resulting from severe weather. | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service |
| S3-13 | Support a Scottish flood forecasting service. | An improved forecasting service - up to five days' warning of potential flood risk - enables the emergency and rescue services to be better prepared to respond. It also helps address vulnerable communities' flood risk. | Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Met Office |
What else needs to be done?
In some cases, the existing and planned action may be enough to achieve the objective. The following table sets out other possible additional courses of action. Some or all of these may become firm policies once development work is complete and/or financial resources allow.
| Objective S1 - Understand the effects of climate change and their impacts on people, homes and communities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| S1-3 | Build on the Health Protection Scotland Scoping Report on the effect of extreme weather events on public health to identify priority areas for action. | Consider the findings of the report and implement key recommendations of the report. This is a wide-ranging report which provides a comprehensive overview of the potential impacts on health due to climate change. | Health Protection Scotland, Scottish Government |
| S1-4 | Assessment of new, emerging or re-emerging disease epidemiology and research to increase the understanding of how these relate to public health and determine what possible future action is required. | This work will increase understanding of issues in relation to epidemiology of diseases of public health concern, and will determine what, if any, future action is required. There are a number of potential impacts of changing climates, most obviously an increase in temperature leading to new or re-emerging diseases which require a climate unlike that currently found in Scotland. For example, an increase in temperatures could lead to an increase in particular ticks which carry certain diseases. Similarly, a wetter, warmer climate could see an increase in water-based diseases. We will need to work with Health Protection Scotland to consider the likelihood of the incidence of particular diseases occurring in different climatic conditions, and to what extent this would pose a health risk. It is likely that the initial scoping work can be carried out in the next 5 years, but an assessment of the need for any further work could not be made until after this first phase has been completed. | Health Protection Scotland, Scottish Government |
| S1-5 | Undertake research to strengthen the evidence base for risk assessment and planning purposes as well as partner and stakeholder engagement. This should be widely disseminated across Emergency and Rescue Services, Scottish Government and Local Authorities. | Robust research base supporting informed medium and longer term operational decision making. | Scottish Government, Met Office, ClimateXChange |
| S1-6 | Research to inform decision making about future resource allocation and ' spend to save' options - research should assess the possible future economic impact on the Emergency and Rescue Services of climate change adaptation against current expenditure patterns. | Robust research base supporting informed medium and longer term operational decision making. | Scottish Government, ClimateXChange |
| S1-7 | Extreme Weather Event ( EWE) All Hazard Health Protection Plan will be developed over the next five years. | Scotland already experiences variable extreme weather events which are likely to become more frequent with the changing climate, impacting on health services and communities. The 'All Hazard' approach recognizes the common components of a comprehensive health protection response and the necessity of preparedness of health services. Whilst the plan will have current utility, strengthening health protection activity and communication messages, it will also provide a framework for responding to future hazards and novel risks. | Scottish Government |
| Objective S2 - Increase the awareness of the impacts of climate change to enable people to adapt to future extreme weather events | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| S2-14 | Improve public information and access to guidance on heat waves. | Develop guidance on action to take in heat waves, with specific tailoring for those most vulnerable to the effects and their carers. Information campaigns should be prepared in advance of prolonged heat waves and ready to disseminate when appropriate. | Health Protection Scotland, Scottish Government |
| S2-15 | Emergency and Rescue Services to consider opportunities for raising public awareness around flooding risks and protective activity. | More informed and resilient communities. | Emergency and Rescue Services |
| Objective S3 - Support our health service and emergency responders to enable them to respond effectively to the increased pressures associated with a changing climate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Proposal and description | How will this help deliver the Objective? | Who will deliver? |
| S3-14 | Take forward appropriate 'Good Places Better Health for Scotland's Children' recommendations. Good Places Better Health recommendations were published in December 2011. | The following recommendations could be examined further in terms of their contribution to climate change resilience:
|
Scottish Government |
| S3-15 | Need to consider chronic diseases where a changing climate could add extra stresses. | Warmer weather could worsen air quality (exacerbates effects of air pollution) and increased problems for asthma sufferers. Increased damp weather could worsen chronic lung conditions such as COPD. | Scottish Government |
Contact
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback