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by Trevor Loveday

RSK goes West to help with climate change strategy

Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, working together with RSK Group subsidiaries ADAS and Water Research Council (WRc) have published for consultation a draft regional climate change strategy to tackle the main threats the region faces from climate change.


According to RSK, research for the strategy has identified five main hazards that the region faces from climate change:

  • river and surface water flooding;

  • sea level rise and coastal flooding and erosion;

  • water scarcity and drought conditions;

  • extreme temperature fluctuations and

  • interacting and cascading impacts.

RSK pointed out that the region’s 1500 km coastline bears the brunt of storms from the Atlantic, with low lying and coastal communities susceptible to coastal flooding and erosion. It highlighted also that inland, there are vast areas of exposed natural habitat, such as Dartmoor. “Tourism is a key part of the area’s economy and so helping seasonal businesses and coastal communities prepare for sea level rise is of the utmost importance here,” said RSK.

The Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Environment Agency-chaired, Climate Impacts Group has worked with WRc and the RSK Centre for Sustainability Excellence to draft a Climate Adaptation Strategy that “emphasises how collaboration can increase resilience across the region, with an action plan highlighting where efforts should be focused over the next five years.”

Climate and Sustainability director at RSK Group subsidiary, ADAS, Charles Ffoulkes ,said: “Summers are increasingly becoming hotter and drier, with drought conditions, water scarcity and wildfires becoming an increasing concern, which will impact the rural economy as crop failures and reduced productivity become more frequent across the region.”

The draft strategy includes a risk assessment of the impact of climate change in the region, a strategic adaptation plan, which sets out the conditions needed to enable regional partners to act on adapting to climate change together, and an action plan focused on the next five years.

Ffoulkes said: “This plan primarily focuses on adaptation planning and action at the policy and organisational level, and its purpose is to set out how the region can create the conditions and capacity for everyone to adapt to climate change together. We see individuals, families and communities out there that want to do something, but they are not sure what or how. By providing the enabling conditions, knowledge and where applicable, funding, adaptation action can occur more easily at all levels of society.

The Environment Agency’s area director for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Mark Rice, said: “Significant impacts from climate change are now inevitable, but we can successfully respond to the climate emergency through greater, collective focus on adaptation to the increased hazards that are already evident… By responding to the consultation, [the public] will have the opportunity to influence the future resilience of [their] community.”

The group has made the summary, adaptation strategy and a series of accessible ‘quick-reads’ available on its website, where the public is also invited to respond to the questionnaire.

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