socially just adaptation to climate change rachel brisley, jba consulting
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Socially Just Adaptation to Climate Change Rachel Brisley, JBA Consulting. Climate Justice: Local Impacts and Actions - CLASP Salvation Army Centre, Preston 16 October 2012. Who’s Who?. Report was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Socially Just Adaptation to Climate ChangeRachel Brisley, JBA ConsultingClimate Justice: Local Impacts and Actions - CLASP
Salvation Army Centre, Preston
16 October 2012
Who’s Who?
• Report was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Authored by SQW, working with Professor Jouni Paavola
• Findings presented by Rachel Brisley, JBA Consulting (previously SQW)
• Study directed by Jean Welstead, SLR Consulting (previously SQW)
Structure of the presentation
• Introduction to the study
• What is socially just adaptation?
• Policy drivers
• Local authority progress
• Case study lessons
• Conclusions & recommendations
Introduction to the study
• Objectives
– Explore existing approaches to local adaptation to climate change impacts & how these take account of social justice
– Support the development of just local responses to climate change by making recommendations for policy & practice
• Methodology
– Theoretical review of social justice in relation to adaptation
– Survey of local authorities to assess progress with just adaptation
– 3 case studies - Highlands, Islington, York
– Broader review of adaptation practice elsewhere, including the use of adaptation tools
What is socially just adaptation?
• Adaptation means changing our behaviour to respond to both the projected and current impacts of climate change
• Need to understand who is vulnerable (to climate change impacts) & how their needs will be met
• Social issues related to adaptation are diverse & contextually specific
• Procedural justice
– empowering communities to become involved in decision-making
• Distributive justice
– distribution of income, assets & opportunities
Just adaptation principles
1) Build in current & future climate change impacts
2) Understand factors that contribute to vulnerability
3) Identify distribution of vulnerability – not a static state
4) Involve those communities most likely to be affected
5) Understand impacts & target activities
6) Develop a full range of responses
7) Be aware of trade-offs
8) Assess all adaptation options to select optimal choice
Policy drivers
• UK Government – climate change adaptation is a high priority but expects activity to be driven locally
– Challenging in climate of public sector funding cuts
• Not just a local authority responsibility
– Environment Agency, SEPA, NIEA, Single Body
– NHS/Public Health bodies, transport providers & private sector
– Emergency services, housing associations & third sector
• Most policies refer to social justice implications but . . .
– Narrow interpretation – focus on spatial vulnerability & health
– Social vulnerability generally not taken into account & procedural justice not investigated
Local authority review & findings
• Review undertaken (spring 2011)– NI 188 data, reviewed plans at Level 2 or 3 (2009/10), comparison
with LGG Survey (2010)
• Findings
– 36 completed plans
– Significant variety – content, detail & progress
– Research activities dominated
– Lots of action focused on drainage & water management
– Achievement of Level 3 status was low
Local authority review & findings (cont.)
• Power to respond in number of ways including housing, planning & building control
• 2/3 of plans considered physical vulnerability
• Impacts upon different groups of residents not differentiated
• Refit of social housing stock included
• Around 25% considered equality & impacts of adaptation/ mal-adaptation
• LAs keen to embed socially just climate change adaptation, but current constraints mean it is difficult to prioritise
Recent context
Green Alliance Report (Nov 2011)
– 65% of LAs – climate change less of a priority than previously
Potential to increase priority locally
– CCRA, NAP, Local Nature Partnerships, Localism, neighbourhood planning, transfer of public health to LAs, economic arguments
Just adaptation
priority
Climate change adaptation priority
Climate change priority
Case studies – Highland, Islington, York: summary findings
• Need for socially just adaptation accepted & welcomed
• Building adaptive capacity evident in corporate plans & strategies, but . . .
– Driven by climate change officers, less evidence in other services
• Just adaptation best achieved through responses targeted at & developed with vulnerable communities
• Technical, GIS solutions useful for mapping vulnerability
– Care needs to be taken re: blight & data protection
• National priority for climate change adaptation not reflected at local level
– But action needs to be taken locally - consider language, economic arguments & role of others – not sole responsibility of LAs
Highland
• Adaptation Plan refers to differential impacts, vulnerability, equality/equity & community engagement
• Gairloch Community Adaptation Plan
• HC community workshops highlighted a number of actions for voluntary organisations working with vulnerable groups:
– to work with emergency services, not just for service provision, but also for providing clear information on what to do in an emergency
– to regularly review who in the community could be vulnerable to extreme weather
– care home managers to consider the location of their sites and evacuation procedures
Islington
• Impact that increased temperature could have on health has been identified as a particular issue for Islington
• Cross-departmental Adaptation Board
• Cross-Borough Adaptation Group
• Risk assessment of the Adaptation Strategy
• Action Plan
• Equalities Impact Assessment of the Adaptation Strategy
• Good Practice Guides
• Cool-It presentations
Islington – adapting to high temperatures & reduced rainfall
The Rainsponge Project: fitting out the paved courtyard of a community centre has reduced seasonal flooding and encouraged centre users to use the outdoor space
Rainwater garden
York
• Corporate commitment to climate change adaptation
– Climate change plan refresh (2013) will have greater focus on social justice & needs of vulnerable communities
• Local Plan Core Strategy
– supportive policies
• First Call 50+ & Hotspots campaign
– referral to support services for vulnerable people
• Adaptation planning in collaboration with local travellers
• Specific adaptation examples
– Temporary bridge to social housing
– Raised sockets in care homes
Conclusions
• Socially just adaptation is complex & requires working with multiple partners
• Greater profile nationally than locally
• Climate change impacts largely accepted, but action focused on emergency responses
• Social justice taken into account to a degree, but focuses on spatial vulnerability & health
• More needs to be done - share good practice, encourage commitment & action, work with communities & enable effective delivery
• Opportunities exist to progress socially just adaptation
• Trade-offs between costs & benefits not highlighted - central to embedding just adaptation NAP!
Recommendations
Education & communication including use of language, understanding the agenda, opportunities & negative impacts
Mainstreaming socially just adaptation across Government, national organisations, local authorities & other local bodies
Collaborative working at local & national levels but with a clear definition of roles & responsibilities
Involvement of vulnerable communities in the development & delivery of climate change adaptation to embed social justice
Sharing knowledge & best practice to address varied standards of adaptation across the UK & engender collective improvement
