Two new reports, one for England and one for Europe, remind us of the seriousness of climate change’s impacts, and the position of the natural environment at the centre of much of this. Yet both are also a rallying call for action – indeed, Defra’s report heralds the development of the second National Adaptation Programme.
Announcing the second Climate Change Risk Assessment, Defra Minister Lord Gardiner recognised that ‘Our changing climate is one of the most serious environmental challenges that we face as a nation’. Of six headline risks, flooding and coastal change, and risks to health, wellbeing and productivity are given the highest ratings. Water shortages, risks to natural capital, and risks to food production (both here and abroad) all get the top urgency score, requiring more action. Pests, diseases and invasive species form the sixth headline risk, a research priority.
That’s a pretty comprehensive sweep of impacts across nature and the environment. Delving into the detail, there’s top priority for risks to species and habitats from their inability to respond to changing climatic conditions. Various other aspects, from farming and soils to water bodies and the marine environment, are all checked as needing action. Along with the rest of the world, our own known wildlife and familiar places are changing, and facing greater changes.
So it’s good that Lord Gardiner is also clear about developing a long-term programme to tackle these risks to protect the nation better today and for future generations. Work now starts on the next National Adaptation Programme and I’ll be working to ensure that wildlife and habitats get the recognition and action they need. Alongside this, Defra’s much-anticipated 25 year environment plan is committed to taking climate change into account – and if it doesn’t, it will fail.
Adaptation at RSPB Wallasea Island, creating new coastal marshes for wildlife and water management
Following Defra’s account, the European Environment Agency also has a major new report, of climate change’s observed and projected impacts and vulnerability across Europe. Different regions across Europe are affected differently, making it hard to summarise concisely. Yet the report is clear that climate change has wide ranging impacts on ecosystems, economies and human health; that humans have significantly changed the climate and increased the magnitude of many extreme weather events; and that climate change will continue for many decades to come. As for the UK, most of the effects are adverse.
Is it all doom and gloom? Well, yes and no. Things are definitely serious: yet we also know what we need to do. The EEA’s call that ‘better and more flexible adaptation strategies, policies and measures will be crucial’ is now widely recognised – and our new National Adaptation Programme can take this on board. We know much more about using nature based solutions to adapt - planting trees for shade, re-meandering rivers to slow flood waters, creating coastal marshes to cope with rising and more energetic seas. As climate change moves into most areas of our lives, there’s wider recognition of the need to take action – it’s not just about wildlife, or flooding, but our health and our economies are increasingly affected. What transpires in America is of course important yet, either way, should encourage us all to work harder to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and real progress is being made across the world.
And for me, some of our most encouraging responses are seen in the RSPB’s own adaptation work. Many of our nature reserves are not just affected by, but also responding to, the impacts of climate change. Many are responding in magnificent ways - bigger wetlands to welcome species new to our shores, innovative ways to manage for water shortages, improving coastlines, making peatbogs resilient, planting for the future: there is so much going on.
So - visit an RSPB nature reserve, learn about what's happening with climate change there, and feel inspired by action!
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