Community Climate Change Adaptation 2013
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Community Climate Change Adaptation A proposed model for climate change adaptation and community resilience in a rural setting Dr Terry McCormick Development Manager, ACTion with Communities in Cumbria and Gwen Harrison Independent Consultant to ACTion with Communities in Cumbria Date: 15 April 2013 ‘Over many years of work all over the world, I've learned that if we organize in the same way that the rest of life does, we develop the skills we need: we become resilient, adaptive, aware, and creative. We enjoy working together. And life's processes work everywhere, no matter the culture, group, or person, because these are basic dynamics shared by all living beings." Margaret Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (2007) ACT is the community development organisation and Rural Community Council for Cumbria ACT has over 60 years experience of assisting communities to achieve their aspirations ACT successfully champions community and rural issues in Cumbria At ACT we... ... encourage community led initiatives ... provide practical advice, support and training ... offer independent facilitation ... raise awareness of local needs to improve the relevance and responsiveness of services ... champion the interests of communities – locally, regionally and nationally ... assist communication between local people and the agencies and authorities that impact on their daily lives ... gather and use data to better understand and target our work ... assist national agencies and the private sector to deliver participative projects with communities 1 Contents Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................................... 5 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 5 Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 6 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 12 1.1 Background .................................................................................................... 12 1.1.1 Community Resilience 2010-2012 ............................................................... 12 1.1.2 Community Engagement in Ullswater 2011-2013 ........................................ 12 1.1.3 Borrowdale Community-led River Management Case Study ....................... 12 1.1.4 Valley Planning ............................................................................................ 12 1.2 Project aims and objectives ........................................................................... 13 1.3 Ullswater: community, place and economy .................................................... 15 1.3.1 Community ................................................................................................... 15 1.3.2 Place ............................................................................................................ 15 1.3.3 Economy ...................................................................................................... 16 2. What is Community Resilience?......................................................................... 18 2.1 Community Resilience as a cultural development .............................................. 18 2.2 Community Resilience (hazard mitigation, emergency and recovery) ............... 19 2.3 Communities of place ........................................................................................ 19 2.4 Communities of practice ..................................................................................... 19 3. How is our climate changing? ............................................................................ 20 3.1 Recent changes and human influence ............................................................... 20 3.2 Future climate projections .................................................................................. 21 3.2.1 Global projections ........................................................................................ 21 3.2.2 UK and North West projections .................................................................... 22 4. Climate change impacts ..................................................................................... 25 4.1 Overview of work on impacts to the Lake District and North West of England ... 25 4.2 Summary of key impacts on communities in Ullswater ...................................... 26 4.2.1 Flooding ....................................................................................................... 34 4.2.2 Peat bogs and soils ..................................................................................... 37 4.2.3 Water quality and quantity ........................................................................... 38 4.2.4 Agriculture and forestry ................................................................................ 38 2 4.2.5 Non-native species ...................................................................................... 40 4.2.6 Natural environment and ecosystems .......................................................... 40 4.2.7 Infrastructure and services ........................................................................... 41 4.2.8 Tourism ........................................................................................................ 41 4.2.9 Community health and wellbeing ................................................................. 42 4.2.10 Property ................................................................................................ 42 4.2.11 Cultural heritage ................................................................................... 43 5. How can the Ullswater community respond to climate change? ........................ 44 5.1 Climate change adaptation ................................................................................ 44 5.1.1 Preparedness .............................................................................................. 45 5.1.2 Prevention .................................................................................................... 46 5.2 Climate change mitigation .................................................................................. 55 6. Community Engagement .................................................................................... 58 6.1 February 2013 facilitated meeting ...................................................................... 58 6.2 March 2013 facilitated meeting .......................................................................... 60 6.3 Farming community engagement ....................................................................... 61 6.4 Summary of scope for community supported climate adaptation in the Ullswater Catchment................................................................................................................ 62 7. Conclusions and Next Steps .............................................................................. 63 8. Appendices ........................................................................................................ 64 Appendix 1: Borrowdale Whole Valley Planning case study ..................................... 64 Appendix 2: Climate change impacts and responses for Ullswater .......................... 70 Appendix 3a: Environment Agency flood map for Ullswater .................................... 76 Appendix 3b: Lake District Strategic Flood Risk Assessment flood maps for Glenridding and Pooley Bridge ................................................................................ 77 Appendix 3c: Environment Agency flash flood maps for Glenridding and Patterdale ................................................................................................................................. 78 Appendix 3d: Environment Agengy rapid response catchments .............................. 79 Appendix 4a: Forestry Commission sediment maps ................................................ 82 Appendix 4b: Forestry Commission riparian woodland map………………………... 84 Appendix 5: A profile of Ullswater: extract from World Heritage Site nomination document ................................................................................................................. 85 Appendix 6: Extract from Cumbria Community Risk Register .................................. 93 Appendix 7: Useful links ........................................................................................... 94 9. References ......................................................................................................... 95 3 List of Figures Figure 1: Comparison between global average surface temperatures taking into account a) natural and human factors; and b) natural factors only List of Tables Table 1:Summary data for Ullswater parishes Table 2: UKCP09 North West climate projections for medium and high emissions scenarios Table 3: Summary of impacts and possible responses to climate change in Ullswater Table 4: Woodland creation potential in the Cumbria High Fells Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge Becky Willis, climate change advisor to the Lake District National Park, for initiating the project and providing management support and input throughout. In addition they would like to thank the following organisations and individuals: Defra, for project funding; Claire Watters, of ACT, for editorial support; Sonya Skinner, of Lake District