Adaptation Strategy
This is the post consultation Climate Adaptation Strategy of the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Impacts Group – it details the risks the region might face in future as climate change increasingly affects the UK and identifies how we can adapt to these changes.
The purpose of the strategic-level adaptation plan is to set out how the DCIoS region can create the conditions and capacity for everyone to adapt to climate change together over the next five years.
The adaptation plan considers four levels of adaptation planning and action, relating to different parts of society, shown in Figure 3. These are policy/regulator-level, organisational-level, community-level, and individual-level actors and actions. This strategy document primarily focuses on the top two levels, it does recognise the role of communities in response, capacity building and resilience action planning.
Figure 3. Four spheres of adaptation planning and action considered in the adaptation plan.
3.2 Strategic-level adaptation options
Adaptation at the national level
To create the conditions and capacity for everyone (policy makers, businesses, communities, and individuals) to act, several objectives have been set nationally, outlined in the National Adaptation Programme (Defra, 2023):
- Infrastructure: Deliver a whole society approach to resilience, including commitments on resilience standards, as set out in the Resilience Framework. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will drive investment in resilient water supply through the Plan for Water. The Department for Transport (DfT) will consult on a new transport adaptation strategy.
- Natural environment: Defra will account for climate impacts in Local Nature Recovery Strategies and in the Environmental Land Management schemes design, to promote resilient land management and farming. Natural England will launch Six Nature Recovery Projects in 2023 and Defra will work with the Nature Recovery Network partners to identify and launch another 13 projects.
- Health, communities and the built environment: The government will invest £5.2 billion in flood and coastal erosion schemes in England; the UK Health Security Agency will continue deploying the Adverse Weather & Health Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework will be updated to support both adaptation and mitigation efforts, further to recent updates to Building Regulations to reduce excess heat and unwanted solar gains in all new residential buildings. Upper tier local authorities will be provided with local climate projections.
- Business and industry: The government will work with stakeholders to deliver the Green Finance Strategy 2023, including actions to protect the financial system from climate impacts and increase investment into adaptation. A new strategy on supply chains and imports, including improving resilience to threats from climate change will be published by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). DBT will also survey businesses to assess readiness for climate impacts and provide information and support to businesses on climate adaptation.
- Adaptation Reporting Power: The government will consider expanding the scope of organisations which report, in particular on canals and reservoirs, health and social care, and food supply. New bodies will be invited to report, such as organisations in the food sector and local authority reporting will be piloted.
- Supporting evidence: Defra will support research into adaptation needs and approaches, such as through contributing to a £15 million UK Research and Innovation/ Defra programme.
Adaptation at the local level
Climate change will affect different places in different ways. This drives the need to develop place-based adaptation options with strategies focussed on ‘location’.
Locations across the DCIoS region experience many of the same climate impacts. This means that the region can work collaboratively at a strategic level to ensure that interlinked human-environment systems (e.g. transport, utilities etc.) remain resilient, with the implementation of adaptation options that provide flexibility against uncertainties of future climate impacts.
The regional priorities outlined in this adaptation plan are based on the CIG’s assessment of climate risks and local vulnerabilities, alongside the input of stakeholders.
Adaptation options were identified for the impacts that were assessed as severe and major in the Climate Change Risk and Opportunity Assessment. Options to adapt to and/or reduce the risk of these impacts were co-developed through a series of workshops.
Across the workshops the findings from the risk assessment were presented and existing adaptation activities and actions were outlined. These workshops identified a list of around 80 further strategic adaptation actions and/or enabling conditions to address the risks identified within the assessment. See Appendix 4 – Full list of actions arising from the workshops, for all actions identified.
Feedback from stakeholders indicated that these actions would require prioritisation to focus efforts across each sector on the actions that would most benefit from regional collaboration. To assist with this prioritisation, Strategic Directions were developed, which summarise common themes that emerged from the full list of 80 actions. The workshops were used to prioritise actions from the long list of 80 that will help deliver these Strategic Directions over the next five years. This process selected 40 actions to focus on, and it is these that are included in this Adaptation Plan. These are outlined in the following subsections, by sector. See Appendix 6 – Adaptation Plan for additional detail about timescales and responsible organisations. Organisations are encouraged to review the full list of 80 actions in Appendix 4 to consider whether they could help deliver these, particularly where these actions would help increase their own resilience. This Adaptation Plan will incorporate more actions from the long list of 80 when it is reviewed.
3.2.1 Natural environment (including agriculture, forestry, and fisheries)
Headline sector risks and opportunities
Severe-rated risks related to impacts on terrestrial and marine habitats due to climate change, damage to soils, aquifers and natural carbon stores all scored in the top category. Major-rated risks impacted the agriculture and forestry sector with increased invasive species, pests, and disease. Changing landscape character also rated as major.
Headline adaptation actions
The actions and strategy within the natural environment (Table 3) relate to measures being implemented to improve and protect habitats, favouring nature based solutions where practicable, thus reducing stress on species allowing them time to adapt to changing conditions. Increased community awareness and involvement will be needed to successfully adapt within this sector. Within agriculture and forestry, supporting primary producers in adapting to change so that they can continue to provide for and support the region will be important.
Table 3. Strategic direction and actions to support adaptation action in the natural environment.
| Strategic Direction | Actions | Level | ||
| A | Support and actively improve the adaptive capacity of landscapes and habitats | NEA1 | Work with South West Water in developing a collaborative regional water strategy to manage water availability and safe treatment and disposal of waste water, including aquifer recharge, control over-extraction, increase the use of rainwater harvesting, reduce effluent discharge etc. | Policy Makers |
| NEA4 | Set out a regional strategy to protect, restore and enhance terrestrial carbon stores from land use change and increase the resilience where possible (e.g. peatland restorations, woodland management, soils). | Policy Makers | ||
| NEA5 | Develop long-term green space and Local Nature Recovery strategies to demonstrate what type of habitat will be supported in the future (e.g. intertidal zones, the benefits of different saltwater/freshwater marsh etc.) and opportunities for supporting human health. | Policy Makers | ||
| B | Use agriculture / forestry networks and knowledge to implement best practice. Provide them with key information to protect ecosystem services | NEB1 | Promote and improve soil management techniques (Minimum-till cultivation, cover crops, nutrient credits, ley-arable rotations) to protect soil structure / nutrient levels and increase resilience to adverse weather / aridity impacts. Consider adoption of a systems thinking approach such as the Land Use Framework. | Policy Makers |
| NEB5 | Adapt agricultural land use through Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMs) and Biodiversity Net Gain funding (e.g. buffer strips, conservation areas etc.). | Farming Businesses | ||
| NEB6 | Develop alternative water supplies (e.g. boreholes) and use of rainwater harvesting and storage (ponds/reservoirs) on farm. Put in ponds, swales, and wetlands. | Farming Businesses | ||
| C | Maximise community participation and connection to nature | NEC1 | Provision of capacity building support and advice to community groups from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for taking action to support nature enhancement | Policy Makers |
| NEC2 | Facilitate landowners connecting with local nature groups to understand the benefits around alternative land use to support biodiversity and the natural environment and human health. | Landowners | ||
3.2.2 Infrastructure
Headline sector risks and opportunities
There are major or severe risks related to flooding, erosion, and extreme weather events, which may exacerbate the risk of cascading failures that affect other sectors.
Headline adaptation actions
Many of the key actions relating to infrastructure (Table 4) such as asset flooding and coastal erosion are mirrored within the health and built environment sector, so should be viewed alongside those in section 3.2.3.
Table 4. Strategic direction and actions to support adaptation for infrastructure.
| Strategic Direction | Actions | Level | ||
| A | Develop cross sector collaboration to equip the region with the knowledge and skills to take adaptation action | INFA1 | Build on and develop resilience partnerships that consider short, medium and long-term planning horizons and how resilience changes over time. Ensure command, control and co-ordination arrangements for an emergency which involves the loss of both power and telecoms, and actively involve utility companies in local planning where required to ensure linkage with regional and national developments. | Policy Makers |
| INFA2 | Emergency Planning – Map voluntary and community sector assets and capabilities in their areas. Develop processes for their swift activation, deployment, and coordination. Ensure distributed energy resources (DER), such as customer-premise microgrids (e.g. solar + storage systems), community microgrids, or mobile battery and generation systems can provide life-preserving power to community shelters and public health facilities during emergencies. | Policy Makers | ||
| INFA3 | Develop a working group with infrastructure industry associations and providers at regional level to improve interdependencies awareness within the infrastructure sector (co-location of infrastructure, such as bridge crossings / roadways and impact of cascade failure on infrastructure output). Engage with National Grid, hydrologists, and power system modellers, to simulate and understand the impacts of compounded flooding, heat waves and droughts on the power generation in the region. | Policy Makers | ||
| B | Enhancing long term Infrastructure resilience through local stewardship | INFB1 | Develop joint strategies, research, and longer-term schemes with the Environment Agency, South West Water, Lead Local Flood Authority, and catchment partnerships to improve catchment management both for high flow areas at flood risk and protect low flow by reducing demand / drought impacts. | Policy Makers |
| INFB2 | Enable and promote climate resilience through procurement processes. Consider climate resilience of new assets and infrastructure when comparing competing bids, by accounting for costs over the asset lifetime under alternative climate scenarios. | Policy Makers | ||
| INFB3 | Using behavioural science / social marketing, coproduce with communities and businesses behavioural change measures to communicate to reduce consumption of water and energy | Policy Makers | ||
3.2.3 Health and the built environment
Headline sector risks and opportunities
There are major or severe risks related to flooding of properties, heatwaves, and further investigation is required about risks relating to food safety and food security.
Headline adaptation actions
We have outlined key actions suitable for regional collaboration in Table 5. Providing communities and individuals with knowledge and adaptation skills is an effective way of preparing for these challenges. Note that key actions relating to public health, to an extent, mirror health risks in cross-cutting risks, so these should be viewed alongside those in 3.2.5.
Table 5. Strategic direction and actions to support adaptation for health and the built environment.
| Strategic Direction | Actions | Level | ||
| A | Increase community awareness of how climate change can impact physical and mental health | HBEA1 | Working with relevant agencies and our communities, develop a climate change awareness campaign to inform stakeholders, including the public of the projected range of changes and their impacts alongside how we are adapting and what we can all do to respond. | Policy Makers |
| HBEA2 | Public authorities to continue to provide timely & localised information on climate change impacts to enable appropriate adaptation planning by all. | Policy Makers | ||
| HBEA3 | Raise awareness with social care managers, commissioners, staff, and carers on preparing for response to adverse weather, including heatwaves. | Policy Makers | ||
| HBEA4 | Public Health teams to engage with NHS partners, Health Protection Teams and LA environmental health departments to raise awareness of climate sensitive non-communicable disease (NCD) e.g. the links between climate change and increased cardiovascular disease and appropriate adaptation for vulnerable groups. This should include developing adaptations for activities such as exercise and active travel which may be impacted by climate change with consequences for non-communicable disease. | Policy Makers | ||
| B | Support residences and businesses on private water supplies to adapt to climate change threats, including security of supply and changing water quality | HBEB1 | Local Authorities to provide advice and expanded monitoring for properties with private water supplies (quality and quantity). | Policy Makers |
| HBEB2 | Provide access to and guidance on benefits of rainwater harvesting systems (i.e. to capture excess rainfall for use in the garden) and grey water harvesting systems (i.e. collect and treat wastewater from showers, baths, and wash basins). | Policy Makers | ||
| C | Assist public services to understand climate change impacts on their assets, service delivery and the community’s health | HBEC1 | Promote and provide staff with time to undertake volunteer work with local NGOs and develop Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). | Policy Makers |
| HBEC2 | Develop a strategy and guidance for the adaptation of heritage assets to climate impacts, including a “Managed Decline to Adaptive Release1” strategy to record historic buildings, sites, and landscapes as a part of managed coastal retreat due to sea level rise, erosion, and storms. | Policy Makers | ||
| HBEC3 | Work with partners to develop the materials and training to support in the establishment and operation of local Community Resilience Groups (or similar existing groups) and the development of community adaptation plans. | Policy Makers | ||
| D | Minimise heat-related illness and death | HBED1 | Provision of funding and guidance for properties to be retrofitted in line with New Building Regulations Part O to prevent buildings overheating and / or reduce heat loss in winter. | Policy Makers |
| E | Ensure the region is ready for, and resilient to, flooding and coastal change | HBEE1 | Policy makers to start gathering evidence of where aspects of community/development/industry/utility etc might need to be relocated due to climate impacts and develop an evidence base that can inform planning activities (e.g. relocation of properties due to insurmountable flood risk). | Policy Makers |
| HBEE2 | Local Planning Authorities to ensure that their Local Plans utilise and build upon the findings and direction provided by strategic documents dealing with coastal change (e.g. Shoreline Management Plans, Coastal Change Management Areas, Flood Risk Management Plans etc). | Policy Makers | ||
| HBEE3 | Policymakers to engage with the public to ensure awareness and understanding of the predicted impacts of climate change around the coast generally, and on their local communities specifically – to co-produce knowledge andagree viable actions. | Policy Makers | ||
1 Adaptive Release (AR) is an approach that supports the transformation of a heritage asset (including its values and significance), within wider landscape settings. AR is proactive and positive, intended to be applied in situations where anticipated environmental change is likely to lead to eventual loss and/or alteration.” (University of Exeter et al., 2022).
3.2.4 Business and industry
Headline sector risks and opportunities
There are major or severe risks related to flooding of premises, water scarcity, and the effects of extreme weather events.
Headline adaptation actions
Small and medium-sized enterprises are instrumental in restoring economic activity within the community following flooding / severe weather events; the faster businesses recover from the impacts, the faster the wider community will recover. Developing mechanisms to enhance preparation, response and recovery capacities within the sector will help build resilience. To enable this activity businesses will require detailed information about how they can successfully adapt. Collaboration within the sector will be required to understand the risks and costs of inaction to encourage effective business continuity planning (BCP) to prepare for potential impacts on infrastructure, services and supply chains. BCP will assist businesses to continue operating if there are ongoing delays in re-establishing these services.
Table 6 outlines key actions suitable for regional collaboration for consideration by policy makers and businesses.
Table 6. Strategic direction and actions to support adaptation for business and industry.
| Strategic Direction | Actions | Level | ||
| A | Equip the sector with the knowledge and skills to take adaptation action | BIA1 | Establish strategies to develop the South West region as a global research and knowledge hub for climate adaptation action and governance. | Policy Makers |
| BIA2 | Develop business engagement strategies to enable local authorities and regional action groups to assess private sector needs, gain inputs, and consult companies on practical implementation of adaptation actions. | Policy Makers | ||
| BIA3 | Develop and expand the Climate Emergency / Readiness Action group – (Steering group formed from business, public sector, and academia) to take the lead on more projects within the region (e.g. Climate Ready Clyde) | Policy Makers | ||
| B | Develop industry readiness for impacts (e.g. supply chain security, drought restrictions) | BIB2 | Severe Weather Policy – set out clearly what workers should do when Met Office severe weather warnings are issued and what thresholds they should work under. | Businesses |
| BIB3 | Improve water management (reduce / reuse). | Businesses | ||
| BIB4 | Put in place a severe weather plan and resilience measures to ensure business continuity, sign up for alerts and check insurances for coverage on flooding / severe weather events. | Businesses | ||
| C | Enhancing long-term business resilience through local stewardship | BIC1 | Promote the robust and resilient design of new / refurbished assets and infrastructure. E.g., Promote property flood resilience products to protect against severe weather and hazardous events (e.g. flooding). | Policy Makers |
3.2.5 Cross-cutting (including international dimensions)
Headline sector risks and opportunities
There are major or severe risks related to increasing disease occurrence and interactions and cascades overseas due to climate change (e.g. regional food availability, safety, and quality from climate change overseas).
Headline Adaptation Actions
Actions to adapt to cross-cutting risks and risk with international dimensions (Table 7) mirror some of those relating to mental health and public order within the health and built environment so should be viewed alongside section 3.2.3. Strategic directions relate to the need for better research and information about the risks and likely outcomes about health and violent crime rate rates, alongside work to improve local food security.
Table 7. Strategic direction and actions to support adaptation action cross-cutting risks and international dimensions.
| Strategic Direction | Actions | Level | ||
| A | Improve the community’s knowledge and awareness of the health impacts of climate change, both current and into the future. | CCA1 | Local Authority and UKHSA Health Protection Teams to raise awareness of new disease and transmission vectors and work with key stakeholders, e.g. Integrated Care Board, and Environment Agency. | Policy Makers |
| CCA2 | Define a regional approach (e.g. ‘One Health’) to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases (infectious diseases transmitted between animals and people). | Policy Makers | ||
| CCA3 | As temperatures increase, bacterial infection occurrence may rise in higher latitudes. Alongside the faster bacteria reproduction rates, with higher temperatures there is an increased risk of bacteria becoming drug resistant. Raise awareness on the impacts of anti-microbial resistance and prevention measures (e.g. reducing antibiotics use in livestock). | Policy Makers | ||
| B | Improve food security within the region | CCB1 | Encourage and stimulate the purchase of local, environmentally sustainable produce to support a healthier and more resilient food system and reduce food miles. | Policy Makers |
| C | Information and liaison about the effects of climate change on crime and civil disorder | CCC1 | Work with partners, including universities, to examine the effects of climate change on crime rates and the potential for civil disorder. | Police service |
| CCC2 | Police Service to liaise with the Met Office to consider expansion of the weather forecast alert system for high temperatures and potential increase in crime. | Policy Makers | ||
3.3 Case studies of adaptation action
There are numerous examples in the DCIoS region where resilience and adaptation measures have been implemented to reduce the risk from climate and weather hazards. We provide four case studies:
- Case Study 1: Extreme rainfall and flooding in Boscastle, Cornwall in August 2004 (section 3.3.1).
- Case Study 2: Drought and water scarcity on the Isles of Scilly in August 2022 (section 3.3.2).
- Case Study 3: Extreme heat/heatwave in the DCIoS region in July 2022 (section 3.3.3).
- Case Study 4: Sea level rise and erosion at Slapton, Devon in March 2018 (section 3.3.4).
The case studies describe resilience mechanisms that were used during the immediate response to the events, and adaptation options that were implemented before or in the aftermath to enhance future resilience. The level at which these resilience mechanisms and adaptation options were delivered are described in the context of the four spheres of adaptation planning (shown in Figure 3).
3.3.1 Case Study 1: Extreme rainfall and flooding
| Impacts experienced from the extreme weather event | ||
| Event: On the 16th of August 2004, 200 mm of rain fell in twenty-four hours within the catchment of the coastal village of Boscastle in Cornwall causing the rivers Jordan and Valency to rapidly overflow. An estimated 2 billion litres of water rushed down the steep-sided valley into Boscastle. The floods were exacerbated by tidal locking where the rising tide prevented the flood waters from exiting into the sea. This event was the first record of rainfall totals exceeding 200mm in 24 hours in England since 1957. In a warmer climate it is expected that convective rainfall events such as that which caused the Boscastle floods will become more frequent and intense. Sea level rise is also likely to increase the effect of tidal locking. Impacts: Residents had little time to react. Fifty cars were lost to the flood water, 58 buildings and several bridges were badly damaged or demolished and people had to act quickly to survive. Over 100 people were airlifted out of the floods and residents were displaced from their homes for 18 months. Local wildlife habitats were damaged by the floodwaters and flood debris increased coastal pollution. The long-term financial cost through loss of tourism was estimated to be £50 million. The stress and anxiety caused by the trauma and financial loss of the floods had long-term effects on individual’s mental health and wellbeing. | ||
| Resilience measures adopted and options for adaptation | ||
| Resilience mechanisms observed | Adaptation options | |
| Strategic | Multi-agency rescue operation coordinated by Gold Command of the Local Resilience Forum involving Royal Navy and Maritime & Coastguard Agency helicopters, lifeboats, and the fire service. | A £4.5 million flood defence scheme was built following the floods including new drainage and sewerage systems and the deepening and widening of the river channel. Boscastle car park has been raised in height to stop the river from bursting its banks so easily. |
| Organisation | Environment Agency was responsible for warning people about floods. A Floodwatch warning was issued at 12:39pm less than one hour after the rain began. | Organisations have installed flood defences in buildings and assets. Following the floods the Met Office invested in new methods of predicting heavy rainfall events on a small scale to produce better warnings. There is future work for emergency services to enable first responders to be made aware of more vulnerable people who are less able to adapt or respond to flood events. |
| Community | The community came together to help vulnerable people to escape the floods, preventing any deaths. | Community-level leaf litter clearance projects within flood prone catchments (e.g. Lostwithiel flood prevention project). |
| Individual | Residents had little time to react. | Individuals have installed property-level flood protection. Individuals have and are encouraged to sign up to Environment Agency flood warnings. |
| Sources: Met Office, n.d. (a); Cornwall Flood Resilience Pathfinder, 2015; North Cornwall District Council, n.d.; Climate Vision, n.d.; BBC Bitesize, n.d.; Burt, 2005; Independent, 2004; NASA, 2022. | ||
3.3.2 Case Study 2: Drought and water scarcity
| Impacts experienced from the extreme weather event | ||
| Event: The Isles of Scilly have a naturally low capacity for water storage due to their size and underlying geology. Demand for water is high during the summer tourist season. The islands experienced a notable drought in the summer of 2022 following some of the driest conditions in nearly 90 years. This was not just a local event, with the Environment Agency stating that all of the South West of England was in drought by August 2023. Impacts: Water became scarce. The IoS Wildlife Trusts were deeply concerned about the impact that the drought was having on local farmers and farmland, as well as wilder landscapes like heathland and wetlands. | ||
| Resilience measures adopted and options for adaptation | ||
| Resilience mechanisms observed | Adaptation options | |
| Strategic | Environment Agency officially declared a drought. Fifty percent of the total water supply to St Mary’s is provided by a desalination plant which was in response to a lack of potable water in periods of high demand. | The Water Resources Management Plan sets out how South West Water will manage the region’s water supply and demand for the next 25 years. There needs to be development of plans to ensure continuation of food supply chains and secure local employment. |
| Organisation | Environment Agency introduced additional monitoring of the effects of the dry weather on rivers and responded to environmental emergencies, such as rescuing stranded fish. It also put additional resources into ensuring that people and companies who have water abstraction licences only operated within the terms of their licence. South West Water provided advice on saving water and implemented temporary use bans – ‘hosepipe bans’. | South West Water (2022) Drought Plan, and continued provision of water butts. There is an existing and future need for local authorities to share public messaging on reducing water use, whilst maintaining human health communications. |
| Community | Community businesses (e.g. B&Bs) removed bath plugs to reduce excess water use by tourists. | Existing communication around behaviour changes to reduce resident and visitors’ water use. |
| Individual | Reduced and/or more efficient water use. Take up of water harvesting systems. | Installation of water storage tanks and/or further take up of water harvesting. |
| Sources: Environment Agency, 2022; South West Water, n.d.; South West Water, 2022, 2023. | ||
3.3.3 Case Study 3: Extreme heat and heatwaves
| Impacts experienced from the extreme weather event | ||
| Event: The DCIoS region experienced several major heatwaves in the summer of 2022, most notably in July with temperatures reaching a high of 36°C (Bude in Cornwall). It was provisionally the fourth warmest summer for the UK overall. Four of the five warmest summers on record for England have occurred since 2003. Heatwaves in the region are expected to become more frequent and intense as the climate warms. Impacts: High temperatures posed a risk to the health of people, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the elderly (where excess mortality was observed), very young and those with pre-existing medical conditions. During the five heat-periods between June and August 2022, 56,303 deaths occurred in England and Wales; this is 3,271 deaths (6.2%) above the five-year average. Wildlife, livestock, and pets were also affected. Wildfires caused the closure of the South West Coast Path in south Devon. Roads became tacky but did not result in road closures. Heatwaves also cause an increase in other risks such as water safety as people spend time in water bodies to cool off. | ||
| Resilience measures adopted and options for adaptation | ||
| Resilience mechanisms observed | Adaptation options | |
| Strategic | Met Office Heat Health Alert was issued. UK Government implemented the Heat Wave Plan for England. Councils and NHS shared messages with the public giving advice on heat health risks and how to stay cool. | Adapt building regulations to ensure building design and materials used are suitable for a warmer climate. Particular need for care homes and early year/school settings to ensure sustainable building design to protect from extreme heat. Police Service and partners to prepare for an increase in violent crime, particularly domestic violence. |
| Organisation | Both the Met Office extreme heat severe weather warning, and UKSHA and Met Office Heat Health Alert, were in place. Businesses encouraged temporary flexible working. Fire services asked people not to participate in campfires or BBQs, not to litter, and to properly dispose of cigarettes. Devon County Council prepared gritters to dust roads as road surfaces hit 57°C. There were changes to working patterns and relaxation of dress codes to reduce exposure. | Installation of air conditioning units in offices (as a short-term solution, noting this practice is not conducive with meeting Net Zero targets). Use of blinds in offices and at home to provide shade and cool conditions indoors. Sympathetic tree planting to provide shade and cooling. |
| Community | The community checked in on vulnerable groups/individuals and set up cool spaces. | Increase green space and shade. |
| Individual | Individuals bought cooling devices (e.g. portable fans) and shut blinds, curtains and windows to keep properties cool during the day. | Retrofitting of buildings with cooling measures (e.g. air conditioning units, ventilation units, brise soleil and outside shutters, cool areas). Put into action messaging informed by behavioural science about the adaptations needed to reduce health risks from heat (e.g. hydration, staying in the shade, reducing physical activity at hottest part of the day, checking on vulnerable neighbours). |
| Sources: BBC News, 2022; Devon County Council, 2022; Met Office, n.d. (b); Met Office 2022b; ONS, 2022f; ONS, 2022g. | ||
3.3.4 Case Study 4: Sea level rise and erosion
| Impacts experienced from the extreme weather event | ||
| Event: The A379 road runs along the Slapton Line and is the quickest route between the villages of Torcross and Strete Gate. The road was first closed temporarily due to coastal erosion caused by storms in 2001. From 2002 to 2015 thousands of tonnes of shingle was used to create barriers to protect the line from further erosion. Between 2014 and 2017 south westerly storms accelerated erosion of the beach. Storm Emma in March 2018 washed away a 700m stretch of the road, causing it to be closed for 8-months. Accelerating sea level rise is also contributing to the retreat of the Slapton Line through shoreline erosion. Impacts: Frequent, temporary road closures over the past 20 years. This has impacts on local people commuting to places of work, operating businesses and accessing education, as well as on local tourist visits and on public transport routes linking Kingsbridge with Dartmouth. It also increases the time required for local deliveries and for the emergency services to respond to local situations. The cost of disrupting local traffic each month that the road is closed is £38k. Continued, temporary closures of the road over 25 years would damage the local visitor economy by up to £2.4m. Local people’s health and wellbeing are also impacted by the risks and uncertainties the road closures and slow retreat of the Slapton Line present. | ||
| Resilience measures adopted and options for adaptation | ||
| Resilience mechanisms observed | Adaptation options undertaken | |
| Strategic | Various coastal defences have been constructed over the past 100 years mostly adjacent to the properties on Torcross promenade and often in response to specific incidents. These defences have included a concrete seawall above sheet piling, sheet pilling, rock revetment, block armour work and periodic beach recycling. | The Slapton Line Partnership was formed in 2001 to promote a coordinated policy for managing coastal change in the area and support the community as it adapts to live and work with the changing coast. |
| Organisation | Devon County Council closes the road as a precaution when high winds and waves are forecast. | Devon County Council has realigned the road (20m further inland). Improvements to passing places and the surfacing of inland lanes has been undertaken to increase the usability of diversion routes. |
| Community | Alternative, locally agreed and signposted ‘one-way’ routes through narrow lanes are used by local residents and businesses when the road is closed to avoid local congestion. . | The Management Strategy has worked with the community to conclude that there is now minimal space available to retreat the road further, which has been the strategy to date. A new Strategy for Adaptation is being developed by the Slapton Line Partnership. |
| Individual | Road users and check the flood warnings on the Slapton flood risk warning page. | |
| Sources: Slapton Line Partnership, n.d.; Met Office, n.d. (c); CMAR, 2017; Lucas & Taylor, 2016; GOV.UK, n.d.. | ||
3.4 Guidance for adaptation planning
This section sets out who is responsible for various elements of adaptation planning, so that those developing their own plans know who to contact.
The objective of this strategy is to drive that conversation and to ensure that consideration is given by each stakeholder as to how the region’s plans are aligned. Only in this way will a climate resilient future be achieved.
3.4.1 Roles and responsibilities
Government Departments / Agencies: Defra has overall responsibility for leading government policy on climate change adaptation in England, as well as covering flooding, coastal erosion and, in partnership with Ofwat, managing water demand. Within the infrastructure sector, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero take the lead on the resilience of energy infrastructure to flooding. The DfT cover flood resilience to all transport infrastructure, whilst telecommunications resilience is led by Ofcom and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Arm’s length bodies to government also share some of this responsibility, such as the Environment Agency, Natural England, and the NHS.
Local Authorities: In partnership with Defra, local authorities are guided to plan for and implement climate adaptation at a local level. In addition, there are some functions of local government where adaptation is a statutory requirement. These include planning, flood risk management, public health, and environmental impact assessment.
Furthermore, the government will be piloting adaptation reporting by local authorities (LAs) and the CIG will keep abreast of the requirements to ensure that we are ready for any changes in the responsibilities of the region’s LAs (DEFRA, 2023).
Organisations and Businesses: Organisations and businesses are responsible for identifying, understanding, controlling, and adapting to the risks (and opportunities) that climate change poses to their assets, products, and services. This is especially true in the case of energy, water, telecommunications and transport infrastructure resilience. This includes the people, systems, processes, and data needed to deliver business activities across their supply chains.
A number of organisations already have a legal requirement to report on adaptation under the Adaptation Reporting Power, such as South West Water. The government are exploring increasing the number of organisations required to report and the scope of reporting e.g., identifying organisations in the agriculture sector. Furthermore, the Environmental Land Management schemes and Water Management Grant under the Farming Investment Fund will help to incentivise adaptation measures in the agricultural sector (DEFRA, 2023).
Emergency Services: The emergency services in the UK consist of four main organisations, the Police, the Fire and Rescue Services, the Emergency Medical Services and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Other services available include mountain rescue, cave rescue and lifeboat. Emergency and rescue services ensure public safety and health by planning to respond to incidents, responding to incidents when they occur, and engaging communities about the risks so as to increase understanding and influence behaviours that reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring and to improve preparedness. In addition, the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) is made up of Category 1 responders2 and Category 2 responders3 whose aim is to work together to plan and prepare for localised incidents and catastrophic emergencies. These services will require enhanced agility, capability, and flexibility to support effective emergency planning, response, and recovery under a changing climate.
Communities and individuals: The public, including individuals, families and communities and their respective parish and town councils, have a key role. Community-based adaptation empowerspeople to use their local knowledge to reduce their vulnerability to extreme events. To achieve this, communities need to engage with other stakeholders to build awareness andunderstanding of climate change and consider the risks and opportunities that a changing climate will bring. Knowledge exchange, guidance, and signposting materials, through a variety of mechanisms (social media, radio, TV posters etc.), is critical to enhancing the engagement and enabling adaptation action to take place.
2 Category 1 responders – made up of local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and others.
3 Category 2 responders – made up of the National Highways and public utility companies. Military and voluntary services are also included in the LRF.
3.4.2 Signposting to useful information and resources
Links and signposting to a range of useful resources to support effective risk management, adaptation planning and knowledge exchange are outlined in Appendix 5 – Signposting to useful resources.
3.5 Governance of the adaptation plan
This concerns the structure and processes for ownership (accountability), management (roles and decision-making), control (rules and procedures), and resources. It will keep the DCIoS Adaptation Strategy on track and running in accordance with the plan.
It is expected that Governance will evolve over time, as actions and priorities change.
3.5.1 Ownership
The climate emergency response structures within the three geographical areas of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are accountable for ensuring the delivery of the Climate Adaptation Strategy. These are:
- The Devon Climate Emergency Response Group
- The Cornwall Climate Change Board
- Isles of Scilly Emergency Planning
Progress reports will be provided to these groups by the CIG on a quarterly basis. It will be the responsibility of the Devon County Council, Cornwall Council and the Isles of Scilly Council representatives on the CIG to ensure the quarterly reports are reported upwards to the relevant group.
Reports will also be submitted to the Risk Management Group of the DCIoS Local Resilience Forum (LRF) to ensure ongoing cooperation and continuity of approaches. The submission of these reports to the secretariat of the LFR will be the responsibility of the CIG secretariat.
3.5.2 Management
The DCIoS Climate Adaptation Strategy considers climate risk and adaptation at a regional level, that sits above county-level adaptation strategies. The management of the strategy will therefore require a collaborative approach, to ensure the right stakeholders are engaged in the process of addressing risk, identifying adaptation options, and delivering on the action plan.
The CIG will perform this role, being collectively responsible for oversight of the delivery and maintenance of the DCIoS Climate Adaptation Strategy.
The CIG is currently chaired by the Environment Agency.
The secretariat function of the CIG is currently provided by Devon County Council.
These proposed governance arrangements are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Proposed governance for the Climate Adaptation Strategy
3.5.3 Control
Hosting of resources: To manage version control and avoid duplication of the same resource being published in multiple places, it is recommended that a single platform is used to host information:
- Internally (CIG members): Resources will continue to be hosted on the Devon County Council SharePoint for members of the CIG to access.
- Externally: Public resources and outputs from the CIG are hosted on the Devon Climate Emergency Adaptation Strategy webpage. Other organisations can link to these materials.
DCIoS Climate Adaptation Strategy: The Adaptation Strategy provides the evidence-base to support an ongoing programme of climate adaptation. It provides a snapshot of risks, adaptation options and actions at a point in time. The Adaptation Strategy will be reviewed every 5 years to provide a coherent update and progress report on actions being taken in the DCIoS region to increase climate resilience.
- Risk Register: The risk register is intended to be a live document that evolves over time as new impacts emerge and risk-levels change. The register will be a standing item on monthly CIG meeting agendas to capture any proposed changes in hazards, impacts or risk-levels identified by any member of the CIG. In addition, every month, six risks will be reviewed formally. The Lead Assessor assigned to each risk will bring a recommendation to the CIG. This will mean that over a 12 month period the whole register will have been reviewed. Every five years a full review will be undertaken, in-line with the Strategy update. This will take account of any new information that is made available at the National level (i.e., the UK’s next Climate Change Risk Assessment, CCRA4, is due to be published in 2027).
- Adaptation Plan: The suite of adaptation options outlined in the adaptation plan provides a range of measures that could be undertaken to address climate impacts. This ‘library’ of options will be built upon over time to provide a comprehensive database of indicative options. Adaptation options (suitable for regional level action) can be brought to CIG meetings by any member at any time but the Lead Assessors will have a central role in adding additional adaptation options to the database at the time of reviewing each risk.
- Action Plan: The Action Plan sets out the immediate-term activities to support adaptation action. Its delivery will be managed by the CIG (see Management section above). New actions that emerge within the 5-year review period will be added by the CIG.
3.5.4 Resources
The members of the CIG intend to continue providing resources to the group to enable it to perform its role. Additional resource (both personnel and monetary) may be required at various stages of maintaining the Strategy, which will be addressed when requests for these resources emerge.
Opportunities to use existing resilience funding more effectively, combined with applications for grant funding and working with government to identify additional funds will be necessary to deliver the enhanced and/or new adaptation projects as a result of the Action Plan. The private sector, including individuals, is likely to need to fund some project elements, such as adaptations to buildings to reduce their vulnerability to overheating.
In addition, The Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) and the Fourth Strategy for Climate Adaptation Reporting (2023) outlines a number of ways in which funding is being provided to regions and local authorities for climate adaptation, including through:
- devolution deals, which Devon is currently negotiating, and Cornwall has completed;
- funding for responsible authorities to lead the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies;
- the UK Shared Prosperity Fund;
- Local Investment in Natural Capital Programme funding;
- and through a pilot to strengthen Local Resilience Forums, as set out in the 2022 UK Government Resilience Framework.
NAP3 also cites estimates that nationally, adaptation investment for the risks and opportunities identified in the Climate Change Risk Assessment 3 could be as much as £10 billion per year (Defra, 2023). The government will support collaboration over the next 5 years to address barriers to investment and the Climate Change Committee is anticipated to further identify adaptation investment needs for CCRA4 in 2027.
The CIG will continue to monitor available funding streams and pursue opportunities to secure investment as they become available, whilst engaging with national government around the finance needed for the region to adapt.
Furthermore, business cases and cost-benefit analysis will need to be developed on an individual scheme and project basis to ensure resources are put to best use. However, work by the Climate Change Committee indicates that the benefit-cost ratios of climate adaptation measures typically range from 2:1 to 10:1. Put simply, £1 spent on adaptation could deliver between £2 to £10 in net economic benefits, as well as other environmental and social co-benefits (Watkiss et al., 2021).
Figure 5 Benefit to Cost rations for Adaptation for Selected CCRA3 risks (Watkiss et al., 2021).
3.6 Monitoring and evaluation of adaptation action
3.6.1 Types of monitoring
Metrics are useful to monitor adaptation activity so long as they are objective, transparent and can be understood by a range of users. They allow for comparison with other locations and time periods (Local Partnerships, 2023).
Process indicators measure how a service or intervention has been delivered. In adaptation, the point where the outcome can be evaluated is often in the future, so process indicators allow the consideration of whether the direction of travel is correct given the current information (Local Partnerships, 2023).
Further information on the creation of baseline values and progress indicators to measure how an action has been delivered can be found in section 5 (Monitoring and Adaptation) of the Local Partnerships Adaptation toolkit (Local Partnerships, 2023).
3.6.2 Example Metrics
Indicative example metrics that might be considered for monitoring and evaluating success in the DCIoS region, with regards to adapting to climate change, are outlined below. Each metric has the potential to be turned into an indicator, considering what the baseline (starting point) is, and then considering what the objective (outcome) is to be achieved.
Governance-level metrics
- Number of adaptation projects that have been undertaken.
- Total investment (£value) committed or assigned to adaptation projects.
Vulnerability-level metrics
- The number of people shifted from high to lower exposure to flood risk.
- The length of coastline protected by flood defences.
- Number of community buildings, businesses, and infrastructure with reduced risk of flooding i.e. surgeries, village shops, critical access/egress routes.
Impact-level metrics
- The number of people displaced in the region from climate change.
- The total damage (£value) from extreme weather events.
- Number of workdays lost in the region due to extreme weather events.
- Number school days lost due to heatwave conditions causing closures.
Process-level metrics
- Number of individuals or community groups taking part in Climate Change training / workshop sessions.
- Number of visits to online engagement web platforms.
- Level of stakeholder engagement (e.g. workshop attendance / sectors represented).
- Following the finalisation of the Adaptation Strategy the Climate Impacts Group will work to agree a monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework for the Action Plan and make this publicly available online.
