This week (30 March) saw the launch of two reports addressing the need to be better prepared for what a future climate might hold.
The House of Lords EU Committee reported on its inquiry into adapting agriculture and forestry to climate change, focusing on the European Commission White Paper: Adapting to Climate Change: Towards a European framework for action from April 2009. The Lords examined the adaptation challenges faced by agriculture in the short and longer-term and considered how EU agricultural and other policies could assist the industry in meeting these challenges.
Their report calls for farmers and land managers to be at the heart of adapting EU agriculture and forestry to climate change. It states that “proposed activity at the EU level, or…by Member States’ governments ...will be of limited effect unless the knowledge gained or the money offered is made available to individual land managers in a practical and relevant manner”. This recommendation echoes the evidence given by the NFU to the inquiry.
The Committee also shared our concern about the reduction in UK’s research capacity over the last 20 years. The report highlights that the Government’s response to the Committee’s queries on research suggests “a lack of interest in this issues of key importance”. The Lords want to see the UK’s research capacity strengthened in order to inform policy on adaptation effectively and urge the Government to “acknowledge this and act accordingly”.
Recommendations on changes to the CAP in response to climate change are included in the report and the NFU will study these in more detail in the coming weeks.
The 28th report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) looks only at the challenges facing UK institutions dealing with freshwater, biodiversity and coastal zones in adapting to climate change. ‘Adapting institutions to climate change’ highlights adaptation is messy and complicated because solutions are likely to be local – there is no one size fits all, there is no end point – adaptation is an on-going process, and we face uncertainty about the magnitude of climate change we’ll need to adapt to.
All these issues present significant and complex challenges for the institutions of the UK and the report’s recommendations reflected this complexity. Examples of the Commission’s recommendations include:
- a new climate adaptation test for all new programmes and policies to ensure faster adaptation
- adequate resources for planning departments as the planning system will be crucial to successful adaptation
- the need for an informed political and public debate on the distribution and costs of the impacts of climate change and adaptation
- greater public engagement much earlier in the decision-making process
The Commission have also prepared a check list of ten questions to help the many institutions who have not yet begun considering what adaptation means to them. The Commission believe the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the independent Committee on Climate Change will have an important role in taking forward several of its recommendations. One of the issues requiring the ASC’s attention is that of possible compensation e.g. for coastal communities which risk losing homes and businesses as sea level rises.
The NFU agrees with the Commission that adaptation will require local solutions and flexibility and we are pleased to see the importance of partnerships and the need for a fair and open decision-making process highlighted.
However the NFU is concerned about the complexity of existing institutional arrangements bought to light by the report. We will follow the response of the Government and the ASC to the Commission’s recommendations.
No comments have been made.