Why is adaptation important?

Climate change is likely to have significant impacts on our society, environment and economy, at every scale from local to global. We need to be proactive in assessing the potential impacts and consequences of climate change, and in implementing timely adaptation action. It is important that we reduce the risks from climate change to society, environment and economy, and take advantage of opportunities that climate change brings.

Of course, looking at why it is important to adapt to climate change from the point of view of the economy, society and the environment is a huge topic area. We are only scratching the surface here, but the other sections of the Adaptation Resource provide many sources of further information.
 

Economic perspective

From an economic perspective, it is important to adapt to climate change in order to reduce the negative impacts on the economy, and to enable businesses and others to take advantage of opportunities for new markets and services. "Climate change will bring opportunities for economic growth if British businesses think now about how climate change will affect them," Environment Minister Lord Henley said recently.

Some headline impacts from recent severe weather events include:

• The 2007 central England summer floods cost the economy over £3 billion. (Source: Adaptation Sub-Committee (2010) report "How well prepared is the UK for climate change?")
• The 2003 heatwave is estimated to have cost the UK £160 million. This included £41 million in health effects and £150 million in damage to buildings and roads. However, there were also gains in the tourist industry (£38 million), retail sector (£3.2 million) and reduced energy use, saving consumers £80 million. (Source: www.guardian.co.uk cited in UKCIP (2009) "A changing climate for business". An updated version of this report was produced in 2010.)

The European Environment Agency published a report in 2007 on "Climate change: the cost of inaction and the cost of adaptation". It concluded that:

"Adaptation has an extremely important role in reducing the economic costs of climate change across Europe. While adaptation has a cost, it significantly reduces the residual costs of climate change. However, there is currently very little quantified information on these costs, and further work is urgently needed to build the evidence base to facilitate informed, cost‑effective and proportionate adaptation in Europe. There is a need for an integrated approach to progress this."

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change highlighted that whilst adaptation was a crucial part of a strategy to tackle the impact of climate change, "More quantitative information on the costs and benefits of economy-wide adaptation is required".

The Adaptation Economic Analysis which is being carried out in the UK during 2011, aims to fill this gap. It has two broad purposes:

• to estimate a "price tag" for adaptation. This will give an assessment of the overall costs of adaptation for the UK, as well as the benefits that the adaptation would bring.
• to identify where action would be most beneficial.

A report on the impacts of climate change on the East Midlands economy, commissioned by the East Midlands Development Agency, was published in 2010.
 

Society

It is important to recognise that different parts of society will be more exposed to climate change risk than others, and some may be better placed to take advantage of the opportunities from climate change than others. Adaptation therefore needs to take account of these variations to ensure that the costs and benefits are as equitably distributed as possible, particularly to protect the most vulnerable.

There is an emerging body of evidence that demonstrates that certain communities are more vulnerable to the predicted impacts of climate change than others. An extensive UK study on the "Differential social impacts of climate change in the UK" has defined social vulnerability as relating to three aspects:

• Place e.g. those living and working in areas at high risk from flooding, coastal inundation, heatwaves and water shortages;
• Deprivation e.g. those living in poverty, the elderly and very young;
• Disempowerment e.g. due to lack of financial capacity, lack of information, the isolated and those needing special assistance.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has a research programme focusing on climate change and social justice, which has produced many useful reports including "Climate Change, Justice and Vulnerability", published in 2011.

In the East Midlands, the "Adapting through Natural Interventions" report, commissioned by Climate East Midlands and produced by AECOM in 2010, considered how the natural environment can help us to adapt to a changing climate. It looked at overlaying indicators of social vulnerability with indicators of climate vulnerability, and scoped potential tools to help quantify the socio-economic benefits of different kinds of natural environment interventions.
 

Environment

From an environmental perspective, adaptation is important to protect and enhance the natural environment. We depend upon healthy, resilient ecosystems to provide life-supporting ecosystem services, while also recognising the intrinsic value of the natural world. We need to adapt in order to conserve it for the benefit of current and future generations.

Natural England's publication "The natural environment: adapting to climate change" argues that climate change is the most serious long term threat to the natural environment. It looks at four specific Character Areas in England, which represent contrasting habitats and landscapes that are likely to be affected by climate change.

The Environmental Change Network is the UK's long-term environmental monitoring programme. Its report on "Climate change impacts: evidence from ECN sites" provides evidence of the sensitivity of natural ecosystems in the UK to variability and change in climate.