Climate Change is one of the most serious threats facing Scotland and the world today. Due to past emissions, a certain degree of climate change is now unavoidable. Effects of changing weather patterns in Highland will vary depending on the severity of global warming but even at the low end of the spectrum, the impacts are going to be significant. It is widely accepted that climate change is already being felt in Scotland.
The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) is funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and based at the University of Oxford. A pilot project was carried out in 2006 in conjunction with Oxfordshire County Council to provide a useful model for other authorities to build on. The process is known as a Local Climate Impact Profile (LCLIP) and uses past media releases to record the number of weather related incidents in an area and the consequences of these events in terms of population displacement, environmental damage, access to services and cost to an authority in order to prepare for such events
In March 2008 the Highland Council was selected along with City of Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross and South Lanarkshire Councils, to participate in a pilot LCLIP project for Scotland. The Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum For Environmental Research (SNIFFER) provided funding of £2500 to employ a temporary researcher to carry out a media trawl of weather events reported in the past six years. The objective of the project was to:
- Provide an understanding of weather events in Highland region in the recent past;
- Assess the Highland Councils vulnerability to weather events;
- Inform decision making on effectiveness of responses;
- Assist awareness raising(staff ,member, public);
- Contribute information towards a Service approach for adapting to the impacts of climate change
In total 110 articles were logged. The project researched weather incidents in the Highlands and associated impacts/consequences for The Highland Council. The project did not:
- Attempt to establish climate related trends from acquired information;
- Draw conclusions as to the causes of climate change.;
- Include detailed responses/attitudes to weather events from other local agencies;
- Include weather events from out with Highland.
The information gathered through the Highland LCLIP Media trawl will be used as a starting point to open dialogue within Highland Council and the wider community; to raise awareness of the consequences of extreme weather weather events in Highland and to highlight areas where we can work to respond to the likely impacts of a changing climate. More detail of the LCLIP process and a summary of results can be found under "current documents" to the right of the page.
For more information on the Highland LCLIP please contact the Sustainable Development Officer, ailsa.villegas@highland.gov.uk Tel: 01463 702 543