Image description: Flooded road with road closed sign. Image by Connor McManus / Pexels.
Climate change committee report
The Climate Change Committee is warning that the UK is not prepared for climate change and the impacts of extreme weather, including the rising incidents of severe flooding on property and critical infrastructure.
The warning comes from the CCC, the government’s independent adviser on climate change, in its annual report to Parliament on Progress in adapting to climate change published today. According to the CCC, there is now unequivocal evidence that climate change is making extreme weather in the UK more likely and more extreme, which the UK is not appropriately prepared for.
The report is calling for immediate action to ensure that the UK is prepared for both today’s extreme weather, as well as the rapidly increasing severity of future risks.
Flooding risks
The CCC is warning that over half of England’s top quality agricultural land is at risk of flooding today, with a further increase in total agriculture land at risk expected by 2050. Climate change also poses a major threat to UK biodiversity, at a time when it is degrading rapidly.
In addition, 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, and surface water. This is predicted to rise to around 8 million (one in four) by 2050. Steadily rising sea levels at the UK’s coasts will increase the risk of coastal flooding and exacerbate coastal erosion. Over a third of railway and road kilometres are currently at flood risk, predicted to rise to around half by 2050. Extreme heat also disrupts infrastructure systems via rail buckling and power line sagging.
How can the UK adapt
Image description: Solitary wading sandpiper in a natural wetland habitat. Image by Chris F / Pexels.
Mongabay has reported on the Steart Marshes reserve, which faced strong criticism at the time of its inception in 2014 but is now being recognised for its value in providing habitat, storing carbon and reducing flooding and erosion.
New research is offering five ways cities can catalyse climate adaptation and resilience, and green infrastructure is being upgraded from “nice-to-have” to a vital priority.
Suffolk and Norfolk County councils, with funding from the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation programme, have also shared the successes from their “Reclaim the Rain” initiative, testing new ways of managing and harnessing water in small rural locations with the aim of improving resilience to flood and drought risk across the counties.
Lastly, the European Parliament has been investigating water availability and use in the EU, taking a forward look to addressing water scarcity in the face of climate change. It highlights the current and projected trends related to water resources, identifying the pressures and challenges that climate change imposes on water supply and demand. The study also proposes a range of policy options, divided into short-term options (up to 2030) and medium- to long-term options (up to 2050), aimed at ensuring that both EU citizens and businesses have reliable access to adequate water resources. These policy options are geared towards sustainable water management, ensuring resilience to future climate-related water challenges.