Click on the icons below to see the corresponding Sector Plan:
As climate change will affect almost all aspects of Scottish society, our environment and economy, the challenges of adapting to climate change are too great to be addressed by a single organisation or workstream. Therefore, under the strategic direction of the Adaptation Framework, sit 12 Sector Action Plans. The Action Plans can be viewed by clicking on the above icons, or through the menu on the left.
The Sector Action Plans look to existing sources of information and research to identify the key impacts of climate change on each sector and appropriate actions which can build our resilience to these impacts. The Plans will be updated on an ongoing basis to reflect our evolving understanding of risks and impacts and our improving understanding of the needs of each sector. The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment will provide a key evidence base for future iterations of the Sector Action Plans. Annual progress reporting on the Adaptation Framework will incorporate progress reporting against all Sector Action Plans.
The actions in each plan are focused around the three pillars of the Adaptation Framework:
- Understand the consequences of a changing climate;
- Equip decision makers with the skills and tools needed to adapt; and
- Integrate adaptation into public policy and regulation.
Timescales
The following is meant by short, medium or long term timescales, when referred to in the Sector Action Plans:
- Short-term actions require urgent decisions and firm commitments during the next 5-10 years.
- Medium-term actions require major decisions to be made soon and implemented during the next 20-30 years to adapt to the unavoidable effects of climate change.
- Long-term actions are unlikely to affect short- or medium-term resilience to climate change, but are nevertheless important and require decisions during and beyond the next 30-40 years.
Adaptation Principles
In developing the Sector Action Plans, the following six adaptation principles were taken into account, to help ensure that action taken forward is sustainable and coherent:
- Adaptation must be addressed alongside actions to reduce emissions.
- Adaptation should build broader resilience, such as through an ecosystem approach.
- Adaptation should be informed by a cycle of review and action.
- Adaptation should be integrated into existing development and implementation practices.
- Adaptation should be integrated at an appropriate scale.
- Adaptation should seek to be developed in partnership with interested parties and avoid restricting others from adapting.
Weighing the costs and benefits of adaptation action
The Action Plans also consider that investment in actions to adapt should be pursued where costs are determined to be less than the likely future losses caused by climate change.
Development of Sector Action Plans
The Sector Action Plans are a development from the Sector Summaries, which were published in December 2009 and you can see more about the development of the Action Plans.