sustainability east - east of england climate change adaptation
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Slides from the meeting on 26th February.TRANSCRIPT
East of England Climate Change Adaptation Network Meeting
Wednesday 26th February 2014
December 2013 Tidal SurgeNorfolk, Suffolk & Essex
David Kemp
Flood Resilience Team LeaderEnvironment Agency
Long Term Preparation
UNCLASSIFIED 4
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1953 December 2013
Breaches 1200 different locations Under investigation
Properties flooded
24,000 1,400 (10/12/2013)
Deaths 307 2 but not flood related
Agricultural Land
65,000 hectares 6,800 hectares
People evacuated
32,000 18,000
Infrastructure 2 Power stations12 Gas Works100 miles of roads200 miles of rail
Ports not drastically damagedNo power stations and major gas works/services affectedRoad and rail tbc
Flood Warnings
0 71 severe flood warningsOver 160,000 warning messages sent directly to homes and businesses
Comparison 1953 / 2013
UNCLASSIFIED
5 phases of management for a major coastal flooding event
Early Warning................ over 5 days outAssessment Phase........ 3 – 5 days outPreparedness Phase..... 3 days to a few hoursImpactRecovery
6
36 hours
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Forecasting
Early indication of the stormMonday 2nd December
Early indication of possible rather than probable storm
Tuesday 3rd DecemberStorm becomes probable. Partners advised.
Wednesday 4th DecemberForecast tide heights for a significant storm.SCGs formed in Norfolk, Suffolk & Essex
Thursday 5th DecemberSevere Flood Warnings issued at 0530hrsTide arrives in Wells next the Sea at 1915hrs
Gearing up and working with our partners
MondayAssessing our resourcesInformal contact with LRF duty officers
TuesdayFormal contact with all 3 LRFRED Telecon
WednesdayDeterministic predictions for a significant tideRequest SCG in each county
Formal Liaison Via SCG
Provision of liaison officers to all three LRFProvision of storm forecastIdentification of areas at risk Statistics on flooding (e.g. numbers at risk)Interpretation of forecast and prediction of impactsMapsFlood Warnings and Severe Flood Warnings
Leith T-3:44
Scarborough T-2:14
Immingham T-0:26
BostonT – 0:18
HunstantonT
0000 hrs
IndicativeTidal Timings
UNCLASSIFIED
Warnings Issued
Across Eastern Area33 Severe Flood Warnings73 Flood Warnings40 Flood Alerts
In Norfolk (Eastern and Central Area Figures)
9 Severe Flood Warnings46 Flood Warnings14 Flood Alerts
17
UNCLASSIFIED
People Warned in Norfolk
Total Properties Registered:10293 out of ~13000 properties.
We had an average success rate in Norfolk of 80%
Approximately 8235 properties warned via FWD but probably higher.• If you don’t acknowledge the call it shows as a failure.• People not answering the telephone call will also
count as a failure after 3 attempts. • Number was unobtainable / engaged.
18
Preparing the operational response
Tues 3 December
Prepared Field Teams for event.Weds 4 December
Mutual aid request for people and equipment.Obtained additional equipmentBriefed contractors
Thurs 5 DecemberDeployment
UNCLASSIFIED 20
The event
5th December 2013
Highest tidal level since 1953Higher than 1953 in Norfolk
45,985 individual flood warning messages sent.
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Comparative Tide Heights
23
Monitoring Location
1953 2013
Wells-next-the-Sea 5.13 m AODN 5.215m AODN
Great Yarmouth 3.28m AODN 3.318m AODN
Lowestoft 3.35m AODN 3.291m AODN
Felixstowe 4.02m AODN 3.447m AODN(Harwich)
Holland 4.05m AODN 3.756m AODN(Clacton)
Southend 4.62m AODN 4.10m AODN
Tilbury 4.85m AODN 4.201m AODN
Impacts of the event
UNCLASSIFIED
Wells-next-the-Sea
25
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UNCLASSIFIED
Blakeney
28
UNCLASSIFIED 29
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Walcott
31
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UNCLASSIFIED 33
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Hemsby
35
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The Aftermath
UNCLASSIFIED 37
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Norfolk Property Flooded Numbers
38
Community Commercial Residential TotalWells next the Sea 21 18 39
Blakeney 6 20 26
Walcott* 5 112 117
Great Yarmouth 5 15 20
Salthouse 4 4 8
East Cley 0 10 10
Hunstanton 4 3 7
Kings Lynn 7 8 15
Snettisham 0 13 13
Thornham Common 0 2 2
Burnham Deepdale 0 1 1
Burnham Overy Staithe
0 12 12
Total 52 218 270
UNCLASSIFIED
Suffolk Property Flooded Numbers
39
Community Commercial Residential Total
Lowestoft / Oulton Broad
90 68 158
Southwold 7 2 9
Snape 2 22 24
Orford 1 1 2
Felixstowe Ferry 8 5 13
Waldringfield 1 13 14
Aldeburgh / Slaughden
1 0 1
Woodbridge 5 2 7
Levington 0 1 1
Pin Mill 1 0 1
Ipswich 1 0 1
Totals 117 114 231
UNCLASSIFIED
Essex Property Flooded Numbers
40
Community Commercial Residential Total
Mistley and Manningtree
11 1 12
Harwich 1 0 1
Landermere Quay 2 0 2
Kirby le Soken 0 2 2
Brightlingsea 13 0 13
Great Bentley 1 0 1
West Mersea 2 2 4
Burnham on Crouch 3 0 3
Total 33 5 38
Prioritising the repairs
FridayUsing reports from public and our teams- deployed inspectors to priority areas.Assessed immediate flood risk- deployed contractors and our engineers.
Saturday/ SundayContinuous inspections and
planning.Details reported to allow
national prioritisation.
UNCLASSIFIED 42
Impacts of recent floods on the RSPB coastal reserves
Alex Cooper
Conservation Officer
Contents
• Recent flooding in context• Impact on RSPB reserves• How has this changed our view• Case study: Titchwell Coastal Change project• How did it perform in recent event• Landscape Scale Conservation• Conclusions
Tidal surge
• Hit the eastern coast of East of England 5th – 6th December 2013.
• Worst tidal surge since January 1953• In some areas water levels higher than those
experienced in 1953• 2 people died and 1,400 homes flooded.
Snettisham
• Reserve suffered major damage to the access and visitor facilities.
• One hide totally destroyed, two others badly damaged. Board walk totally destroyed, paths & access tracks badly damaged in places.
• The whole of the reserve was deeply flooded. The beach and large areas of vegetated shingle have been eroded and reshaped.
Havergate Island
• Deeply submerged (higher than 1953) resulting in extensive damage to sea walls, on all lagoons and visitor infrastructure.
• 2 hides, storage sheds, toilets, reception hut and volunteers accommodation inundated.
• RSPB considering long-term sustainability of the island. Repairs will be made to outer walls and breaches but spillways created to allow controlled flooding.
Minsmere
Minsmere
• Beach and dunes badly eroded• Some minor overtopping at the North Marsh• Very little natural beach frontage left• Cross banks on the beach built by the
Environment Agency damaged and need repair.
Integrating Climate Change Adaptation
• Climate Change Adaptation Framework• 8 step process to consider how climate change
affects our work and to develop appropriate responses.
• Already considering climate change in our nature reserve management plan reviews.
Adaptation measures
• Creating optimal habitat on reserves and buffering them.
• Ensuring new wetland reserves are located in areas which will have reliable water supplies.
• Creating intertidal habitat to offset predicted future reductions.
• Maintaining nesting islands for terns which are threatened by sea level rise.
• Providing suitable conditions for species to expand their range.
Titchwell Coastal Change Project
Wigeon
Pintail
Bittern
• Nationally important site.
• Freshwater habitats – reedbed.
Marsh Harrier
• Nationally important site.
• Freshwater habitats – reedbed.
Working in harmony with nature
• Coastline of international importance.
• It has been eroding for at least 100 years.
• Needed to find a solution which protected designated sites.
Natura 2000 site
Inter-tidal features Freshwater features
Natura 2000 site
How did it perform in recent floods?
• Significant and potentially severe damage to East Bank.
• Beach boardwalk destroyed.
• Work undertaken in the Coastal Change project stood up to the tidal surge.
Landscape Scale Conservation
• Climate Change Adaptation requires a landscape scale approach.
• Partnership between government, business and local community.
• Work undertaken in the Coastal Change project stood up to the tidal surge.
Conclusion
• There was significant damage to some RSPB reserves.
• Climate change adaptation already integrated into our reserve management.
• This could provide an opportunity to re-evaluate what this will mean for the most badly damaged sites.
• The RSPB believe climate change adaptation can only succeed with a partnership of government, business, farmers, developers and local communities.
Thank you!
Any questions?
The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.
Questions …….
Refreshments 11.00 – 11.15am
www.sduhealth.org.uk
East of England Climate Change Adaptation Network David PencheonDirector, Sustainable Development UnitNHS England and Public Health England
Smartlife Centre, King Hedges Road, CambridgeWednesday, 26th February, 2014
www.sduhealth.org.uk
2014 - 20202009 - 2014
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Vision
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Enable the positives
Reduce the negatives
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Goals
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Goal 1: A healthier environment
1a: valuing and enhancing natural resources
1b: reducing pollution and carbon emissions
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Goal 2: Communities and services are resilient to changing times and climates
2a: personal / family / community resilience
2b: protecting the most vulnerable
2c: multi-agency planning / delivery
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Goal 3: Every opportunity contributes to healthy lives, communities and environments
3a: Prevent ill health / reduce care needs
3b: Empower self management
3c: Integrate services, align incentives
3d: Exploit health co-benefits
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Modules
www.sduhealth.org.uk
www.sduhealth.org.uk
• Reduced environmental impact– including meeting/exceeding legal targets
• Prepared citizens and communities– heatwaves, flooding, cold/extreme events– Adaptation Reporting Power / National Adaptation Programme
• Local community leadership– Health and Wellbeing Boards
• Embedding sustainability and resilience– In all strategic / operational plans and decisions
• Improved health and wellbeing– Measurable progress in outcomes
www.sduhealth.org.uk
www.sduhealth.org.uk
Climate change, communities and social justice
Katharine Knox, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Role and focus of Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Search: causes of
social problems
Demonstrate: solutions
Influence: policy and practice
POVERTY:To identify the root causes of poverty and injustice
PLACE:To support resilient communities where people thrive
AGEING SOCIETY:To respond positively to the opportunities and challenges of an ageing society
OU
R W
OR
K T
HE
ME
S
Mission: lasting change for people and places in
poverty, communities where everyone can thrive and a more equal society.
Social impacts of climate change
Climate change will affect health and
wellbeing in different ways from direct impacts of flood,
heat, drought and water scarcity to
issues over costs of living, including due to policy responses
from energy and other policies eg
affecting fuel poverty
Climate change
Food insecurity
Energy insecurity and fuel poverty
Increased costs of living
Service failures
Migration and cohesion
Impacts of flood/heat/
drought/ water
scarcity
What are the issues?
See Audit Commission, Staying afloat, 2007
Why does social justice matter?
Distributional justice: climate impacts and policy/practice responses will have varied impacts which could increase health and other social inequalities
Procedural justice: whose voice is heard in decisions, who decides what action is taken?
Inter and intra-generational justice: implications of responses today for future generations (invest to save)
JRF focus on vulnerable and people facing poverty and disadvantage
Who is vulnerable and how does it link to wellbeing?
• Vulnerability is a matter of how external stresses impact on well-being
• People are more vulnerable if they are less able to respond to stresses placed on their well-being
• Key questions: how is vulnerability distributed? And how should inequality be measured?
1. Likelihood and severity of the weather related event – flood, heatwave
2. Vulnerability: The conversion of the event into welfare impacts and losses
3. Climate disadvantage is a function of 1 and 2.
Who is vulnerable to flooding?
• Dynamic social and spatial issue (changes over people’s lives)
• Personal, social and environmental factors• Climate disadvantage = the likelihood & degree of exposure to
a hazard e.g. flooding/ heatwave combined with vulnerability
Adaptive capacity
Exposure
Vulnerability
SensitivityAbility to respond
Ability to recover
Adaptive capacity
Exposure(Enhanced)
Vulnerability
Sensitivity
Ability to prepare
Adaptive capacity
Exposure(Enhanced)
Vulnerability
Sensitivity
Important factors affecting vulnerabilitySocial factors:Adaptive capacity
Personal factors:Sensitivity
Environmental factors:Enhanced exposure
Low income Age (very young & elderly)
Neighbourhood characteristics (green/blue space)
Tenure: ability to modify living environment
Health status: illness Housing characteristics: (e.g basement/ high rise/ single storey buildings)
Mobility and access to services
Special care Buildings (ventilation/cool spaces)
Social isolation Homeless, tourists, transient groups
High housing density
Information and local knowledgeAccess to insurance
Flood disadvantage in England
• Some areas have both high socio spatial vulnerability and high potential exposure to flooding
• Urban and coastal areas particularly vulnerable
• Most flood disadvantaged region is Yorkshire & Humber (ie social vulnerability coincides with high likelihood of flooding)
Heat disadvantage in England
• London’s high average vulnerability to heat is coupled with a tendency for higher temperatures so makes it a particular area of concern
• Other areas of concern mainly in south and east
• Also questions re water availability and drought in some of these areas
Messages from JRF research…
• Compounded injustice in relation to climate change in UK– Low income households who contribute least to problem
(lowest emissions) also…– Among worst effected by climate change impacts – Pay more and benefit less from responses to it (through
energy bills & measures)– Often have least voice in decisions
• Poverty is an important factor increasing vulnerability
• To support resilience, need to build adaptive capacity – to prepare, respond and recover from climate impacts
JRF Programme on Climate Change & Communities
Supporting local futures in the context of
climate disadvantage
Public health role in climate responses
Climate justice
resources
Food security
Community resilience
Policy briefingsPractitioner engagement
Evidence review
Follow on project
Local action research
Web portal and workshops
Policy engagement
Evidence review
Aim: support vulnerable disadvantaged local areas and
communities to increase resilience to climate change
Policy engagement
Research
Programme running from 2013-17
Aims of ClimateJust…
To provide information & guidance that can support practitioners at a local level to develop socially just responses to climate change in UK
What could it help you with?• Awareness of key issues on developing socially just responses to
climate change • Understand which people and places are vulnerable to climate
impacts of flooding and heat• Understand responsibility for emissions and patterns of fuel poverty • Assess local patterns of social vulnerability and connect these to
actions (- maps to assess local risk)• Identify who needs to be involved in developing responses • Develop ideas on possible strategies and actions • Make a case for equitable action (eg to address strategic priorities)• Support responses by learning from case studies of local action
About the ClimateJust resource
• Aims to: – Raise awareness of social justice in a
changing climate – Increase knowledge about vulnerable
groups in the context of climate change
– Help to respond to climate change impacts and challenges
• Searchable resource• Draws on existing tools and
resources • New information about vulnerability
to climate change impacts based on census 2011 data
• Online portal, hosted by Climate UK
Maps
Messages
Stories
Case studies
How to documents
Tool introductions
Glossary
FAQs
Rationale for action
Introducing ClimateJust: web portal
Resources to help delivery of equitable responses to climate change at local level
ClimateJust Web portal resources
Who is most vulnerable to flooding and high
temperatures?
Where are the most disadvantaged communities in relation to flooding and high
temperatures?
What actions can be taken to improve local community
resilience to flooding and high temperatures?
What is the distribution of household CO2
emissions? Who is most likely to
experience fuel poverty?
How can the transition to low carbon
communities be made more equitable?
What local actions can be taken to tackle fuel
poverty?
Why use ClimateJust?
Primary audience is local authorities and partners in social care, health, housing and voluntary and community sector with a role in supporting vulnerable groups affected by climate change/policy & practice responses
Responding
Awareness Raising
LearningThe National Adaptation Programme mentions the
ClimateJust project as one of the initiatives which can help deliver
on its Objective 13:
To minimise the impacts of climate change on vulnerable
groups in society by strengthening their resilience to better prepare for, respond to and recover from
future climate risk.
ClimateJust next steps
• Content developed by Manchester University• Being used to develop a website• Website to be hosted by Climate UK• User testing over the Summer• Due for completion by end 2014• Practitioner workshops to support use• Would you like to get involved?
Please get in touch to find out more:
[email protected] www.jrf.org.uk
Twitter: @jrf_uk @katharineknox
Questions ……
Table Discussion
Looking at the England and Wales Precipitation series, which dates back to 1766, the Met office has recorded it as the wettest December to January since 1876/1877 and the 2nd wettest overall in the series. It was the windiest December for the UK in records back to 1969, based on the occurrence of winds in excess 60 kts (69mph)…..
Table Discussion
Q1 What do you think about the media’s portrayal of these events, the images you have seen on television, the stories of you have heard in the news and online?
Table Discussion
• Q2 What do you think about the political discussion surrounding these events and the debates about prioritisation for the environment, the economy or for broader social benefit?
Table Discussion
• Q3 From a more practical and operational perspective, what impact do you think these weather events will have on your approach to resilience and climate change adaptation? Will you need to use different messages; will you be able to make the business case for adaptation easier; can you see improved opportunities for collaboration?
Reflections & Summary