Posted on 11/07/18 by Kristen Guida
News and Past Events
Monitoring Adaptation Progress in London’s Health Sector On June 29, LCCP ran a workshop for health sector stakeholders in partnership with PHE and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit. The purpose was to introduce the health element of London’s sector-based adaptation approach and explore setting up a group or network to support sector adaptation and monitoring of adaptation progress. Marc Beveridge of PHE chaired the session. Sari Kovats of LSHTM presented what we know about climate change impacts on health based on the 2017 UK CCRA and discussed the challenges of monitoring. Kim Croasdale of NHS SDU talked about the wider issue of sustainability and encouraged an approach that looks across the range of sectors and wider determinants of health, with improved communication of what “sustainability” means in practice. Nick Jackson of Defra provided the national adaptation policy context. Kristen presented an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework for sector-based adaptation. She also led a workshop asking participants to envision what a “well-adapted” health sector would look like and how we might get there. A report of the event and presentations can be found here.
Resilience First – New Website This initiative was set up in May to create an exchange of influential leaders who can improve urban resilience in local areas in order to make London better prepared to resist disruptions and cope with future challenges. Resilience First’s objectives include providing leadership and dialogue, promoting enablers of resilience, creating a route to market for providers and services, facilitating access to advice, and benchmarking resilience. In a series of workstreams, the initiative will work on baselining resilience in four sectors – local business districts, airports, shopping centres and transport hubs – and make recommendations of practical improvements that can be implemented collectively to strengthen resilience. See the new website here.
Smart Water Catchment Management Thames Water has joined forces with other water companies and businesses to address increasing pressure on water resources. At an event last month attended by the Prince of Wales, some 50 organizations, including Nestle, Coca Cola, and Asda, launched a catchment management declaration to commit to the water catchment ambition in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and support collective activities to deliver better catchment management. Thames Water also launched Smarter Water Catchments, a new approach to understanding catchment area needs and working with stakeholders to build a better functioning river catchment. Up to 2020, this will focus on the existing work in the Evenlode catchment area, with plans for five further catchment projects being developed for the next business plan period.
Heat Risk in London Group The group met on June 12 and heard about:
Presentations and a note of the meeting can be found here.
Climate Services Webinar Series Climateeurope, a European-wide network for researchers, suppliers, and users of climate information run by the Met Office, is running a webinar series to share best practice, understand gaps, provide recommendations, and discover the state of the art of climate observations, modelling, and services. A webinar on July 3 covered types of climate services products, and featured speakers included Maria Noguer of the Institute for Environmental Analytics. The project runs to 2020. Find out more about the series at https://www.climateurope.eu/climateurope-webinars/.
Adaptation Futures 2018 The Space4Climate group took part in the Adaptation Futures conference in Cape Town last month, running a stand and a World Café session in partnership with GEO and the consultancy Acclimatise on uses of earth observation data for risk management climate resilience building. Find the Space4Climate World Café event summary, materials, and resources here.
ISO 14090: Adapting to Climate Change This new draft document sets out principles, requirements, and guidelines for adaptation to climate change. It includes the integration of adaptation within or across organizations, understanding impacts and uncertainties and how these can be used to inform decisions. It is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, sector, or objectives. The document is open for consultation until August 5. It can be read, and comments submitted, here.
All Time Heat Records Set in Early July You may have noticed that it’s been hot in the UK lately. We’re not alone. Since the end of June, Africa saw its highest ever reliably measured temperature (in Algeria, 51.3° C). Los Angeles saw a record high 43.8°, Glasgow saw a record of 31.9°. Oman posted the highest ever recorded low temperature, 42.6°. Even northern Siberia joined in, with temperatures of 40°F above normal, or more than 90°F (32.2°C). See a whole host of record-setting temperatures around the world here.
Forward Look
for more information about any events, contact Kristen unless otherwise specified.
July
19: Resilience and the Built Environment breakfast briefing.
September
4-9: Earth Observation into the Future, Birmingham University. This national conference will appeal to those interested in learning what’s at the forefront of EO. Technical sessions will include Satellite ECV Data Sets and Climate Services, and EO Applications to City Sustainability, both coordinated in part by Space4Climate. Early bird registration ends July 23. Find out more here.
2019:
May 28-31: European Climate Change Adaptation (ECCA) conference, Lisbon. Details about the themes of the conference, how to submit sessions, and how to register are available here.