Transcript Climate change action planning

Setting the context
Introduction
Welcome & Acknowledgement
Background
[Insert Council logo]
• Workshops  action plan
• General Manager’s support
Housekeeping
• Facilities, OH&S, Turn off mobiles
Introduction
Purpose
• Developing a Climate Change Action Plan
Program
• Keeping to time
• Respectful discussion
• Climate change deniers?
Introductions
Evaluation forms
Progress
Gain
internal
support
Identify Planning
Team
Steering Committee Meeting 1
-Develop a planning program
Workshop 1
-Introduction
Workshop 2
-Risk assessment
Steering Committee Meeting 2
-Research adaptation options
Workshop 3
-Adaptation
actions
Steering Committee
Meeting 3 -Mitigation
Steering Committee
Meeting 5 -Review
Steering Committee
Meeting 4 -Action plan
Workshop 4
-Mitigation actions
Expected outcomes
Participants will :
• Understand sources of uncertainty for projections
• Appreciate projected impacts for the region
• Describe potential impacts for the LGA and council
• Record likely impacts, assumptions and decisions
Projections
Projections based on modelling by the IPCC,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• IPCC assesses the most recent scientific,
technical and socio-economic information
• 2,500 scientific expert reviewers for Fourth
Assessment Report, 2007
Rajendra Pachauri, Then Chair of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, 2009. Photo by the UN.
Uncertainty of
projections
Climate change projections are not certain.
Projections are uncertain because:
• Future emissions are unknown
• The relationship between the level of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere & global
warming is uncertain
• The link between global warming & localised
climate change is uncertain
Uncertainty should
not stop action
Councils should apply the precautionary
principle and not use lack of certainty as an
excuse to delay action planning:
Where there are threats of serious or irreversible
damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not
be used as a reason for postponing costeffective measures to prevent environmental
degradation. Principle 15 of the ‘Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development’ United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio, 1992.
Source: Environmental Defenders Office
http://www.edo.org.au/edosa/publications/newsletter/edo%20newsletter%20october%
202005.htm
Managing
uncertainty
• Uncertainty can be managed by regularly
updating climate change action plans
(i.e. adaptive management)
• Risk assessment and adaptation planning should
be completed based on projected trends and
revisited rather than setting permanent values
Projections could
be conservative
• Actual emissions are at the upper end of all
projections
Steffen, W.
2009
Temperature
projections
Likely impact - NSW
Source
Temperature Year:
Projection:
Likely impact – This Region
Temperature Year:
Projection:
www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au
Source
Rainfall projections
Likely impact - NSW
Summer
Rainfall
Year:
Projection:
Winter
Rainfall
Year:
Projection:
Likely impact – This Region
Summer
Rainfall
Year:
Projection:
Winter
Rainfall
Year:
Projection:
www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au
Source
Source
Projected
extreme events
Likely impact - NSW
Extreme
Rainfall
Year:
Projection:
Storm surge
Year:
Projection:
Days over
35°C
Year:
Projection:
Cyclones
Year:
Projection:
Fire days
Year:
Projection:
www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au
Source
Projected
sea level rise
Likely impact - NSW
Source
Sea level
rise
2030: +17cm
CSIRO 2006
Sea level
rise
2050: +40cm
2100: +90cm
DECCW 2009
Damage to beach access, Wooli,
May 2009 (Photo by Scott Lenton)
Current and Projected Climate Change in the Catchment Area
– Temperature
(CSIRO, 2007)
1990
Average (deg C)
No. days below
0 deg C
No. days above
35 deg C
No. days above
40 deg C
2030
2070
Current and Projected Climate Change in the Catchment Area
– Rainfall
(CSIRO, 2007)
1990
Annual average
(mm)
Extreme rainfall
Evaporation
No. droughts per
decade
2030
2070
Local example
Social
information
Stakeholders
• Consulting:
• Informing:
• Any questions?
Exercise
How climate change may impact on Council
Specifically, impacts on:
• Service delivery
• Related services and service providers
• Personnel
• General public
• Systems and equipment
• Administration and support
Exercise – ‘Drawing
out the Impacts’
• Consider a specific point in the
future (e.g. 2030, 2050, 2070)
• Think laterally
• On the maps, draw how projected
climate changes may impact the LGA
• Record your assumptions and
decisions in the template
• Present your map
• Develop a list of agreed impacts
Agreed impacts
Achievements
from the workshop
During the workshop we have:
• Described how climate change will impact the
LGA and council
• Recorded our assumptions and decisions
• Developed a list of agreed impacts as a group
that can be used in the risk assessment
workshop
Conclusion
• Thank you
• Evaluation forms
References
• IPCC, 2000, Special Report: Emissions Scenarios: Summary for
Policymakers http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/spm/sres-en.pdf
(visited December, 2009)
• IPCC, 2009, http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm
(visited December, 2009)
• Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentI
D=78&ArticleID=1163 (visited December, 2009)
• Steffen, W., 2009 Climate Change 2009: Faster Change & More
Serious Risks.
http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/climate-change-faster-change-and-moreserious-risks-final.pdf (visited December, 2009)