News Digest, January 2024
A reimagined future

News Digest, January 2024

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The first month of 2024 was dominated by extreme flooding across the country, hot on the heels of very wet weather and high water levels at the end of 2023. By the time the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released its must-read report Resilience to Flooding on 17 January, the UK had endured a sodden start to 2024. And only six days into the New Year, the Government announced thousands of pounds of support for communities impacted by Storm Henk to help them make their properties more resilient to flooding. 

Flooding Focus

45,000 properties, the Government points out, have ‘already been protected from the worst impacts of Storm Henk thanks to flood defences put in place through previous government funding.’ However, with an estimated 5.7 million properties at risk of flooding in England alone – a figure expected to double by 2055 – an extremely ambitious effort would be needed to flood-proof the entire country. 

What action there is is not happening fast enough. The Resilience to Flooding report raises a series of concerns, not least around the National Audit Office’s recent finding ‘that the Environment Agency will provide protection for at least 40% fewer properties than planned by 2027’ (200,000, down from 336,000). The PAC is calling on the government to explain this downgrading. The PAC report is however light on the flooding risk to infrastructure, including the vulnerability of Britain’s railways (£). While £1bn has been allocated by Network Rail to adaptation, protecting all 20,000 miles of ageing track feels an impossible task. Rail chiefs will likely prioritise the most used, most vulnerable sections, thereby providing a real example of the trade-offs that will need to be made and foreshadowing the likelihood that innovative solutions will increasingly replace hard infrastructure approaches.

Farmers Against Flooding

The farming community continues to be hard hit by flooding as yet more food rots (£) in the fields. Alongside calling for greater investment in flood defences, farmers are implementing  “natural ways” to manage their rivers and even providing valuable services to downstream properties by allowing their own fields to be inundated whilst not losing sight of their primary task of feeding the country. To deliver this nutrition, changes are inevitable across the board, including how we dairy farm, how we deal with food waste and what is offered up to the UK consumer.

Wider Developments

The Mayor of London’s office released an (interim) report entitled the London Climate Resilience Review, lessons from which the authors are keen to stress are applicable across the country. Among its recommendations to the UK Government, the authors suggest appointing a Minister for Adaptation and Resilience, with responsibility for the National Adaptation Programme. We agree!

In a busy month for the public sector we saw the Ministry of Defence set out its adaptation response in a “biscuit book” (to be read with a cup of tea, apparently), the House of Lords turn its attention to infectious disease, the NHS issue its latest view on climate change impacts to public health and a growing popularity in local government of the climate adaptation pathways methodology. Even potholes, having exhausted all other PR opportunities, are making an adaptation pitch. Climate change charged weather patterns are expected to increase the proliferation of these unpopular mini-climate-impacts. Perhaps this will be the thing that finally turns the public gaze on to adaptation…we live in hope.

International Round-up

Dates for the Diary

Final Thought

Extreme weather events across multiple locations put into perspective the need for a global and co-ordinated approach to adaptation. We frequently see nations are pitted against one another as justification for mitigation inaction, but storms and droughts that cross borders help re-focus the mind on our shared future we all face regardless of passport. Crucially, they can act as a catalyst for policy makers to learn from nations that seem to be making headway on adaptation.

The recent floods saw support offered in the form of pumps transported to neighbouring countries, just as community-led flood management approaches from the Netherlands and Japan highlight how collaboration is a powerful weapon. This last month has been horrendous for communities across northern Europe, but there’s hope for a more resilient, future proof system in the form of help given and lessons learnt from our global neighbours.

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