IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v163y2020i1d10.1007_s10584-020-02821-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informing UK governance of resilience to climate risks: improving the local evidence-base

Author

Listed:
  • Candice Howarth

    (Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Sciences)

  • Sian Morse-Jones

    (Collingwood Environmental Planning)

  • Andrew Kythreotis

    (School of Geography and Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, University of Lincoln
    University of East Anglia
    Cardiff University)

  • Katya Brooks

    (University of Surrey)

  • Matt Lane

    (University of Edinburgh)

Abstract

International assessments of evidence on climate change (e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) or national climate change risk assessments (e.g. UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, CCRA) do not offer a sufficiently granular perspective on climate impacts to adequately inform governance of resilience to climate risks at the local level. Using an analysis of UK decision-makers managing and responding to heatwaves and flood risks, this paper argues how more robust local evidence is needed to inform decision-making regarding adaptation options for enhancing local resilience. We identify evidence gaps and issues relating to local climate change impacts, including sources and quality of evidence used, adequacy and accessibility of evidence available, ill-communicated evidence and conflicting or misused evidence. A lack of appreciation regarding how scientific evidence and personal judgement can mutually enhance the quality of decision-making underpins all of these gaps. Additionally, we find that the majority of evidence currently used is reductively based upon socio-economic and physical characteristics of climate risks. We argue that a step change is needed in local climate resilience that moves beyond current physical and socio-economic risk characterisation to a more inclusive co-constitution of social and politically defined climate risks at the local scale that are better aligned with the local impacts felt and needs of stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Candice Howarth & Sian Morse-Jones & Andrew Kythreotis & Katya Brooks & Matt Lane, 2020. "Informing UK governance of resilience to climate risks: improving the local evidence-base," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 499-520, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:163:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-020-02821-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02821-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-020-02821-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-020-02821-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew P. Kythreotis & Gillian I. Bristow, 2017. "The ‘resilience trap’: exploring the practical utility of resilience for climate change adaptation in UK city-regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(10), pages 1530-1541, October.
    2. Francisco Estrada & W. J. Wouter Botzen & Richard S. J. Tol, 2017. "A global economic assessment of city policies to reduce climate change impacts," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 403-406, June.
    3. Theodore G. Shepherd & Emily Boyd & Raphael A. Calel & Sandra C. Chapman & Suraje Dessai & Ioana M. Dima-West & Hayley J. Fowler & Rachel James & Douglas Maraun & Olivia Martius & Catherine A. Senior , 2018. "Storylines: an alternative approach to representing uncertainty in physical aspects of climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 555-571, December.
    4. Marc Gramberger & Katharina Zellmer & Kasper Kok & Marc Metzger, 2015. "Stakeholder integrated research (STIR): a new approach tested in climate change adaptation research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 201-214, February.
    5. Manuel Gottschick, 2015. "How stakeholders handle uncertainty in a local climate adaptation governance network," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 445-457, October.
    6. Oliver Heidrich & Richard Dawson & Diana Reckien & Claire Walsh, 2013. "Assessment of the climate preparedness of 30 urban areas in the UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 771-784, October.
    7. Howarth, Candice & Monasterolo, Irene, 2016. "Understanding barriers to decision making in the UK energy-food-water nexus: The added value of interdisciplinary approaches," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 53-60.
    8. Andrew P. Kythreotis & Andrew E. G. Jonas & Candice Howarth, 2020. "Locating climate adaptation in urban and regional studies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 576-588, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kythreotis, Andrew P. & Hannaford, Matthew & Howarth, Candice & Bosworth, Gary, 2024. "Translating climate risk assessments into more effective adaptation decision-making: the importance of social and political aspects of place-based climate risk," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122155, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ellen Banzhaf & Sally Anderson & Gwendoline Grandin & Richard Hardiman & Anne Jensen & Laurence Jones & Julius Knopp & Gregor Levin & Duncan Russel & Wanben Wu & Jun Yang & Marianne Zandersen, 2022. "Urban-Rural Dependencies and Opportunities to Design Nature-Based Solutions for Resilience in Europe and China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Wan Ting Katty Huang & Pierre Masselot & Elie Bou-Zeid & Simone Fatichi & Athanasios Paschalis & Ting Sun & Antonio Gasparrini & Gabriele Manoli, 2023. "Economic valuation of temperature-related mortality attributed to urban heat islands in European cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Min Ge & Kaili Yu & Ange Ding & Gaofeng Liu, 2022. "Input-Output Efficiency of Water-Energy-Food and Its Driving Forces: Spatial-Temporal Heterogeneity of Yangtze River Economic Belt, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Martinez-Hernandez, Elias & Leach, Matthew & Yang, Aidong, 2017. "Understanding water-energy-food and ecosystem interactions using the nexus simulation tool NexSym," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1009-1021.
    6. Alireza Taghdisian & Sandra G. F. Bukkens & Mario Giampietro, 2022. "A Societal Metabolism Approach to Effectively Analyze the Water–Energy–Food Nexus in an Agricultural Transboundary River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-25, July.
    7. Irene Monasterolo & Roberto Pasqualino & Anthony C. Janetos & Aled Jones, 2016. "Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems through the Lenses of a Complex System Thinking Approach—A Bibliometric Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-13, September.
    8. Duckett, Dominic George & McKee, Annie J. & Sutherland, Lee-Ann & Kyle, Carol & Boden, Lisa A. & Auty, Harriet & Bessell, Paul R. & McKendrick, Iain J., 2017. "Scenario planning as communicative action: Lessons from participatory exercises conducted for the Scottish livestock industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 138-151.
    9. Veruska Muccione & Thomas Lontzek & Christian Huggel & Philipp Ott & Nadine Salzmann, 2023. "An application of dynamic programming to local adaptation decision-making," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 119(1), pages 523-544, October.
    10. Rosalind Pidcock & Kate Heath & Lydia Messling & Susie Wang & Anna Pirani & Sarah Connors & Adam Corner & Christopher Shaw & Melissa Gomis, 2021. "Evaluating effective public engagement: local stories from a global network of IPCC scientists," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-22, October.
    11. Eliza Kalbarczyk & Robert Kalbarczyk, 2020. "Typology of Climate Change Adaptation Measures in Polish Cities up to 2030," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, September.
    12. Richard S. J. Tol, 2024. "The climate niche of Homo Sapiens," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(6), pages 1-17, June.
    13. Schneider, Philipp & Walz, Ariane & Albert, Christian & Lipp, Torsten, 2021. "Ecosystem-based adaptation in cities: Use of formal and informal planning instruments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    14. Daniela Remolina-Figueroa & David A. Prieto-Torres & Wesley Dáttilo & Ernesto Salgado Díaz & Laura E. Nuñez Rosas & Claudia Rodríguez-Flores & Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza & María del Coro Arizmendi, 2022. "Together forever? Hummingbird-plant relationships in the face of climate warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Hua Shi & George Xian & Roger Auch & Kevin Gallo & Qiang Zhou, 2021. "Urban Heat Island and Its Regional Impacts Using Remotely Sensed Thermal Data—A Review of Recent Developments and Methodology," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-30, August.
    16. Ze Liang & Yueyao Wang & Jiao Huang & Feili Wei & Shuyao Wu & Jiashu Shen & Fuyue Sun & Shuangcheng Li, 2020. "Seasonal and Diurnal Variations in the Relationships between Urban Form and the Urban Heat Island Effect," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    17. Diana Reckien & Johannes Flacke & Marta Olazabal & Oliver Heidrich, 2015. "The Influence of Drivers and Barriers on Urban Adaptation and Mitigation Plans—An Empirical Analysis of European Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    18. Ding, Tao & Liang, Liang & Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Min & Wei, Yuqi, 2020. "Water-energy nexus: The origin, development and prospect," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 419(C).
    19. Victor Hugo Souza de Abreu & Andrea Souza Santos & Thaís Guedes Máximo Monteiro, 2022. "Climate Change Impacts on the Road Transport Infrastructure: A Systematic Review on Adaptation Measures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    20. Christine M. Albano & Maureen I. McCarthy & Michael D. Dettinger & Stephanie A. McAfee, 2021. "Techniques for constructing climate scenarios for stress test applications," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-25, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:163:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-020-02821-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.