Adaptation is essential if we want to minimise the impacts and take advantage of the opportunities that arise
Evidence that our climate is changing is mounting with every season that passes. Unusually wet winters, severe storms and above average summer temperatures have already threatened communities right across Europe and the world.
Public agencies have a responsibility to minimise the risk posed by climate change and to plan for the future. There is growing consensus that cutting greenhouse gases will not go far enough to curb the most severe impacts - we also need to learn to adapt and live with the consequences by changing the way we live and do business.
ESPACE (European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events) is an ambitious four-year European project that aims to promote awareness of the importance of adapting to climate change and to recommend that it is incorporated within spatial planning mechanisms at local, regional, national and European levels. Focussing on North West Europe, ESPACE will look at how we manage our water resources and plan for a future with a changing climate.
Photos: Environment Agency, Alan Williams,
Solent News and Photo Agency, Ministerie van VROM
"To adapt to climate change, we need coalitions of politicians, scientists, managers and civic society to assess risks and identify appropriate responses"
Mr. Brett Orlando, Climate Change Advisor of IUCN - The World Conservation Union
