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Country climate change assessments launched in Durban
New reports on the impacts of climate change in over 20 countries, including independent expert review work by Fiona's Red Kite, were launched in Durban. The South African City hosted the 17th intergovernmental climate change Conference of the Parties. Fiona worked on 7 of the reports: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Mexico, Japan and Spain. The reports identify increased risks due to changes in rainfall patterns including of water stress, reduced crop production and flooding.
The full list of reports can be downloaded from the Met Office web site
here. top of page...
Previous news articles from Fiona's Red Kite
Fiona's Red Kite has won a contract to deliver climate change advice to the BBC World Service Trust. The Trust is the BBC's international charity funded by external grants and voluntary contributions. It also receives a small amount of core support from the BBC in cash and in kind. It uses media and communications to reduce poverty and promote human rights, thereby enabling people to build better lives. This project aims to increase responses and improve resilience to climate change in Asia. Fiona is helping the Trust understand the scientific evidence for the impacts of climate change in seven Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam. The science is being used to design approaches to public perception surveys that can be used to target communication on climate change. Evidence has been drawn from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and more recent work on ocean acidification and cross-border vulnerability. Focusing on future climate risks in which science demonstrates the highest confidence, 10 key areas have been identified and are being used to structure the project plans.
See
other projects by Fiona's Red Kite in Asia for China Light and Power. top of page... The UK government has challenged 107 energy, water and transport organisations to submit reports on the risks and opportunities of climate change. These organisations, mainly responsible for major national infrastructure, have also been asked to describe the policies and proposals they will make in response. This is the first phase of implementation of the Adaptation Reporting Power, imposed under the UK Climate Change Act 2008. The first few reports submitted demonstrate strengths and weaknesses in current adaptation practice. On the positive side, there is evidence that organisations have embedded planning for climate change in business processes such as the corporate risk register and have developed capacity to adapt and take on responsibility for adaption planning at several levels in the organisations. These reports also show good identification of research needs on climate risk, and some advanced thinking on how to identify and use partnership working to alleviate regional and cross-sector problems. However, the reports identified several barriers to adaptation planning, and a need for the risk analyses to be pulled through into risk management plans. See samples of adaptation projects by Fiona's Red Kite. top of page... Fiona's Red Kite has been awarded a contract to deliver climate change policy briefings and engage stakeholders for the £23M QUEST research programme on "Quantifying Earth system processes and feedbacks for better informed assessments of alternative futures of the global environment". This National Environment Research Council programme's themes include the interactions between land and marine life and climate change, global climate change impacts, reducing GHGs through land-use change and understanding climate over geological time scales, with projects on biofuels, wildfires, forestry, volcanoes and fisheries. Fiona will be working with project stakeholders from UK government, private and third sector and academics from UK and Europe to explain the science and interpret policy-maker needs. top of page... |
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