15th July 2016
ADA Response to Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 Report
Water must be seen as a precious resource, with all sectors of the industry working together to encourage and incentivise people to value good water management without the need for over-regulation and red-tape.
That’s the view of Innes Thomson, chief executive, ADA, commenting on the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 evidence report released this week (July 12).
“Climate change could significantly alter what we take for granted, and if we don’t act now, we’re leaving a poisoned chalice for future generations. We must trust and work with each other to ensure people see and value the need for good water management,” he says.
ADA is well-placed to meet these challenges, with its members (IDBs, EA and local authorities) already working together to reduce flooding and manage water levels.
In a 2000-word report, the Climate Change Committee says flooding will destroy bridges – wrecking electricity, gas and IT connections carried on them. The committee has also warned that poor farming means the most fertile soils will be badly degraded by mid-century.
Six particular areas of inter-related risks for the UK are highlighted, two as health risks, and four that are directly related in turn to how we manage water during floods and, more importantly, during periods of drought.
Land management plays an integral part in the processes involved, and ADA’s members can and should play a key role in driving the necessary change in attitudes and behaviours through opportunities to influence the sustainable management of water as a valuable resource, says Innes.
Working together is the key message and, while regulation is a necessary mechanism to ensure compliance, trust and collaboration is a far more powerful weapon to defeat the risk.
“The CCC report highlights the risks which must and can only be solved through the partnership process and, recognising the reality of those risks, ADA calls on all its members to embrace the challenges set out by the report and work together to build the trust and develop the opportunities required to deliver the outcomes we all need to achieve.”
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