Before joining ClimateXChange (CXC) at the end of September, I was working at the Scottish Government in the Climate Adaptation Team.
Shortly before starting my secondment at CXC, the Scottish Government published its third Scottish National Adaptation Plan, or SNAP3. I had been working on the development of this plan, alongside my amazing Scottish Government colleagues, for the past 2.5 years.
SNAP3 is Scotland’s main policy vehicle for building resilience to the impacts of climate change. These are already being felt across the whole country and are projected to increase in frequency and intensity.
The Plan includes over 200 interventions for the next five years. It is built around five main outcomes for a climate resilient Scotland, responding to the risks set out in the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment:
- Scotland’s international role supports climate justice and enhanced global action on climate adaptation.
- Nature connects across our land, settlements, coasts and seas
- Communities are creating climate-resilient, healthy and equitable places
- Public services are collaborating in effective and inclusive adaptation action
- Economies and industries are adapting and realising opportunities in our just transition
These five outcomes demonstrate the breadth of action needed to prepare Scotland’s natural environment, society and economy for the impacts of climate change. They also present opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
Public bodies including local authorities, the NHS and government agencies were involved in the development of SNAP3. They will play an important role in its delivery.
Scotland’s first monitoring and evaluation framework for a national adaptation plan was also published alongside the policy document. This marks a step forward in measuring progress on adaptation. The framework was produced in part by Ricardo and commissioned through CXC (link below).
The team produced multiple versions of SNAP3, including a Gaelic summary and a version aimed at children aged 9+ to be used in schools. We hope that this will increase public engagement on climate adaptation and improve knowledge sharing. All of these resources can be found on the new website of Adaptation Scotland.
In my new role at ClimateXChange, I am looking forward to working towards filling existing knowledge gaps. It is an opportunity for further bridging the gap between policy and research.
We’ll be publishing some really exciting projects to help delivery of SNAP3 in the coming months: the post-doctoral research opportunity on climate risks to soil health, projects on coastal change adaptation and adaptation planning in public bodies, and research to inform a decision-making tool using future climate scenarios among others – watch this space!
Related links
Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3)
Monitoring outcomes of the third Scottish National Adaptation Plan
About the Scottish Government’s National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3) – Adaptation Scotland