Climate Change Adaptation: Drivers, Barriers and Strategy

Autumn 2012

Presenters

Ric Eales
William Sheate
Owen White
Paula Orr

Paula Orr, BA, MSc

Paula is a social scientist who has worked on sustainability and participation in the UK and Chile since 1992.  At CEP she has worked on climate change adaptation, the promotion and evaluation of behaviour change initiatives, social vulnerability and flooding and community impacts of coastal erosion.  She is leading the stakeholder engagement strategy for the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, which includes working with stakeholders from the devolved administrations and English areas as well as organising sector groups around eleven key sectors of activity. 

Paula is involved in the development of tools for engaging stakeholders and communities in environmental initiatives and for assessing behaviour change, for example a tool for evaluating behaviour change in environmental projects for the Environment Agency and guidance for Environment Agency staff on working with communities at risk of flash flooding, both developed in 2009.  Between 2007 – 08 Paula managed a project funded under the INTERREG IIIB programme for the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) on options for climate change adaptation through the planning system as part of ESPACE (European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events).  Paula has considerable experience of evaluating engagement processes, including the evaluation of a public dialogue on geoengineering for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and participation in an ongoing evaluation of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Low Carbon Communities Challenge. She is currently part of the team working with Imperial Consultants to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in undertaking an OECD Environmental Performance Review of Mexico's performance in climate change mitigation and adaptation and also part of a project team that is undertaking the first Annual review for the Climate Change Commission for Wales' on the progress towards the Climate Change Strategy for Wales.  She is also currently a senior advisor on research on the science-policy interface for the European Commission (DG Environment) and is undertaking a research project for UK Government Cabinet Office on Community Resilience in Emergency Response and Recovery Situations which aims to develop a better understanding of the role of community resilience in emergency response and recovery situations. 

Paula worked as an Advisor on social policy and social science at the Environment Agency from 2000 to 2007.  She managed the development of strategy for public participation in River Basin Management under the Water Framework Directive (2002 – 2005) and provided guidance and advice for river basin managers on setting up River Basin District Liaison Panels and developing consultation programmes (2005 – 2006).  Paula also provided advice on social issues associated with environmental policy and helped to develop tools and processes for ensuring that social issues are taken into account in policy making.

Owen White, BSc, MA

Owen White is an environmental economist and Principal Consultant at CEP.  With 10 years experience working as an environmental researcher, economist and consultant he has gained particular expertise in sustainability policy, strategy and appraisal.

Owen has significant experience in climate change, and climate change adaptation in particular, both understanding and interpreting impacts, and developing policy and strategic responses to the challenges it poses.  Owen has recently worked on the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, which aims to identify and prioritise the key climate change risks for UK Administrations, geographically and by sector.  He also worked on an ESPACE project funded under the INTERREG IIIB programme to identify and prioritise barriers to climate change adaptation and propose practical actions to overcome these at the local and regional level in the South East of England.  He co-authored the South East Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Implementation Plan.  Other climate change related work includes a Sustainability Appraisal of the Mayor of London’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.

Owen is currently managing a project to assess and improve the science-policy interface for the European Commission (DG Environment), which is exploring in detail methods and practices adopted by scientific organisations and policy makers to share and exchange scientific knowledge in the context of environmental policy development.  He has also recently contributed to the SEIS Forward project for the European Environment Agency (EEA) supporting development of the SEIS Forward system in support of environmental assessment.  Drawing on his environmental economics background, Owen has provided socio-economic expert input to a number of regulatory impact assessments of proposed changes to EU regulations relating to biocides, ozone-depleting substances and chemicals legislation, through which he has developed an understanding of the EU policy development and decision making processes, including the role and importance of effective communication and consultation.

Owen’s broader environment and sustainability work has included: research into policy and action of local government authorities in Wales to promote environmental outcomes, including the development of environmental policy and strategy baseline and case studies to identify best practice and inform improved future strategic interventions; research and drafting input to reporting on future related studies and assessments in the EU in relation to the environment and sustainability; and research into opportunities and risks for British universities from the sustainable development agenda.

Ric Eales, BSc, MSc

Ric Eales is the founder and Managing Director of CEP and has over 20 years’ experience of environmental, sustainability and planning consultancy.  His particular areas of interest lie in environmental and sustainability assessment and other decision support tools, environmental and spatial planning and the broader consideration of sustainability i ssues with in legislation, policy and practice.  He has undertaken pioneering work on climate change adaptat ion and led the teams that developed the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Implementatio n Plan for South East England and undertook research on barriers to climate change adaptation, both as part of the ESPACE project.  Ric also managed the Sustainability Appraisals of the Mayor of London’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Water Strategy.

Ric regularly advises the Environment Agency and other public bodies, on climate change, ecosystem services, spatial planning, sustainable construction and flood risk management.  For example, he has prepared guidance on water related climate change adaptation for the Environment Agency, advised DEFRA on measures and mechanisms to encourage uptake of sustainable construction and developed a natural environment prioritisation tool, also for DEFRA.  He has managed and contributed to many commissions for the European Environment Agency (EEA) over the last 10 years, including contributing to the 2010 state of Europe’s environment report, undertaking research on developing an ex-post environmental evaluation framework for European Cohesion Policy and a study on the contribution of green infrastructure to territorial cohesion.  He was the environmental expert for the UK as part of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional Policy’s ex-post evaluation focusing on the environment and climate change of the European Regional Development Fund 2000-2006 and has recently started work as part of the team developing methodologies for climate proofing investments and measures under European cohesion and regional policy and the common agricultural policy for DG Climate Action.  He is also currently part of the team working with Imperial Consultants to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in undertaking an OECD Environmental Performance Review of Mexico's performance in climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

He is an experienced trainer and has developed and delivered several training courses at Imperial College and elsewhere.  He has also been a guest lecturer on undergraduate and postgraduate environmental courses.

William Sheate, BSc, MSc, DIC, PhD

William Sheate is Technical Director at CEP and part-time Reader in Environmental Assessment at Imperial College (London).  Originally an ecologist, Bill has worke d, lectured and published widely on environmental assessment and policy for some 26 years.  He has worked as a practicing ecologist, in consultancy, academia and in the voluntary sector.  Most of his professional career has been spent working in interdisciplinarity.  Bill’s experience lies in the development and application of environmental policy and legislation (especially EIA/SEA/SA) in the European Union, assessment procedures, methodologies, and public and NGO participation.  He has been an expert advisor to the EC, the European Environment Agency, the UK, Irish and Uruguay governments, CPRE, the National Trust, RSPB and WWF; was a board member of Transport 2000 and a long-standing member of the Environment Agency (and formerly NRA) Thames Regional Committees; and has been involved in various committees of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA).  He has managed major studies for the European Commission DG Environment on SEA and Integration of the Environment into Strategic Decision-Making (2000/01) and on the relationship between the EIA and SEA Directives (2004/5).  

Recent activities include a number of major projects for the European Environment Agency on scenarios and long-term futures studies; SEA/sustainability appraisal for the Mayor of London’s Water Strategy and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; SEA of River Basin Management Plans for the Environment Agency of England and Wales; and he was principal investigator for a Defra case study on ecosystem services and green infrastructure in the Thames Gateway.  He has recently undertaken critiques of the Government’s Appraisals of Sustainability of the various National Policy Statements covering energy and ports (for the RSPB/WWF, 2010) and a proposed national planning framework (for RSPB, 2011).  He was a member of the working group and co-author on the ‘Urban’ chapter of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (Defra, 2009-11).

He has recently advised the eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa on a methodology and project implementation framework for a SEA of their Spatial Development Plans (SDP) using ecosystem services funder by DANIDA and is currently a senior advisor preparing practical guidance and recommendations for integrating biodiversity and climate change into EIA/SEA procedures, and on research on the science-policy interface, both for the European Commission (DG Environment).  He is also currently part of the team working with Imperial Consultants to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in undertaking an OECD Environmental Performance Review of Mexico's performance in climate change mitigation and adaptation.  He has been a specialist advisor on a number of judicial review cases involving SEA.

Bill has many years’ experience of teaching and training at advanced levels and retains a part-time Readership in Environmental Assessment in the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, where for the last 13 years he has been the Director of the highly interdisciplinary Core Course of the internationally renowned MSc in Environmental Technology, covering subjects as diverse as pollution control, risk assessment and ecology to environmental policy, economics and law.  He is also a member of the Academic Panel of Francis Taylor Building barristers’ chambers in London and an Honorary Senior Fellow in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester.In 2011 he was awarded a PhD based upon Published Work from Staffordshire University: Accountability in Environmental Assessment Law, Policy and Practice: Changing Paradigms, Changing Purposes in the European Union 1985-2010.