Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

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Chapter 5 5.61 5.62 5.63 5.64 A basic question is whether the costs of flooding and coastal erosion, which are likely to increase with a changing climate, should lie where they fall and, if not, how they should be redistributed (it is already the case that nationally-funded flood and coastal erosion defences involve a redistribution of resources through government taxation and expenditure). Public and political attention at the moment is focused on demands for financial compensation of those facing immediate property losses due to coastal erosion. This could take a variety of forms, including a simple payment of market value for the property, government initiated or sponsored insurance schemes, or, where loss of property is not imminent and rental of the property is an attractive option, a ‘purchase and lease-back’ scheme. Local authority pathfinders are exploring some of these options (3.94 and 4.99). Compensation, particularly for residential property from which historical protection by the state has been withdrawn, might seem an intuitively attractive response to the burdens of coastal change; but this solution is far from straightforward. Questions of moral hazard (for instance, encouraging development in vulnerable areas) comprise one of the problems. This difficulty is probably manageable, although attempts at management, for example, by making compensation available only for property purchased before a particular date, could have their own blighting effect. The potentially open-ended redistribution of resources contemplated by financial compensation proposals is a more significant difficulty. The scale of land abandonment or uninsurable flood damage in the longer term is uncertain, and it reminds us that compensation by the state may have implications in other areas – money used for compensation is not then available for investment elsewhere. Equally significantly, as discussed in Chapter 3, property does not capture the full scale of the community disruption of flood and coastal erosion, and addressing only property will leave some of the most vulnerable without assistance. The Commission recommends that the Adaptation Sub-Committee should explore the range of options available to address issues such as the loss of community, business and employment, and the disruption to health, educational and social services, which may be a direct or indirect consequence of climate change. 5.65 Government might focus on assisting in the rebuilding (literally or metaphorically) or relocation of affected communities, including community and social services, just as it carries out compensation ‘in kind’ for conservation losses. Whilst there is no clear ‘right’ to publicly provided defence from water or to associated rights to compensation, simply ignoring questions of property ownership would be controversial. That does not necessarily imply that full financial compensation for lost property is the right response, simply that it should be considered alongside other options such as partial compensation or compensation in kind, and together with approaches that can apply equally to property owners and those who do not own property. 5.66 Deciding between the full range of the options available cannot be resolved by a technical analysis or an abstract discussion of existing legal rights and duties. Selecting any single option (for example, full compensation for lost property) requires a particular approach to distributive justice (or simply fairness) when in fact as a society we take very different approaches depending on the circumstances. For example, some forms of legal liability require full compensation of all loss (even beyond property loss); compulsory purchase provides for full compensation of property losses in limited circumstances; many misfortunes which fall outside the reach of legal liabilities lead to recourse to the welfare state; and even welfare state provision varies depending on the type of assistance being sought. As a nation, our approach to distributive justice is inconsistent, and often a result of historical accident; it is something society should consider afresh in the light of the new circumstances created by climate change. 106
5.67 5.68 5.69 5.70 There is no obvious or easy answer to the question of how and whether the state should redistribute the costs of climate change. The far-reaching political nature of this question, which implies a range of questions about the social and physical world in which we wish to live, should be recognised. In the absence so far of public and political debate on the subject, it would be premature to make a recommendation on the institutional solution to the uneven distribution of climate change impacts. However, there is a pressing need for such a debate. As the Government has noted (3.67 concerning the Flood and Water Management Bill), there is also a need for debate about the circumstances in which local funding to maintain or improve defences is a fair and appropriate response. This may be a solution in some cases, serving at the least to ‘buy time’ for consideration of other options. It assumes, however, that the defences are being withdrawn for economic reasons only, and that locally-funded defences would not simply send the water or the wave energy elsewhere – in which case wealthy communities could adversely affect poorer ones. Governments have a responsibility to address the distributional aspect of climate change, including less tangible losses, in an explicit, open and collaborative way. The Commission recommends that governments should initiate and sustain an informed political and public debate on the distribution of the costs of the impacts of climate change and of adaptation. This should cover the consequences of flooding and coastal erosion, the impact on communities and questions of compensation, and the costs of maintaining or improving defences. Governments should make policy decisions on the basis of this informed political and public debate. Equity is not just about the distribution of costs, but also about the ways in which decisions are made about those issues. A key element of good decision making is public engagement, to which we turn next. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 5.71 5.72 We have stressed that the effects of climate change are felt locally. Even in a country as relatively small as the UK, for some the manifestations of climate change are already real while for others they are still a remote risk. Significant changes to localities will directly affect and shape the ways in which individuals will be able to interact with, and benefit from, their natural and social environments in the future. As one expert has said: “the implications of a changing physical environment touch the core of how individuals and cultures may define themselves and their interactions with the world around them.” 11 How can society ensure that the fundamental impacts of climate change are fully debated and appropriate opportunity provided for individuals and communities to consider the implications, the decision dilemmas that arise and the need to weigh up potentially differing outcomes? We believe that there is a need for better public access to, and debate about, issues raised by climate change projections, particularly those produced by UKCP09. If these scenarios are to inform institutional and policy responses, it is essential that all stakeholders – including members of the public – can understand them. As we discussed in Chapter 3, public responses will be dependent on people understanding what climate change means for them and their families, in their own context. This is an essential component of both the framing and learning processes. 107 Chapter 5
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Adapting Institutions to Climate Ch
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The cover image of an adaptation sn
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ROYAL COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL P
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Contents vii Paragraph Page Chapter
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Specific institutional arrangements
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1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Chapter 1 INTRO
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1.9 1.10 What is adaptation? The In
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1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 Secondly, much
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every circumstance. However, the Co
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2.15 Average global sea levels are
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UKCP09 projections differ from thos
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level) and those which are only lik
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FIGURE 2-II Projected changes to wi
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2.29 Some of the projected temperat
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FIGURE 2-IV Change in observed temp
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2.52 2.53 2.54 2.55 2.56 2.57 oxyge
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2.63 2.64 2.65 2.66 Not only are ha
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2.73 BOX 2D FACTORS AFFECTING THE C
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y the changing climate as sea level
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BIODIVERSITY SUMMARY OF THE IMPACTS
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climate change”. 70 The new speci
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assemblages of conservation importa
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3.7 3.8 action 1 encourages Member
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3.12 FIGURE 3-I Governance structur
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3.14 FIGURE 3-III Climate change im
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3.19 significant role in determinin
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their LAA targets. Making use of qu
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3.31 3.32 3.33 3.34 3.35 Anyone wis
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3.40 3.41 3.42 nature. 39 Other und
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3.47 For each of the exemplars, nat
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3.52 3.53 3.54 River Glaven). The a
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3.60 Planning future provision rais
Page 65 and 66: 3.68 3.69 3.70 ordinary watercourse
Page 67 and 68: 3.73 3.74 3.75 3.76 members of the
Page 69 and 70: 3.84 3.85 3.86 3.87 74 SMPs have a
Page 71 and 72: 3.94 Defra announced on 1 December
Page 73 and 74: 3.101 More than 250 Special Protect
Page 75 and 76: INTRODUCTION 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Chapte
Page 77 and 78: 4.11 4.12 Figure 4-I also introduce
Page 79 and 80: PATH DEPENDENCY 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21
Page 81 and 82: 4.25 4.26 4.27 Another way of consi
Page 83 and 84: Efficiency 4.36 Efficiency is about
Page 85 and 86: 4.47 4.48 4.49 participation. We re
Page 87 and 88: 4.53 The key elements of framing th
Page 89 and 90: 4.55 next. The Council observed tha
Page 91 and 92: overarching strategic framework set
Page 93 and 94: 4.70 There was a dilemma running th
Page 95 and 96: when specific measures are necessar
Page 97 and 98: 4.88 4.89 from flooding. Hot-spots
Page 99 and 100: BOX 4G LEGAL ASPECTS OF COASTAL PRO
Page 101 and 102: communicative learning in terms of
Page 103 and 104: is not limited to a single departme
Page 105 and 106: INTRODUCTION 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.
Page 107 and 108: 5.11 A number of our recommendation
Page 109 and 110: 5.23 5.24 The Climate Change Act 20
Page 111 and 112: 5.34 5.35 5.36 5.37 Two of our earl
Page 113 and 114: 5.46 The Commission recommends that
Page 115: 5.57 understood in order that it ca
Page 119 and 120: 5.79 underpin the need for the gove
Page 121 and 122: BOX 5A AN INDICATIVE LIST OF TEN QU
Page 123 and 124: CHAPTER 1 References 1 Royal Commis
Page 125 and 126: 27 Data from the UK Climate Project
Page 127 and 128: 66 Willis, S.G., Hill, J.K., Thomas
Page 129 and 130: 13 Ibid, page 12. 14 For further de
Page 131 and 132: 51 Ofwat (2009). Final Determinatio
Page 133 and 134: CHAPTER 4 1 Brooks, N. and Adger, W
Page 135 and 136: 37 There is an extensive literature
Page 137 and 138: 4 Greater London Authority Act 2007
Page 139 and 140: The European Commission has publish
Page 141 and 142: The study will, therefore, draw on
Page 143 and 144: Range of climate change Q2) There a
Page 145 and 146: Values relating to the natural envi
Page 147 and 148: Adaptive capacity (also referred to
Page 149 and 150: species that might survive and subs
Page 151 and 152: Appendix B CONDUCT OF THE STUDY In
Page 153 and 154: Forestry Commission Grantham Instit
Page 155 and 156: UK Collaborative on Development Sci
Page 157 and 158: VISITS During the course of the stu
Page 159 and 160: Mark Williams Scottish Water Ruth W
Page 161 and 162: CHAIRMAN Appendix D MEMBERS OF THE
Page 163 and 164: PROFESSOR MARIA LEE Professor of
Page 165 and 166: PROFESSOR JOANNE SCOTT Professor
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Abbreviations ACC Adapting to Clima
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SPA Special Protection Area SSSI Si
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Biodiversity Action Plan 2.99 Birds
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supply and treatment of 3.55 Englan
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water supply and wastewater treatme
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institutional arrangements adaptati
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UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP
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