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

Chapter 4
The EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) aims to ‘promote the maintenance of biodiversity’
and thereby make a contribution to sustainable development. Measures at an EU level are
regarded as necessary because of the deterioration of habitats and threats to species that are
often of a transboundary nature. The Directive requires Member States to identify possible
sites of Community Importance for species and habitats listed in Annexes of the Directive,
from which the Commission selects a suite of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) known
as Natura 2000. In addition, Member States are obliged “where they consider it necessary to
endeavour to improve the ecological coherence of Natura 2000 by maintaining, and where
appropriate developing, features of the landscape which are of major importance for wild
fauna and flora”. The Directive can be interpreted as a defensive, reactive response to what is
regarded as an unfavourable natural status for some habitats and species.
Article 3 of the Habitats Directive provides for the establishment of the Natura 2000 ecological
network whereby each Member State contributes to its creation in proportion to the representation
within its territory of habitats and species of Community interest. The definition of
‘Community interest’ is quite rigid and this, along with the focus on establishing the Natura
2000 network of fixed sites, has led to questions about its flexibility in the face of climate
change. Article 9 nevertheless allows for the possibility that an SAC may need to be declassified
“where this is warranted by natural developments noted as a result of surveillance” as
provided for in Article 11. This is, however, an area that needs further attention and work.
The role of other relevant actors in partnerships
4.56 In framing the problem of adaptation, organisations need to consider the roles of other relevant
actors. For example, we were told in Wales that heavy rainstorms can lead to run-off being
contaminated with sheep and cattle faeces from farmland, which ultimately finds its way to the
sea via streams and rivers and pollutes beaches, causing them to lose favourable status for bathing
and impacting on tourism. Events like this will occur more often in the future, and the problem
requires a co-ordinated response, in this case between the Welsh Assembly Government, the
Environment Agency, local farmers and the tourism industry, to understand the problem and
work together to find ways of reducing it. Similarly, effective responses to the risk of flash flooding
in central London require co-operation between the Environment Agency, Westminster Council,
local public, private and third sector organisations, and residents. Working in partnership in these
cases is essential as a way of managing the transfer of risk from one place or group to another.
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Acting alone, any single body is unlikely to be able to understand the full nature of the issue
or identify a solution that meets the requirements of all the actors, and so each organisation
has to look outside its own remit to fully frame the problem. As adaptation is relevant to so
many institutions, a co-ordinated approach can help overcome the fragmentation of powers and
responsibilities which might otherwise hinder an effective response. And because of the number
of institutions with an involvement in adapting to climate change, it is inevitable that there will be
some overlap in jurisdictions and sectors. The coastal zone (Chapter 3) is a good example.
Overlap in jurisdictions and the need to consider other actors is particularly obvious in the multilayered
governance arrangements in the UK – at the highest level from Europe, through national
and devolved governments, to regional and local administrations. One advantage is that such
arrangements allow for different approaches to be tried in different places, for example in each of
the Devolved Administrations. For many issues, there are scales at which it is most appropriate for
adaptation to take place; and whilst this will typically be local, it must usually happen within an
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