Derry City and Strabane District CouncilClimate Change Adaptation Plan 2020-2025
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equire careful planning <strong>and</strong> development to prepare for a<br />
continually changing climate <strong>and</strong> ensure resilience.<br />
By 2041 the number of people aged over 65 is expected to<br />
increase to over 24% of the population in the <strong>City</strong> & <strong>District</strong><br />
while those aged under 16 will decrease to 19%. This will have<br />
implications for future planning <strong>and</strong> climate change adaptation.<br />
An ageing population will place additional dem<strong>and</strong>s on health<br />
<strong>and</strong> community services requiring careful adaptation planning<br />
to avoid climate change impacts in particular during heatwaves.<br />
In addition, the DCSDC area ranks lower than the NI average<br />
across a range of health indicators.<br />
Risks are unevenly distributed <strong>and</strong> are generally greater for<br />
disadvantaged people <strong>and</strong> communities. It is recognised<br />
that people on low incomes are less able to prepare for,<br />
respond to <strong>and</strong> recover from extreme weather events in<br />
particular heatwaves, cold snaps <strong>and</strong> flooding. The Northern<br />
Irel<strong>and</strong> Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 results show that<br />
20 of the 100 most deprived Super Output Areas (SOAs) in<br />
Northern Irel<strong>and</strong> are located in our <strong>District</strong>. It also has the<br />
highest proportion of the working age population who are<br />
employment-deprived (29.5%).<br />
The resilience of our local business sector to climate change is<br />
a key consideration of climate adaptation.<br />
In 2019, there were 5,260 VAT <strong>and</strong>/or PAYE registered<br />
businesses across the district, which provided 58,200<br />
employee jobs in 2018. In 2018, there were 1,771 farms within<br />
DCSDC supported by an agricultural labour force of 3,510.<br />
The Tourism Industry is a significant driver for the local area<br />
sustaining over 4,685 jobs (DCSDC, 2018). Therefore, risks <strong>and</strong><br />
opportunities to the tourism assets, products, festivals <strong>and</strong><br />
events is critical to the economic development of the region.<br />
The Council’s highly successful events programme also needs<br />
to be able to respond to the potential heatwaves, flooding <strong>and</strong><br />
storms.<br />
August 2017 Flood Event<br />
DCSDC Climate <strong>Change</strong> <strong>Adaptation</strong> <strong>Plan</strong><br />
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