Managing adaptation: linking theory and practice

Eight years have passed since UKCIP’s Risk and Uncertainty in Decision-making Framework was published. In the intervening years, the risk framework has proved highly influential within the UK and international impacts and adaptation communities, forming the methodological basis of the first ever National Climate Change Risk Assessment in the UK (CCRA) and being reflected in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Stern Review, Australian Greenhouse Office and others. In that time the adaptation agenda has also become increasingly prominent and the rate of development in adaptation thinking has increased rapidly. Risk based approaches to climate adaptation are now widely embraced in the UK and abroad, making UKCIP’s Risk Framework more relevant than ever. In order to realise its full potential as a decision support tool there is a need to reflect on, and to incorporate, UKCIP’s experience in applying the framework since 2003. In particular, we recognise a need to provide organisations with better guidance on how to initiate their assessments in a way that will enable them to go beyond raising awareness, to undertaking assessments that will lead to the implementation of practical adaptation actions and decisions. This guidance aims to address that need by discussing key issues that should be considered when making the transition from awareness to action. It is aimed specifically at those undertaking a systematic climate change risk based assessment as part of an adaptation work programme and emphasises, in particular, the importance of the scoping phase of assessment. We have found that some of the most important and difficult decisions and judgements in adaptation planning are made during the scoping phase, and that these can profoundly influence the depth and breadth of an assessment and the mechanisms and players involved in subsequent work. If this process is not actively and explicitly engaged with, tacit assumptions can be inadvertently made which strongly influence the outcomes, or create path dependency which limits the flexibility of adaptive planning. This document can be read as a stand-alone piece, or in conjunction with Stages 1 and 2 of UKCIP’s Risk Framework.