New climate report: the countryside is vital for adaptation, we say

The Climate Change Committee report, published yesterday (Wednesday, May 20), proves that the countryside has a vital role to play in how we prepare for the impacts of climate change.

The report demonstrates the urgent need for joined-up and long-term thinking about how we use our finite land to sustain us all into the future.

Land-use changes as a result of climate change will be inevitable and profound. If we want to prepare for this, feed ourselves and deliver the government ambition to restore nature, then a more integrated approach to the role the countryside plays in this transition is essential now.

It’s also clear from the report that we need to rethink how and where we build homes and infrastructure. Creating and retrofitting compact sustainable towns and cities rich in green spaces that support natural cooling and flood management should be the norm, not the exception.

Recommendations

The report sets out eight priority areas for action and calls on government to act urgently across all of them:

• Protecting people from extreme heat, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, through cooling in homes, hospitals and care homes
• Managing flood risk through sustained investment and stronger planning rules to keep new development out of flood-prone areas
• Securing water supplies against drought
• Supporting nature to adapt by making habitat protection forward-looking rather than rooted in past baselines
• Supporting farmers to shift practices and diversify crops
• Stress-testing food-supply chains against climate shocks
• Maintaining insurance availability as flood and wildfire risks grow
• Future-proofing critical infrastructure against climate change to improve resilience

Underpinning everything is a call for government to establish meaningful adaptation targets with clear ownership, backed by delivery plans and proper investment – and to stop treating adaptation as an afterthought.