Introduction

Climate Adaptation means increasing societal resilience to the challenges posed by climate change including extreme weather impacts. Early preventative actions are significantly more cost effective than disaster response efforts, so adaptation planning is an important financial step for organisations. This document offers a step-by-step guide with a set of tools to follow, whether you are new to adaptation planning or interested in planning in greater detail. You can also tailor what tools you use based on your specific legislative or resource context.

Who can use this model?

The model has been developed so that it can be used either as a complete guide, or for guidance on the aspect of adaptation planning that suits your work. Previous experience with or knowledge about climate adaptation is not necessary. The model is mainly aimed at supporting the planning process on a local level, municipalities or councils but can of course be used by other organisations as well. This guide can support organisations through its very first experience of adaptation planning, or support adaptation in a variety of exisiting policy and organisational contexts. This will be defined by undertaking the situational analysis which will define which parts of the model you will need to use.

Overview of the Best Practice Model

The International Best Practice Climate Adaptation Model (IBPM) outlines the climate adaptation planning process as developed by the CLIMATE project. The five iterative steps in the model have been designed with local authorities (municipalities or councils) with small and remote areas in northern Europe in mind but the process can also be applied on a regional or national level in other areas as well. If all the steps are followed, the final outcome from the model is a draft climate adaptation plan or strategy. The IBPM is compiled from the climate adaptation cycles from seven countries, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. Each of these cycles have similar steps, but their implementation differs somewhat depending on the policy context of each region. For example, in Sweden there is a National Climate Strategy that includes two laws (2018) regarding built environments that each local authority needs to follow. Together with a regional coordination responsibility for local adapatation, this creates a situation with clear top-down regulation and solid drivers with which to gain buy-in from local politicians. In many other countries, where the top-down regulation is less clear, much more effort may be needed in the beginning of the process to get political anchoring for climate adaptation. The IBPM cycle consists of five key steps which which are relevant across all jurisdictions of the Northern Periphery and Arctic region, as well as further afield.

The IBPM’s aim is to provide a tool that is useful for any local or regional authority in the Northern Periphery and Arctic Region (Finland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Norway). Two councils, Derry City & Strabane District Council in Northern Ireland and Härnösand in northern Sweden have functioned as case studies when developing the model and tools. The councils, together with research partners, have developed new tools throughout the planning process, which have been added to the model. Recurring components from adaptation case study regions have been applied in have been applied in our model when they are deemed especially relevant for the adaptation planning process. The model aims to include significant detail without compromising its user friendliness, making it relevant for a wide range of users.