The study has been spearheaded by a partnership of North East organisations including SustaiNE, the Environment Agency, Government Office for the North East, One NorthEast, NSP, Royal Haskoning, the Association of North East Councils (ANEC) and the North East Assembly
The first of its kind in the UK, the study focuses on the impact and costs of climate change on the region's communities, businesses, infrastructure and the economy and what action needs to be taken to adapt and minimise the impact to acceptable levels.
The study will build on the highly successful Wear Catchment Climate Change Adaptation Report launched in February this year, which was undertaken by a consortium of organisations combining "state of the art" knowledge on climate change, cutting edge research and a practical understanding of the applied consequences of climate change on people and infrastructure. Input was also provided by many nationally and internationally recognised experts in key disciplines such as climatology, geomorphology, transportation, geotechnics, masts and towers, buildings and infrastructure.
Adrian Hilton, Regional Climate Change Coordinator, explained: "The North East Climate Change Adaptation Study is an important step in ensuring the region is ready and able to cope with climate change in the future.
"At the moment the only information we have is for general areas, through the UK Climate Impacts Program, but using special modelling technology developed by Newcastle University - known as EARWIG - this can be enhanced to provide predictions via 5km grids.
"This will provide a resolution that enables local authorities and other organisations to respond in a clearer and more coherent way - identifying what action they need to take to adapt to our changing climate.
"Clearly we need to reduce our impact on the climate, by reducing CO2 emissions and the like, but as there's a significant time lapse between cause and effect in the climate system so climate change over the next 30 to 50 years has already been determined by historic greenhouse gas emissions.
"So we also need to be clear on what changes are likely in the years ahead, what areas will be most affected and what we need to do now to prepare and adapt. That's why this study is so important."
The North East Climate Change Adaptation Study will be published early in 2008, with information provided for each local authority area in a bid to provide the basis for the "adaptation" element of their Climate Change Action Plans developed as a requirement of the signing of the Nottingham Declaration. It will also provide businesses and other organisations with information to aid their emergency planning and resilience work.
