Dr Leslie Mabon: Equipping Scotland for climate change
Alongside phasing out fossil fuels and reducing emissions from sectors like farming and construction, questions of how to respond fairly to the climate impacts that the world is already locked into are becoming increasingly thorny.
During his visit to COP28, the First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf pledged a further £2 million to support people and places across the world who have suffered losses and damages from climate change impacts. This is a symbolic contribution in the face of the hundreds of billions of pounds annually which the most vulnerable nations are calling for to cope with climate impacts.
But it does show that Scotland is taking seriously the need to plan and prepare for life under a changing climate, at the same time as reducing emissions.
Climate-related weather extremes matter closer to home, too. Storm Babet in mid-October reminded us that Scotland is already seeing climate impacts, bringing flooding and landslides to eastern and central Scotland. Homes were rendered uninhabitable, rail services were disrupted for days, and roads remain impassable months later.
It is true that we’ve always had rain, floods and weather-related disruptions in Scotland. It’s also true that decisions about where we choose to build can mean that people’s homes and livelihoods are more likely to be in harm’s way when extreme events come. But none of this should take away from the fact that climate change is making extremes more frequent and intense, in a way that exceeds the coping mechanisms we have in place.
This year shows us that it’s our local authorities and communities who are the first line of defence, and who also have to clear up and build back after the storm has passed.
In Stonehaven, for example, a new set of flood defences built by Aberdeenshire Council protected the town from flooding during heavy rain. Meanwhile, Argyll and Bute Council are working hard to build an emergency road to reconnect communities cut off by landslides over six weeks ago.
Increasingly extreme and complex events call for a workforce who can link the global rhetoric of the COP negotiations to what is going on in their local area, especially in Scotland’s smaller towns and rural areas.
At the recent Mock COP28 in Inverness, for example - organised by The Open University (OU) in Scotland with partners from across the Scottish Highlands - senior pupils from high schools from all over the Highlands took on the roles of different countries and international organisations, negotiating with each other and voting on resolutions.
Shortly before this schools event the OU published a public report, ‘Educate, Measure, Speak up: How businesses can get ahead with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)’, which found that environmental strategy is discussed in board rooms, but lack of skills is holding back action.
Initiatives like Mock COP are just one way of equipping the planners, political leaders and small business owners of tomorrow with an understanding of the global processes that drive processes like land use planning, environmental regulation and connectivity in their local communities.
Clearing boulders off the A816 might seem a world away from the air-conditioned negotiating rooms of COP28 in Dubai. But if the just transition model which Scotland is so keen to share with the world is to truly leave nobody behind, it is vital that the places in Scotland at most risk are empowered with the resources and skills necessary to build their resilience under a changing climate.
Dr Leslie Mabon is a Lecturer in Environmental Systems in the School of Engineering and Innovation at The Open University. His research looks at how communities respond to changing environments, and how to ensure society’s responses to climate change do not further disadvantage those who are already less well-off. Leslie is a member of the Young Academy of Scotland, and an Ambassador for Scotland’s National Centre for Resilience.