Protected Landscapes across England, Wales and Scotland are coming together to take the next step in climate adaptation.
A new series of Climate Smart Adaptive Management workshops launch today. Hosted by Landscape Observatory with facilitation from Protected Landscape Partnership specialists Clare Downing, Bruce Winney (National Landscape Association), Chris Fairbrother and Sarah Bird (National Park England).
What will the workshops cover?
The workshops will share critical thinking on climate change adaptation. Participants will build a common understanding across all Protected Landscape as they move into practical, deliverable adaptive management planning. This Adaptive Management work stream launches a co-developed climate change methodology for Protected Landscapes.
Climate Smart Adaptive Management recognises that climate change requires a shift in how landscapes are planned, managed and reviewed over time. Instead of relying on static plans, it encourages adaptive, evidence-led approaches that respond to ongoing climate change, uncertainty and risk.
North, South West and Central workshop series
The first workshop starts today in Newcastle upon Tyne. Exeter and Birmingham will follow, completing the regional series over the coming weeks.
All three workshops will follow the same format across the two days, exploring:
- the climate context
- the imperative for adaptation
- key characteristics of climate-smart approaches; and
- the impacts of climate change on priority landscape features.
Participants will examine the controlling landscape factors and pressures that influence vulnerability and consider how conservation objectives may need to evolve in response to a changing climate.
Resist, Accept, Direct (RAD) Framework
The workshop series will introduce the Resist, Accept, Direct (RAD) framework as a practical tool to support decision-making that moves beyond ‘restoring and protecting’. This can facilitate rapid change to accommodate new scenarios. Dedicated workshop sessions will explore how RAD can be applied at landscape scale, alongside discussions on the organisational, cultural and practical barriers to adaptation.
This series of workshop marks the start of a longer-term collaboration across all protected landscapes. Coming together in this way will help Protected Landscape teams develop more consistent, confident and climate-smart approaches to adaptation management planning.
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