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What do we know about UK household adaptation to climate change? A systematic review

What do we know about UK household adaptation to climate change? A systematic review
What do we know about UK household adaptation to climate change? A systematic review
The UK Government’s first National Adaptation Programme seeks to create a ‘climate-ready society’ capable of making well-informed and far-sighted decisions to address risks and opportunities posed by a changing climate, where individual households are expected to adapt if it is in their interest to do so. How, and to what extent, households are able to adapt to a changing climate remains unclear. Like other developed countries, research on UK adaptation has focused predominately on public and private organisations. To fill that gap, a systematic review was conducted to understand what actions UK households have taken in response to, or in anticipation of, a changing climate; what drives or impedes these actions; and whether households will act autonomously. We found that UK households struggle to build long-term adaptive capacity and are reliant upon intuitive reactive coping responses. That split is concerning because coping responses are less effective for some climate risks (e.g. flooding); cost more over the long-term; and fail to create household capacity to adapt to other stresses. Low-cost, low-skill coping responses were already being implemented whereas he adoption of more permanent physical measures, behavioural changes and acceptance of new responsibilities are unlikely to occur autonomously without financial or further government support. If public policy on household adaptation to climate change is to be better informed, more high-quality empirical research is urgently needed
1753-1330
70
Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds
Porter, J.J.
9ca21cf4-f0f1-4bf4-966c-c9646458383d
Dessai, S.
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Tompkins, Emma L.
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Porter, J.J.
9ca21cf4-f0f1-4bf4-966c-c9646458383d
Dessai, S.
f770f718-e6f3-4301-aec4-631193a2a144
Tompkins, Emma L.
a6116704-7140-4e37-bea1-2cbf39b138c3

Porter, J.J., Dessai, S. and Tompkins, Emma L. (2014) What do we know about UK household adaptation to climate change? A systematic review (Sustainability Research Institute Paper, 70) Leeds, GB. Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds 94pp.

Record type: Monograph (Working Paper)

Abstract

The UK Government’s first National Adaptation Programme seeks to create a ‘climate-ready society’ capable of making well-informed and far-sighted decisions to address risks and opportunities posed by a changing climate, where individual households are expected to adapt if it is in their interest to do so. How, and to what extent, households are able to adapt to a changing climate remains unclear. Like other developed countries, research on UK adaptation has focused predominately on public and private organisations. To fill that gap, a systematic review was conducted to understand what actions UK households have taken in response to, or in anticipation of, a changing climate; what drives or impedes these actions; and whether households will act autonomously. We found that UK households struggle to build long-term adaptive capacity and are reliant upon intuitive reactive coping responses. That split is concerning because coping responses are less effective for some climate risks (e.g. flooding); cost more over the long-term; and fail to create household capacity to adapt to other stresses. Low-cost, low-skill coping responses were already being implemented whereas he adoption of more permanent physical measures, behavioural changes and acceptance of new responsibilities are unlikely to occur autonomously without financial or further government support. If public policy on household adaptation to climate change is to be better informed, more high-quality empirical research is urgently needed

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More information

Published date: July 2014
Organisations: Global Env Change & Earth Observation

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 367676
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/367676
ISSN: 1753-1330
PURE UUID: 15b891ed-9c09-4148-bc47-a179b84e7653
ORCID for Emma L. Tompkins: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4825-9797

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 Sep 2014 11:23
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:39

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Contributors

Author: J.J. Porter
Author: S. Dessai

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