Miriam Dunn, University of Edinburgh and IMPRESSIONS Scottish case study leader, gives an update on the recent IMPRESSIONS second workshop for the Scottish case study, held at the Stirling Court Hotel in spring 2016. The purpose of this workshop was to further develop the stakeholders’ vision for Scotland in 2100; to explore how different policy measures might help or hinder to achieve that vision under the different socio-economic scenarios developed in the first workshop; and to explore the updated information about climate change impacts for different sectors.
On the 11th and 12th April, 20 stakeholders from a wide range of organisations with an interest in land resource management in Scotland participated in a two-day workshop with researchers as part of IMPRESSIONS. The workshop was the second of three workshops for the case study and included a majority of stakeholders who were also participants in the first workshop. The days featured facilitated breakout sessions during which the stakeholders explored updated information about the projected climate change impacts for different sectors in Scotland and, considered these alongside four different socio-economic scenarios. The stakeholders also looked at how different climate change adaptation policy measures might fare within the scenarios, and discussed what could be done to help achieve their vision for Scotland in 2100.
Feedback from the workshop was overwhelmingly positive, with stakeholders commenting that they had found it to be useful, inspiring and thought-provoking. And as always, the researchers involved welcomed the opportunity to work with such a diverse, knowledgeable and engaged group of stakeholders.
Video credit: Archie Crofton
IMPRESSIONS
The IMPRESSIONS (IMPacts and Risks from high-End Scenarios – Strategies for InnOvative solutioNS) project aims to increase our understanding of the consequences of high-end climate change, and in so doing to support adaptation strategies of stakeholders. It is a major EU-funded project that includes Scotland as a case study. It has built upon the scenarios developed by the CLIMSAVE project, but this time focuses on decision-makers’ strategies for dealing with the impacts of high-end (>2°C) climate change in Scotland. The project brings together researchers as well as stakeholders from both policy and practice and from varied sectors across Scotland.
Stakeholders are an integral part of the IMPRESSIONS (IMPacts and Risks from high-End Scenarios– Strategies for InnOvative solutioNS) project and their continuing enthusiastic involvement makes the project successful.
Next Steps
The outcomes of the workshop are being used to feed back into the project over the next 2 years to identify adaptation and mitigation pathways (and policies) to address climate change impacts; to develop action plans and empowering narratives; and most importantly, to support adaptation strategies of stakeholders within the land resource management sectors in Scotland. A key goal is to create better contextualised and more usable information about adapting to climate change. If you are interested in being involved in the next workshop, please feel free to get in touch.
Further information about the project can be accessed on the website or by contacting Miriam Dunn (miriam.dunn@ed.ac.uk).