Minister Ryan publishes Ireland's second statutory National Adaptation Framework
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From: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
- Published on: 5 June 2024
- Last updated on: 2 October 2024
Impacts of climate change already evident – this adaptation strategy is for the here and now as well as the future, says Minister.
The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, today published Ireland’s second National Adaptation Framework.
The new National Adaptation Framework (NAF) sets out the potential implications of climate change for Ireland and outlines the national strategy for the development of adaptation measures.
The Framework will require government departments, infrastructure providers and local authorities to prepare a new cycle of Adaptation Plans for key sectors including Agriculture, Forestry, Biodiversity, Transport, Flood Risk Management and, for the first time, Tourism. At local authority level, this will include zoning and the need for development to be future proofed.
The impacts of climate change are already more than evident. Persistent and heavy rain over the winter and spring months, for example, flooded fields throughout the country, impacting food production and incomes. It also damaged roads, exacerbating potholes and pavement collapse. Storm Babet saw torrential rain, leading to devastating flash floods, particularly across the South and East of the country. However, climate change is happening quietly also, away from headline attention. An extreme marine heat wave off Ireland’s west coast saw sea surface temperatures reach 5.5 degrees above normal, with implications for biodiversity and extreme weather. This year, sea temperatures are currently tracking even higher. Sea levels themselves are rising at an alarming rate, potentially putting many of Ireland’s coastal cities and towns at risk.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has estimated that costs associated with extreme weather events could be approximately half a billion per year. So from now until 2030 that would be roughly €3 billion at least – just to deal with cleaning up after events like flooding. Other estimations would indicate that costs will be higher. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment (ICCA) 2024 report suggests, for example, that flooding could cost Limerick City up to €1 billion per event in a high sea level rise scenario. It cites the need to invest heavily in water and electricity infrastructure, so that it can still deliver in more extreme climate scenarios. It also suggests that we have to prepare for new non-native pests and a significant increase in climate variability and its impact on agricultural production.
This does not take into account the high cost to householders, communities and farmers and so IFAC also suggests that limiting these risks would require further adaptation costs beyond the current calculation. The new National Adaptation Framework outlines the need for an assessment of the prioritised investment requirements for adaptation, so quantifying what is required to make Ireland resilient by 2050 and beyond.
Minister Ryan stated:
"The challenges presented by climate change are unprecedented, both in terms of the potential scale of the impacts and the transformation required to prepare for them. We are already all too familiar with the impacts climate change can have on our economy and society – we saw it with extreme storms and persistent rain and flooding in 2023 and early 2024. Our response to climate change is not just about dealing with future impacts – we must also be prepared for the here and now and the more immediate challenges that present.
"While climate change itself is challenging, adaptation is equally challenging. It will require each sector, each utility company, each local authority to plan seriously for the inevitability of more extreme weather events. At a local authority level, this will include how we zone and develop into the future. We must also get away from thinking that adaptation infrastructure is only about steel and concrete. We will need strong defences, but we must also wake up to the fact that a key protection in terms of flooding and flood plains is to use nature-based solutions to help nature protect us. As an immediate action, we should embark on a process to green our cities and plant trees on almost every street, it will mitigate flooding, improve our air and reduce heat impact."
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service is expected to announce soon that May 2024 was the 12th month in a row to be the hottest on record. In Ireland, Met Éireann data confirms that 2023 was the warmest year on record in Ireland. June 2023 exceeded the previous hottest June on record (1940) by more than half a degree, while July 2023 was the wettest July on record in Ireland with four times more rain falling than in July 2022.
Observations show that Ireland’s climate is changing in terms of sea level rise; increases in average temperature; changes in precipitation patterns; and weather extremes. The observed scale and rate of change is consistent with regional and global trends, and these changes are projected to continue and increase over the coming decades. Studies are now able to measure the contribution of climate change to extreme weather events, showing how it is making many such events more intense and more dangerous. A recent study by the ICARUS Climate Change Research Centre in Maynooth University found that the extreme rainfall that occurred over two days on 17 and 18 October 2023, and which caused flooding around the country, most notably in Midleton, County Cork, had an increased intensity of around 13% due to climate change and global warming.
A number of resources are now in place to assist with adaptation planning and the Framework sets the context for these. These include the online resource Climate Ireland, Sectoral Planning Guidelines for Climate Change Adaptation and the new National Framework for Climate Services. In addition, the EPA is leading on Ireland’s first National Climate Change Risk Assessment which will provide preliminary results to key adaptation sectors in 2024 before being completed in early 2025. Such resources will provide decision support tools and advice to assist sectors in developing their responses to the projected impacts of climate change.
The National Adaptation Framework is available on the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications website.
Notes
Purpose of the National Adaptation Framework
The new National Adaptation Framework has been prepared in line with the requirements of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, 2015 to 2021. The purpose of the Framework is to provide the policy context for a strategic adaptation response to climate change; to develop policies, working in partnership with relevant stakeholders; to integrate adaptation considerations to all relevant policy areas; to promote understanding of adaptation issues; to promote and support the development of scientific evidence relating to adaptation; to identify sectors for adaptation actions; and commit to actions to support the adaptation process.
Structure of the National Adaptation Framework
The National Adaptation Framework is divided into three chapters.
Chapter 1 contextualises climate adaptation and defines key concepts and principles required for adaptation in Ireland and steps to create an enabling environment for adaptation planning. It also synopsises the progress on climate change adaptation planning in Ireland to date, including legislation, initiatives at sectoral and local government level, and climate adaptation research.
Chapter 2 establishes the new National Adaptation Framework for delivering climate resilience. It outlines the progress made in climate policy, research, sectoral and local adaptation planning, as well as the recommendations from the review of the 2018 National Adaptation Framework and sets out our vision for a climate resilient Ireland. It outlines the roles of key actors and focuses on the international best practice of mainstreaming adaptation action into named key sectors which will develop new (or updated) Sectoral Adaptation Plans (SAPs).
Chapter 3 outlines how the updated National Adaptation Framework will be implemented, including revised governance and reporting arrangements, and key national actions to be progressed under the Framework.
Role of the Climate Change Advisory Council in the preparation of the National Adaptation Framework
The Climate Change Advisory Council is an independent, statutory body established pursuant to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act to advise the Minister and the government in relation to climate change. The advisory council has specific functions under the Act to make recommendations in relation to adaptation policy.
The views of the advisory council were provided prior to and during the public consultation of the Draft National Framework and informed the preparation of the final NAF. The Advisory Council will also provide guidance to relevant Ministers on the preparation of Sectoral Adaptation Plans.