Newcastle University

Climate Change: Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation

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This course provides in-depth understanding and hands on experience of using future climate scenarios from the UKCP09 and other international projections. The course can be tailored to specific sectors, and delegates may choose to specialise and attend:

• Days 1-3 Impacts and vulnerability - methodology, application of climate scenarios, natural environment, water resources, sea level rise
• Days 3-5 Adaptation - infrastructure, heat waves, urban drainage, sustainable cities

The course is organised around case studies of key cities or infrastructure. Delegates are encouraged to propose their own case studies or locations in advance. They will then be trained in how to generate and apply scenarios for assessments of vulnerability and impacts and the development of climate change adaptation plans.

The course outlines the main vulnerabilities, risks and likely impacts of climate change in a range of areas of the human, built and natural environments, and describes in detail, for a number of key areas, the assessment of impacts and engineering strategies for adaptation.

The course addresses the risks and likely impacts of climate change in the human, natural and built environments, covering key aspects such as water resources, flooding, sea level rise and coasts, health, transport, infrastructure and cities. Engineering strategies for adaptation are then described in detail, so the delegate will learn not just how climate change will impact society, but also how we can respond. The delegate will be well equipped to assess, propose and apply sustainable adaptation strategies in a range of key infrastructure and environmental settings.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, delegates will have an understanding of:

• the main societal and infrastructure vulnerabilities and risks of climate change;
• the linked nature of risks to society and necessity for integrated assessment and response;
• detailed technical knowledge of risks and engineering responses for key areas.

Delegates will also have gained the following skills:

• the ability to assess likely impact and vulnerability of systems (or infrastructure components) to climate change;
• the ability to select and specify sustainable response and adaptation strategies for critical engineering systems;
• the confidence and understanding to promote use of sustainable engineering approaches.

Course Outline

• Key Vulnerabilities and Risk and frameworks for assessment;
• Impacts and Adaptation: water resources;
• Impacts and Adaptation: flooding - fluvial and pluvial, sea level rise and coastal;
• Impacts and Adaptation: critical infrastructure;
• Impacts and Adaptation: food and agriculture, water-energy nexus;
• Impacts and Adaptation: heat, people and buildings
• Consolidation: Sustainable Cities - strategy, design and implementation.

Presenters

School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

• Prof Chris Kilsby (Course Leader)
• Dr Richard Dawson
• Mr Alistair Ford
• Prof Tom Wagner
• Dr Claire Walsh
• Dr Mark Wilkinson

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