The city has a plan to improve its resilience to climate change launched just this week.

Edinburgh Adapts Launch Event, Holyrood Park, Thursday 1st December 2016: Roseanna Cunningham MSP (left, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform) with Cllr Lesley Hinds (Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership). Photography from: Colin Hattersley Photography - colinhattersley@btinternet.com - www.colinhattersley.com - 07974 957 388
Edinburgh Adapts Launch Event, Holyrood Park, Thursday 1st December 2016:
Roseanna Cunningham MSP (left, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform) with Cllr Lesley Hinds (Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership).
Photography : Colin Hattersley colinhattersley@btinternet.comwww.colinhattersley.com – 07974 957 388

The document called Edinburgh Adapts 2016-20 aims to prepare the city for any effects of climate change. It builds on the framework approved by the council in 2014 and will ensure overall governance in the city to protect and enhance our wildlife and green spaces.

Measures such as green infrastructure and naturalising flood prevention when feasible are examples of the ways that the city will work to ward off the effects of our changing climate.

The Edinburgh Sustainable Partnership chaired by Councillor Lesley Hinds along with Adaptation Scotland have devised the plan which was unveiled at an event attended by the Minister for Climate Change Roseanna Cunningham MSP.

Climate Change Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “Tackling the effects of climate change is crucial as the challenges of increasingly unpredictable weather and extreme conditions are only likely to increase if we don’t take action now.

“That’s why I’m delighted to welcome Edinburgh’s first Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan which is ambitious but achievable with the medium to long-term vision of Edinburgh Adapts telling the story of Edinburgh’s adaptation journey to 2050. It provides us with an illustration of what we could do to make us more resilient to the impacts of climate change when public and private stakeholders, the third sector and community groups work together.

“Scotland has set an example to the world by exceeding its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets six years early, but we cannot be complacent and must work with a wide range of partners to build on the strong progress we have made and be ready to deal with the impacts of climate change we know are coming.”

Edinburgh Adapts Launch Event, Holyrood Park, Thursday 1st December 2016: Edinburgh Adapts steering group with Roseanna Cunningham MSP (centre left, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform) with Cllr Lesley Hinds (centre right, Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership). Photography from: Colin Hattersley Photography - colinhattersley@btinternet.com - www.colinhattersley.com - 07974 957 388

Councillor Lesley Hinds said: “While we’re making every effort to address the causes of climate change, we can’t avoid the fact that its impacts are already affecting us.”

“By working with partners to produce Edinburgh Adapts, we are able to better understand the effects a changing climate will have, enabling us to become both a resilient city and a greener, safer and healthier place to live.”

The progress of the plans will be overseen by a variety of representatives including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage.

Find out more about Edinburgh Adapts here.

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.