Scotland's climate is already changing and will continue to change for many years to come.
Over the coming decades, changes in our climate will affect everyone's lives and livelihoods. Some parts of Scotland are already feeling the consequences. For example, the increased occurrence of droughts in the Western Isles during late spring is impacting on agriculture, as well as food and drink producers.
The Scottish Government recognises that the most significant way to address climate change is to seek global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But however much emissions reduce, Scotland's climate will continue to change for many decades to come. Climate projections show that we can expect warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. Extreme weather is likely to become more variable and more frequent, leading to greater risk of both droughts and floods.
It is vital to plan for the changes to our climate - there will be new opportunities which we can benefit from and negative impacts to overcome. Without informed planning, adaptation is likely to occur spontaneously. However, spontaneous adaptation tends to be more reactive and risks delivering poorer outcomes.
The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), published on 25 January 2012, is the first assessment of current and predicted impacts of climate change for the UK under section 56 of the Climate Change Act 2008. This assessment was produced by HR Wallingford on behalf of Defra and draws together evidence and analysis on the threats and opportunities presented by the changing climate. The CCRA consists of a number of reports, including 'a Climate Change Risk Assessment for Scotland' (PDF 6.1MB). A summary of the assessment for Scotland (PDF 720KB) is also available.
Following publication of the CCRA, section 53 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to develop a Scottish Adaptation Programme which addresses the risks identified for Scotland in the CCRA and work on this is now underway.
In the meantime, the Climate Change Adaptation Framework and the accompanying Sector Action Plans continue to build resilience and capacity to adapt to climate changes.
Free advice, support and information to help organisations and communities adapt to the changing climate is available through Adaptation Scotland.