Climate change: Vulnerability, impacts and adaptation

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

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.