Scottish Government / Joseph Rowntree Foundation / Adaptation Scotland Conference

Climate Justice: Delivering socially just adaptation in Scotland

Building community resilience to extreme weather events

Ralph Throp, Head of Community Resilience Policy, Resilience Division, the Scottish Government

Aims and Objectives

Scottish Government Strategic Objectives:

Safer and stronger Greener Healthier Wealthier Smarter

Resilience Aim: “Scotland is as prepared as possible to deal with the

consequences of any national or local emergency…..”

“We live in a brittle society”

“Next generation resilience relies on citizens and communities, not the institutions of the state”

Edwards (2009)

Resilience in ScotlandUnderpinning principles:

•Worst-case scenarios are the benchmark•Public, private and voluntary sectors need to work together•Horizon scanning•Long-term view necessary•Consequences not causes – for anything, not everything

What is community resilience? “Communities and individuals harnessing

resources and expertise to help themselves prepare for, respond to and recover from

emergencies, in a way that complements the work of the emergency responders”

A challenge:

Every day in Scotland thousands of people need to attend hospital for life-saving treatment like dialysis. If severe weather caused a problem getting someone from their home to their hospital transport, could your community get together to help?

How concerned are the public?

How prepared do the public feel?

Who’s responsible for being prepared for emergencies?

What Can Government

Do?• Improve understanding of

risk• Increase awareness of

importance to act• Facilitate liaison &

development• Support new ideas &

approaches – pilots• Provide Guidance, advice

& support“Myth busting”• All to encourage behaviour

change • Work under way in all

these areas

Winter preparedness campaign and Ready Scotland web portal.

Encouraging integration of the voluntary sector with

responders. • Resilience Advisory Board (Voluntary

Sector) group – bringing together responders and the voluntary sector

• Twice yearly meetings – discussions at the heart of policy

• Summer seminar – updates, sharing good practice and joint exercising.

• Voluntary Emergency Responders Guide• Local good practice – Central SCG

Integrating resilience into the schools

curriculum

Guide to emergency planning for community groups

• A step by step guide to making a community emergency plan for community groups

• Where to go for help and advice

• Published on Ready Scotland

• Templates – not branded,can be used or adapted.

Myth busting: Will I be sued if I help someone and something

goes wrong?

Progress and future challenges

• Encouraging people to take more responsibility for themselves and their communities means that resources can be used more effectively.

• What do we know is working?

Raising public awareness of risk Focusing on assets Providing advice about the simple steps people can take – individually and

collectively Normalising resilience – sharing good practice Sharing knowledge of who does what Signposting to further advice Partnership’s critical – building capacity and using trusted voices.

But……

• The bigger challenge is how we improve the impact of all this activity, particularly in those communities and for those individuals who need it most…..

Thanks.