Saturday, January 28, 2012

Nairn Climate Challenge Panel follow-up

In October 2010 the Gurn reported on the Climate Change Panel that SNH held in the town to gauge the community's reaction to the perceived changes that are coming our way. Here's how the Gurn saw the meetings held by the Panel.

Drier summers and wetter winters was the mantra back then and if this observer remembers correctly it then proceeded to rain for most of the summer of 2011. Now the BBC reports on a follow up to that consultation that was held in Nairn.

"Communities could be encouraged to make their own assessments of the direct benefits they get from nature.
A toolkit has been developed as a guide to understanding the landscape and what are called ecosystem services and how they are affected by climate change.
"Services" include natural processes that provide food and fuel, purify air, enrich soils and prevent floods.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Highland Council plan to run pilots in the Highlands using the toolkit.
The move follows two years of research work which involved communities in Nairn and Dumfries and Galloway and examined their attitudes to climate change." Full article.

This observer is in no doubt that there are changes underway in the climate and ecosystems that support us but wonders how any toolkit project would be received in Nairn - out of the reactions received on the Gurn in the past when climate change has been debated, there have been several responses from people that do not believe it is happening. Maybe there will be a drier summer this year?


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