Climate change is a reality. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has provided a mount of new and convincing evidence that human influence on climate is undeniable and should be regarded as a factor of major importance. We recognize remaining uncertainties and gaps in our understanding of the functioning of the climate system – now and in the future. But even then, the basic understanding about the influence of human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land use changes on our climate is well established and can hardly be disputed. Climate change does not only mean a long term gradual change of global mean temperature or precipitation fields. In fact climate change seems to be occurring faster than climate researchers expected some years ago. In response to these developments, the climate science community and policy makers are currently converging at a concept of combining mitigation efforts with climate adaptation measures and strategies.
In 2004, a unique and ambitious research programme started in The Netherlands, called
“Climate changes Spatial Planning”. A budget of 80 million Euro has been made available, jointly by government and stakeholders on a 50/50 basis.
The programme is implemented by a consortium of internationally recognized Netherlands scientific institutions, together with more than 50 public and private stakeholders. It includes basic research to improve climate models and climate scenarios, as well as strategies for adaptation and land use related mitigation. The five themes of the
programme are: climate scenario’s; (land use related) mitigation; adaptation; integration and communication. Many disciplines cooperate in multidisciplinary projects, as well as in disciplinary, integrative projects.
CcSP introduced the concept of “climate proofing” and it has successfully triggered a nation-wide debate on climate adaptation. This debate has led to the development of a national wide policy plan on climate adaptation and additional funding for a more design oriented research Programme on adaptation and planning, to start in 2008.
Worldwide, the climate change debate has accelerated over the last 12 months, after the release of the latest IPCC report, and by attention drawn to climate change by the activities of Al Gore, Stern and others. In this setting we may conclude that CcSP is very timely, as we are ready to present our first empirical results at this international conference. The research programme has created many bridges between a range of research institutes and a wide variety of stakeholders.
The two day conference will be held on September 12 – 13, 2007 in The Hague, The Netherlands. This conference will contribute to the current European and international science and policy debate on adaptation to climate change and will draw the intermediate balance sheet of the Programme.
On the second day of the conference, project leaders and project consortia will present their interim results. An extended poster session will be organized during both days, where specific issues of the projects will further be highlighted, including the work in progress of more than 50 PhD students and a range of communication projects. A miniexposition of climate proofing solutions and technologies is also under preparation
All sessions on both conference days are fully open for attendance by all interested participants.