Defra and the devolved administrations today announced details of a new £400,000 programme of research into the impacts of climate change on some key UK sectors.

Six research projects are being supported over the next two years under the "Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: Cross Regional Research Programme".

Four projects cover specific interests:

* planning, land use and the built environment
* business
* water resources
* countryside and the rural economy

These will investigate the impacts of climate change on particular aspects of these sectors, and will also consider potential adaptation responses. They will use local or regional case studies during the course of their research.

The other two are methodological in nature and will look at quantifying the costs of climate change impacts and at reviewing adaptation options and strategies.

The projects were formally announced today at a StartUp conference for contract winning researchers at the National Museum and Gallery of Wales in Cardiff. The decision to set up a more detailed research programme follows earlier scoping work on the impacts of climate change in the UK by regional partnerships and the devolved administrations working with the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP).

A pilot project, anticipating this new programme, is investigating the impact of climate change on tourism and recreation in North West England and has been underway for about six months.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said climate change scenarios indicated that the UK's climate will feature milder, wetter winters and hotter and probably drier summers. Extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall or very high temperatures, are more likely to occur more often, and sea levels will continue to rise.

Mr Morley added that while the UK was taking considerable action to limit carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions through its Climate Change Programme, it was also vital to prepare for the changes in climate that are already inevitable. Detailed, quantitative research into the impacts of climate change at regional levels in the UK would need to be the basis for this adaptation action.

"These research projects will provide a useful source of information for regional decision-makers, such as local authorities, tourist boards, water companies and landowners, of the likely impacts of climate change. They will add to the evidence base which is needed to design effective adaptation responses at a local and regional level."

The conference, which will include speakers from Defra, UKCIP and the NW England pilot project, will enable the winners of the six tendered projects to swap ideas and coordinate approaches for common aspects of the projects.

BACKGROUND

1) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires the UK to identify the impacts of climate change and consider possible adaptation measures. Work on this is being taken forward by the UK Government and the devolved administrations, and the UK's approach to the impacts of climate change is set out in a number of documents available at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange

2) The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) helps organisations assess how they might be affected by climate change, so that they can prepare for its impacts. Based at the University of Oxford, UKCIP was set up by the Government in 1997, and is funded by the Defra on behalf of the UK Government and the devolved administrations. The UKCIP website is at www.ukcip.org.uk

3) Details of the pilot project, investigating climate change and the visitor economy in NW England, which began in early 2004, can be found via the Sustainability Northwest website at www.snw.org.uk/

4) Details of the individual projects:

Project A - Planning , Land Use and the built environment

Awarded to: Land Use Consultants, in association with Oxford Brookes University, CAG Consultants and Gardiner and Theobald

This project will investigate adaptation responses to climate change for new development in housing growth areas. It will look at three detailed pilot studies, likely to be in Thames Gateway, Ashford (Kent) and Peterborough. More generic principles will be made widely applicable through the UK. This project has co-funding from members of the Three Regions Climate Change Group.

Project B - Business

Awarded to: Risk Solutions, supported by AEA Technology Environment, Future Energy Solutions and Metroeconomica

This project will look at the impact of climate change on business, and is likely to consider the rail and food retailing sectors specifically. It will also look at the likely effects of climate change on business over the next 20, 50 and 80 years. It will identify the range of incentives or barriers that could encourage or prevent businesses taking account of climate change.

Project C - Water

Awarded to: HR Wallingford in partnership with the Met Office and Risk and Policy Analysts Ltd

Development of practical guidance on how to manage water resources in the UK's changing climate is the key aim of this project. It will review the impacts of climate change and potential adaptation strategies based on case studies in SE England and NE England/Scotland), and will include an investigation of the 1976 drought and assessment of future patterns of drought under different climatic scenarios. It will be of relevance to water service providers, environmental regulators, power companies and water consumers.

Project D - Countryside and the Rural Economy

Awarded to: Land Use Consultants

Research will examine impacts of climate change on rural communities and economies and will also investigate local and regional vulnerability. Researchers will work closely with stakeholders and develop up to ten case studies covering a wide range of different landscape types, such as settled agricultural lowlands, upland areas, chalk downlands and low-lying coastal areas

Project E - Quantifying the costs of impacts and adaptation

Awarded to: Metroeconomica Ltd

This project will provide first estimates of sectoral costs of climate change impacts over a number of future time periods and under a range of climate change scenarios. Baselines both with and without a range of adaptation responses will be considered. It will develop a case study for the hot summer of 2003 in the UK as an example.

Project F - Adaptation options and strategies

Awarded to: The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, University of East Anglia

Identifying which adaptive activities are already being taken up by the public and private sector in responding to climate change will be one of the key issues in this project. It will compile an inventory of adaptation options and strategies at different scales in the UK, covering actions ranging from individual companies to sectors. It will also assess why these options and strategies are being drawn up and how they relate to other options