Adapting Environment Agency Incident Response for Climate Resilience

调整环境局事件响应以增强气候适应能力

• 批准号: NE/V01028X/1
• 负责人: Elizabeth Lewis
• 金额: $ 6.49万
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FV01028X%2F1
• 关键词: Adapting; Environment; Agency; Incident; Response

The Environment Agency (EA) is a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act, which means that the EA must assess risk, plan and act on flood and drought emergencies. There is concern that climate change could alter the pattern and frequency of incidents (currently ~80 major incidents each year) and the EA needs to better understand how its capacity to respond may be affected. While incident records are kept locally, there is limited national strategic understanding of the current size, frequency and pattern of incident response or how this is likely to change in the future. Through this project we aim to understand the current and future flood and drought incident response demands on the EA. This evidence will inform strategic planning and operational incident response models. In 2020 the EA will establish small core incident response teams for the first time but will still rely on staff volunteers setting aside their day jobs during incidents. Better understanding of future demands could change the way the EA operates, building resilience across its remit but also affecting how it works with other national organisations in supporting England during floods and droughts. The work will be undertaken in four work packages that will result in deliverables of broader use to the climate resilience community (Lead Local Flood Authorities, DEFRA, water companies, academics). These deliverables are 1) a climate resilient incident response synthesis report to inform strategic thinking, 2) national statistics of incident response 3) a set of regional hydrological indices/thresholds that trigger incident response and 4) projections of future flood and drought incident response frequencies.

根据《民事应急法案》，美国环境署（EA）是一级应急机构，这意味着该机构必须评估风险，计划并采取行动应对洪水和干旱紧急情况。人们担心气候变化可能会改变事件的模式和频率（目前每年约80起重大事件），环境署需要更好地了解其应对能力可能受到的影响。虽然事件记录保存在当地，但对于事件响应的当前规模、频率和模式，以及未来可能发生的变化，国家战略认识有限。通过这个项目，我们的目标是了解EA当前和未来的洪水和干旱事件响应需求。这些证据将为战略规划和操作事件响应模型提供信息。2020年，EA将首次建立小型核心事件响应团队，但仍将依靠员工志愿者在事件发生期间搁置日常工作。更好地了解未来的需求可能会改变EA的运作方式，在其职权范围内建立弹性，但也会影响它如何与其他国家组织合作，在洪水和干旱期间支持英格兰。这项工作将分为四个工作包进行，这些工作包将产生更广泛使用的可交付成果，以适应气候变化的社区（领导当地洪水管理局、DEFRA、水务公司、学术界）。这些成果包括：1)一份具有气候适应性的事件响应综合报告，为战略思考提供信息；2)事件响应的国家统计数据；3)一套触发事件响应的区域水文指数/阈值；4)对未来洪涝和干旱事件响应频率的预测。