Whose role is it to act on climate resilience?: Implementing Yorkshire's Climate Action Plan with Leeds City Council

关于气候变化的讨论仍然大多集中在如何减少或减轻二氧化碳排放的问题上。然而，同样关键的是，由于历史和当前的全球排放，英国必须适应已经不可避免的气候变化。需要建立对这些影响的集体复原力，但这方面的行动迄今进展缓慢。这一拖延的原因之一是，对于谁应该发挥带头作用，仍然缺乏明确性。例如，在利兹市议会的案例中，目前还没有任何部门指定负责应对气候变化。洪水风险管理似乎是最合适的，但该办公室的职权范围从来没有用这些术语来框定。那么，对于他们来说，作为利兹联的韧性冠军意味着什么？为了解决这个问题，拟议的研究试图从这个具体的案例研究中推断出更广泛的教训。从2021年11月开始，研究人员将在利兹的洪水风险管理办公室工作一年。这一安排将在纽约和亨伯气候委员会(英国第一个区域气候委员会，得到约克郡所有22个地方当局的支持)准备的气候行动计划公布后不久开始。行动计划将包含在该地区发展气候适应能力的雄心勃勃的建议。利用这些作为讨论的催化剂，研究人员将让洪水风险团队参与一系列参与性的研究对话。为了让这个团队更直接地应对气候变化，需要做出哪些改变？这一挑战可能会如何影响他们现有的职责和专业网络？哪些新的公众参与战略可能变得必要，工作人员在多大程度上感到对这种变化做好了准备？通过研究过程，申请者将建立对洪水风险小组目前运作的日常工作、驱动因素和决策环境的细致入微的了解，从而了解适应复原力议程所涉及的问题和障碍。申请人是否适合担任这一研究角色，是通过他之前与西约克郡洪水风险专业人员的接触而确定的。他作为戏剧和戏剧研究人员的背景使他在促进即兴小组工作方面具有相关的技能和经验，在这种工作中，所有参与者的观点和经验都得到了倾听和回应。因此，他可以支持与会者确定共同关注的问题、潜在的冲突和创造性的解决方案。预计协作进程可能会导致举办角色扮演讲习班，工作人员可以在其中排练强调气候适应能力可能需要发挥的更积极的公共参与作用。将与选定的社区团体进行关于复原力的试点参与倡议，为未来的协作工作制定可能的模式。这一案例研究过程的结果和建议将分发给青年会气候委员会内的其他合作伙伴。因此，这项研究将有可能为未来区域一级的决策过程提供信息--或许还会在全国范围内提供信息。最后，研究过程的“故事”将为研究人员撰写和展示的舞台表演提供基础。这一公共产出将使用个人叙述作为一种可接触和有趣的手段，以提高人们对气候适应能力挑战的认识，并让观众参与对话。

Discussions of climate change still mostly tend to focus on the question of how to reduce or mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. Yet just as crucially, the UK must adapt to changes in the climate that are already inevitable, thanks to historical and current global emissions. Collective resilience to these impacts needs to be built up, but action in this area has to date been slow. One reason for this delay is that there remains a lack of clarity about whose role it is to take a lead. In the case of Leeds City Council, for example, no department currently has designated responsibility for climate resilience. Flood Risk Management appears to be the closest fit, but the remit of that office has never been framed in these terms. So what would it mean for them to take on a role as resilience champions for Leeds? In addressing that question, the proposed research seeks to extrapolate wider lessons from this specific case study.The researcher would be embedded within Leeds' Flood Risk Management office for a year from November 2021. The placement would begin shortly after publication of the Climate Action Plan prepared by the new Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission (the UK's first, region-wide climate commission, which has the support of all 22 local authorities in Yorkshire). The Action Plan will contain ambitious proposals for developing climate resilience in the region. Using these as a catalyst for discussion, the researcher will engage the Flood Risk team in a series of participatory research conversations. What would need to change in order for this team to address climate resilience more directly? How might this challenge affect their existing responsibilities and professional networks? What new public engagement strategies might become necessary, and to what extent do staff feel prepared for such changes? Through the research process, the applicant will establish a nuanced understanding of the day-to-day working, drivers, and decision-making contexts in which the Flood Risk team currently operate, and thus of the issues and obstacles involved in adapting to the resilience agenda. The applicant's suitability for this research role has been established through his previous engagements with flood risk professionals in West Yorkshire. His background as a researcher in drama and theatre gives him relevant skills and experience in facilitating improvisatory group work, in which the perspectives and experience of all participants are heard and responded to. He can thus support participants in identifying shared concerns, potential conflicts, and creative solutions. It is anticipated that the collaborative process may lead to the development of role-playing workshops in which staff can rehearse the more active public engagement roles that an emphasis on climate resilience is likely to entail. Pilot engagement initiatives on resilience will be pursued with selected community groups, to develop possible models for future collaborative working. Findings and recommendations from this case-study process will be disseminated to other partners within the Y&H Climate Commission. The research will thus have the potential to inform future decision-making processes at a regional level-and perhaps beyond that, nationally. Finally, the "story" of the research process will provide the basis for a tourable stage performance, written and presented by the researcher. This public output will use personal narratives as an accessible and entertaining means to raise awareness of, and to engage audiences in dialogue about, the challenges of climate resilience.