Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into ...

2.2.3 Resilience of a PP to a changing climateA number of recent studies on the vulnerability of the EU and specific sectors and territories to thechanging climate have shown that some of Europe’s infrastructure needs to be adjusted to be ableto respond to the changing climate. This represents a shift in thinking from the traditionalassessment of the effects of a PP on the environment alone, to one where the likely long-term risksassociated with climate change are taken into account. Insurance firms, for instance, are alreadyrecognising the value of this form of thinking and include such risks in their assessments of risks fromnatural hazards. SEAs can address these risks within a PP through the concept of resilience.Building resilience into a PP is increasingly recognised as key to creating an adaptive managementresponse to climate change. 7 In the context of SEAs, this means considering that a PP operateswithin an evolving environmental baseline — e.g. one that changes over time. The SEA thereforeneeds to understand the impacts of this changing baseline on the implementation of the PP and howit may respond over time. Adaptation should not be left until the end of the preparation of the PP —resilience needs to be built in from the very beginning as many are likely to experience a significantlychanging environment. The SEA process is particularly important in that it has the potential to setthe framework for projects — therefore properly building in potential climate change impacts intoSEAs has a huge potential to result in more resilient projects (supported by EIAs).2.2.4 Managing conflicts and potential synergies between climate change, biodiversityand other environmental issuesThere are considerable benefits, not to mention cost-effectiveness, of considering climate changemitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, and other environmental issues together. For example, itprovides the opportunity for win-wins when applying ecosystem-based approaches to climatemitigation and adaptation, and avoiding mitigation actions that have no adaptive capacity or thatreduce the resilience of other factors. One of the roles of SEAs is to seek to manage these conflictsand potential synergies.2.2.5 Ecosystem servicesThe ecosystem services provided by biodiversity also need to be considered when developing a PP.Biodiversity can provide a range of ecosystem services that potentially support the objectives of a PPand its implementation. For example, a plan promoting economic and social development could alsobenefit from the aesthetic and recreational services offered by biodiversity through the creation andprotection of green spaces and other natural areas associated with residential or commercialdevelopments. The long-term sustainability of the economic development may be reliant on theclimate change adaptation benefits provided by these natural areas, such as, cooling during hottemperature periods and/or the attenuation of flood water.2.3 Challenges to overcome in addressing climate change and biodiversityin SEAsA number of characteristics of climate change and biodiversity shape the way in which we need tolook at them in the context of a SEA:7 Resilience Alliance (2010) in Annex 1 gives examples of environmental limits relevant to climate change and biodiversity.<strong>Guidance</strong> on integrating climate change and biodiversity into SEA 17