Create a Dorset Climate Ready Partnership

Dorset should create a Climate Ready Partnership to bring together communities, companies and local government from across the county to devise and implement ways of making us more resilient to the growing impacts of climate change.

The Partnership, which would learn from the existing London Climate Ready Partnership, would meet regularly so that partners can share ideas and information, and disucss how to coordinate action to deliver  a climate change adaptation and resilience strategy for Dorset.

The Partnerhsip could also engage with other intiiatives around the country, and with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to learn from action taken elsewhere.

Dorset is exposed and vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change. It is experiencing heavier rainfall, leading to flooding in its urban and rural areas, rising sea levels that are causing coastal floods and increasing coastal erosion, and more frequent and intense heatwaves that harm health and productivity in overheating homes and offices, and harm crops and livestock. These impacts will continue to grow for at least the nesxt 25 years until the world achieves net zero emisisons of greenhouse gases. If Dorset does not adapt to these impacts, if will cause increasing suffering throughout the county, undermining its economy and harming the well-being of its people. National and local government must play a leading role in adapting Dorset and the rest of the UK to these impacts, but households and businesses must also play their part, both in making collective decisions and through individual actions. A Dorset Climate Ready Partnership could help to convene and coordinate efforts.