# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The opening of the Arctic shipping route due to ice melt will make it easier and cheaper to transport goods and some species of fish, like plaice and sole, should become more abundant around the UK.

"Hotter summers and warmer year-round temperatures may make the UK a more attractive for foreign and domestic holiday makers. In particular, the UK could be well placed to attract visitors deterred by the uncomfortably high temperatures in southern Europe projected to result from climate change," read the report.

The Climate Risk Assessment Report sets out the 100 greatest risks for the UK over the next century due to rising temperatures predicted by the Met Office.

Flooding, that currently causes £1.3 billion worth of damage every year, is expected to become a massive problem, costing £12 billion per year not including surface flooding.

The impact will also be felt on health with the number of people killed by floods increasing from 18 today to up to 52 by the 2050s and the number of people affected mentally rising from up to 7,000 to 11,500.

At the same time a lack of water will also be a problem. In the South East and Anglia, where there is already currently a drought, most people will be considered to be living under "water stress" meaning water meters will have to be introduced and there may be restrictions imposed.

Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, pointed out that the floods in 2007 cost £3 billion in England alone.

She warned that failure to prepare for further disasters will cost even more unless preparations are made now.

"This world class research provides the most comprehensive case yet on why we need to take action to adapt the UK and our economy to the impacts of climate change," she said."It shows what life would be like if we stopped our preparations now, and the consequences such a decision would mean for our economic stability."

Sir Bob Watson, Defra's chief scientist admitted it was a "mixed bag" for the UK.

Although tens of thousands of people in Britain may be saved by more warm winters there will still be cold snaps.

He also pointed out that other problems will emerge because of the effect of climate change on other parts of the world. For example food prices are expected to go up because of droughts in the main agricultural areas, water shortages could cause more conflict and millions of people will become 'climate change refugees'.

"If we have a warmer world we should then in principle have the adverse effects of heat stress mortality but at the same time it should be off set by less people dying by winter," he said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate change will make UK new holiday destination

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The opening of the Arctic shipping route due to ice melt will make it easier and cheaper to transport goods and some species of fish, like plaice and sole, should become more abundant around the UK. "Hotter summers and warmer year-round temperatures may make the UK a more attractive for foreign and domestic holiday makers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
climate change climate adaptation sustainability global warming

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The United Kingdom in a changing climate. All about climate change, vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies for all European countries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
With rising temperatures and sea levels, The Maldives finds itself sinking - both economically and literally.

1) Everything Is Not Beachy
Rising sea levels caused by climate change pose varying risks to multiple companies, non-profits and organizations. But how should an organization address the challenges of climate change when they not only threaten business operations, but the very livelihood and even existence of an entire nation?
2) Nothing is Better, Down Where It's Deader, Under the Sea
The Maldives is currently facing such a situation. The archipelago nation consisting of nearly 1200 islands is surrounded by rising seas and temperatures that threaten the source of nearly 70% of the country's GDP - Tourism [1]. As the waters continue to creep towards shore, risking to swallow the nation completely, the nation's Ministry of Tourism looks to three primary threats to its economic livelihood:
3) Now Servicing Non-Stop Flights to Atlantis
With vast coastlines surrounded by the blue of the Indian Ocean, The Maldives is renowned for its beautiful beaches. Nearly 75% of tourism is driven by Beach Holidays [2], and almost all tourist accommodations are within 100 m of the coastline [7]. This draw for tourists is at risk though from rising sea levels and beach erosion. Over 97% of the inhabited islands reported beach erosion [2], and nearly half of the tourist resorts also reported erosion damage caused by increasingly higher water levels [5].
The Tourism Adaptation Project
Below the water's surface, The Maldives also attracts tourists with its rich biodiversity. With the seventh largest coral reef system globally [5], tourists flock to The Maldives for excellent snorkeling and diving. However, climate change is endangering this fragile natural resource. The living coral reefs are highly susceptible to the rising water temperatures, and the impact of climate change has been a phenomena called Coral Bleaching that destroys the once rich underwater environment [3]. Since coral reefs are the foundation of the aquatic ecosystem, all of The Maldives' biodiversity is threatened as the reefs slowly fall apart.

In addition to the natural resources at risk from climate change, the man-made infrastructure supporting the tourism industry also faces challenges from rising sea levels. With approximately 90% of resort infrastructure within 100 m of a coastline only 1.5 m above sea level [7][5], any increases in sea level threaten to significantly impair the nation overall. Furthermore, the tourism industry's most utilized point of entry, Male' International Airport, is particularly at risk with over 30% of its infrastructure within 50 m of the coast and only 1.1 m above sea level [2][7]. As the water continues to rise, the primary source of nearly all tourism could be completely cut off with any damages to Male' International Airport's infrastructure.

To ensure tourism and economic operations can continue in spite of climate changes, The Maldives Ministry of Tourism launched the Tourism Adaptation Project. This joint venture between public and private sectors seeks to mitigate the impacts of rising sea levels and temperatures through a myriad of operational enhancements and alterations.

Certain mitigation techniques are very short-term focused. One solution to the concerns around coastline erosion are to utilize beach nourishment techniques [11]. Popular among beachfront resorts, sediment and sand would be moved from different areas of the archipelago and pumped into eroded beaches, repairing eroded areas for a quick, albeit temporary fix. [4]
Is It Enough?
A more lasting solution involves the usage of organic solutions. On the erosion side, one such strategy is to plant vegetation such as mangroves around the coastline [7]. Studies have shown that the plants not only weaken waves caused by rising sea levels and weather, thereby decreasing erosion, but are also useful in improving biodiversity as well [8]. Utilizing organic solutions is also effective in addressing the risks to coral reefs. By planting either actual or artificial coral reefs, the aquatic ecosystem can be stabilized thus driving sustainability to biodiversity, and subsequently the snorkeling and diving industries. [6][10]

Finally, additional infrastructure can leave long-lasting safeguards to climate change. A common measure is to build seawalls to prevent damage to coastline and existing infrastructure [6]. Furthermore, Male' International Airport is undergoing additional runway development and coastal protections to help minimize the risks generated from rising sea levels. [9]

While the Ministry's Adaptation Project provides many defenses from the impacts of climate change, they are mostly short-term responses rather than actual lasting solutions. Safeguards can be introduced and emissions cut within the country, but the global problem of climate change will still threaten the nation. In order to ensure sustainability of tourism and The Maldives itself, the country has pushed for multilateral policy changes urging other nations to adopt climate change mitigation agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement [12]. Only by looking for a global solution to this shared problem can the natural beauty of The Maldives be preserved for generations of tourists to come.

[796 words]

References:

[1] Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, "2014 Investment Climate Statement - Maldives," http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/ics/2014/227151.htm, accessed November 2016.

[2] Ministry of Housing, Transport and Environment, "National Adaptation to Climate Change," http://www.ifrc.org/docs/IDRL/National%20Adaptation%20Programme%20(Climate%20change))/MALDIVES%20Adaptation%20to%20Climate%20Change.pdf, accessed November 2016.

[3] Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove. "Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world's coral reefs." Marine and freshwater research 50, no. 8 (1999): 839-866. Accessed November 2016.

[4] Shakeela, Aishath, and Susanne Becken. "Understanding tourism leaders' perceptions of risks from climate change: an assessment of policy-making processes in the Maldives using the social amplification of risk framework (SARF)." Journal of Sustainable Tourism 23, no. 1 (2015): 65-84. Accessed November 2016.

[5] Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water, "National Adaption Program of Action," http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/napa/mdv01.pdf, accessed November 2016.

[6] Heather Hosterman, Joel Smith, "Economic Cost and Benefits of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation to the Maldives Tourism Industry," 2015, Ministry of Tourism, http://www.tourism.gov.mv/downloads/publicaltions/Economic.pdf, accessed November 2016.

[7] Sovacool, Benjamin K. "Perceptions of climate change risks and resilient island planning in the Maldives." Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 17, no. 7 (2012): 731-752. Accessed November 2016.

[8] Duarte, Carlos M., Iñigo J. Losada, Iris E. Hendriks, Inés Mazarrasa, and Núria Marbà. "The role of coastal plant communities for climate change mitigation and adaptation." Nature Climate Change 3, no. 11 (2013): 961-968. Accessed November 2016.

[9] Ministry of Environment and Energy, "Maldives' Intended Nationally Determined Contribution," http://www4.unfccc.int/ndcregistry/PublishedDocuments/Maldives%20First/Maldives%20INDC.pdf, accessed November 2016.

[10] Clark, S., and A. J. Edwards. "An evaluation of artificial reef structures as tools for marine habitat rehabilitation in the Maldives." Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 9, no. 1 (1999): 5-21. Accessed November 2016.

[11] Sovacool, Benjamin K. "Hard and soft paths for climate change adaptation." Climate Policy 11, no. 4 (2011): 1177-1183. Accessed November 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/jun/10/climate-scientists-have-warned-us-of-coral-bleaching-for-years-its-here https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/current-coral-bleaching-event-longest-known http://www.arkipal.org/tag/energy/ https://maldivesfinest.com/seaplane-accident https://www.flickr.com/photos/shoken/3051775619 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221021/Maldives-underwater-cabinet-meeting-held-highlight-impact-climate-change.html http://expatoftheworld.com/live-country-thats-sinking-island-president-tackling-climate-change-maldives/
[12] Chris Mooney, Joby Warrick, "How tiny islands drove huge ambition at the Paris climate talks," The Washington Post, December 12, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/11/how-tiny-islands-drove-huge-ambition-at-the-paris-climate-talks/, accessed November 2016.

Image References:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
That Sinking Feeling - How the Ministry of Tourism in The Maldives Addresses Climate Change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With rising temperatures and sea levels, The Maldives finds itself sinking - both economically and literally. 1) Everything Is Not Beachy Rising sea levels caused by climate change pose varying risks to multiple companies, non-profits and organizations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Creeping seas threaten tiny island chain of Maldives

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this Worldfocus signature story, we take another look at the drastic consequences of climate change. The Maldives, an island chain off the southwest coast of India, find themselves being consumed by rising sea levels. For a look at how the Maldives are trying to deal with the problem, Worldfocus producer Megan Thompson traveled there recently.

# data[].attributes.headline
Impact of Climate chage on great barrier reef and tourism

# data[].attributes.subject
Impact of Climate chage on great barrier reef and tourism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate Change effects on natural hazards and tourism in the Alps

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information about the risks and challenges faced by people living in the Alps.

# data[].attributes.headline
Video about impact of Climate change on small islands

# data[].attributes.subject
Video about impact of Climate change on small islands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thanks to rising temperatures and poor farming practices, smallholder coffee farmers working on the slopes of Mount Elgon in south-east Uganda have seen their yields fall. Now a public-private partnership is teaching farmers better soil-management and how to adapt to climate change in order to safeguard their livelihoods

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
improving nutrition and food security - global development professionals network

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate-smart coffee farming in Uganda - video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thanks to rising temperatures and poor farming practices, smallholder coffee farmers working on the slopes of Mount Elgon in south-east Uganda have seen their yields fall. Now a public-private partnership is teaching farmers better soil-management and how to adapt to climate change in order to safeguard their livelihoods

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
years of living dangerously: the uprooted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New York Times reporter Tom Friedman talks to the Minister of Environment in Dirkou, Niger about the extreme effects of climate change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate change could drive 122m more people into extreme poverty by 2030

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
UN report warns that without measures to halt and reverse climate change, food production could become impossible in large areas of the world

# data[].attributes.body
Example used on sheet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Food is one of society's key sensitivities to climate. A year of not enough or too much rainfall, a hot spell or cold snap at the wrong time, or extremes, like flooding and storms, can have a significant effect on local crop yields and livestock production. While modern farming technologies and techniques have helped to reduce this vulnerability and boost production, the impact of recent droughts in the USA, China and Russia on global cereal production highlight a glaring potential future vulnerability.

There is some evidence that climate change is already having a measurable affect on the quality and quantity of food produced globally. But this is small when compared with the significant increase in global food production that has been achieved over the past few decades. Isolating the influence of climatic change from all the other trends is difficult, but one recent Stanford University study found that increases in global production of maize and wheat since 1980 would have been about 5% higher were it not for climate change.

All else being equal, rising carbon dioxide concentrations - the main driver of climate change - could increase production of some crops, such as rice, soybean and wheat. However, the changing climate would affect the length and quality of the growing season and farmers could experience increasing damage to their crops, caused by a rising intensity of droughts, flooding or fires.

The latest IPCC report predicted improving conditions for food production in the mid to high latitudes over the next few decades, including in the northern USA, Canada, northern Europe and Russia. Conversely, parts of the subtropics, such as the Mediterranean region and parts of Australia, and the low latitudes, could experience declining conditions. For example, across Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture could decline by as much as 50% by 2020. Beyond this, if global temperatures rise by more than about 1-3°C, declining conditions could be experienced over a much larger area.

The future course of global food production will depend on how well societies can adapt to such climatic changes, as well as the influence of other pressures, such as the competition for land from biofuel production. The IPCC concluded that in the poorer, low-latitude countries, climate change could seriously challenge the capacity to adapt for a warming of more than 3°C. The richer, higher latitude countries are likely to have a greater capacity to adapt and exploit changing climatic conditions.

But we can't ignore the potential for "surprises" down the line. There are many uncertainties in such predictions. The world has not seen such changes in climate for millennia, and so it is impossible to know how our agricultural systems will react in the real world. For example, the complex interlinkages with the impacts of climate change on pests, diseases and pollinators, like bees, are largely unknown. Also, climate models have difficulty in accurately predicting the detailed local environmental changes that are important for food production, particularly weather extremes.

A looming vulnerability is the world's fisheries, which provide an important source of protein for at least half the world's population. Fisheries are already stressed by overexploitation and pollution. Warming surface waters in the oceans, rivers and lakes, as well as sea level rise and melting ice, will adversely affect many fish species. Some marine fish species are already adapting by migrating to the high latitudes, but others, such as Arctic and freshwater species, have nowhere to go. The absorption of carbon dioxide emissions by the oceans also has a direct impact on marine ecosystems through ocean acidification.

But what does this mean for food security - the price and availability of food for the world's seven billion people? A 2011 Foresight report concluded that climate change is a relatively small factor here, at least in the short term, when compared with the rapid increases in global food demand expected in the next decade. On current projections, by 2050 there will be between one and three billion additional mouths to feed. As people become wealthier, they also demand more food and disproportionally more meat, which requires far more land and water resources per calorie consumed. When these factors are combined, it points toward a future of increasing and more volatile food prices.

As was seen during the 2007-08 food price spikes, the poorest countries and communities will be hit first and hardest. The Foresight report concluded that international policy has an important role to play here - today, despite plentiful supplies of food globally, almost one billion people are undernourished.

Finally, food production itself is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, as well as a cause of environmental degradation in many parts of the world. Agriculture contributes about 15% of all emissions, on a par with transport. When land conversion and the wider food system are taken into account the total contribution of food may be as high as 30%. This means that to limit the long-run impacts of climate change, food production must become not only more resilient to climate but also more sustainable and low-carbon itself.
* This article was written by Nicola Ranger of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE in collaboration with the Guardian
The ultimate climate change FAQ

* This answer last updated: 10.07.12
* Read about the project and suggest a question
* Report an error in this answer

Related questions
* What is the economic cost of climate change?
* What is the Stern review?
* Which nations are most responsible for climate change?

This editorial is free to reproduce under Creative Commons

This post by The Guardian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Based on a work at theguardian.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How will climate change affect food production?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Food is one of society's key sensitivities to climate. A year of not enough or too much rainfall, a hot spell or cold snap at the wrong time, or extremes, like flooding and storms, can have a significant effect on local crop yields and livestock production.