'We just need a really good drought’ – The difficulty of adaptation in the context of extremes by Alison Browne, 3 October 2013

Governance Team Visits Somerset

Ulf Stein (Ecologic), Cheryl De Boer (University of Twente), Isabelle Lajeunesse (University of Tour) and myself Alison Browne (University of Manchester) took part in a visit to Somerset from Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd October as part of the DROP governance team first round visits to all 6 of the case study regions. The sessions were convened by myself and Steven Dury who is our DROP project practice partner at Somerset County Council. This visit was then followed by the second Transnational Coordination Meeting in Taunton with representatives from the entire academic and practice partners involved with the DROP project.

Talking with Multiple Stakeholders Involved in Water Governance

As part of the governance team visits we talked to a wide range of stakeholders involved in the management of drought, dryness and water scarcity in the region. This included the County District Councils, Wessex Water, the Environment Agency, SDBC (Somerset Drainage Board Consortium), RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), Somerset Wildlife Trust, Natural England, FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group), and a number of local farmers.

Somerset has a complex historical, social, agricultural and environmental landscape. It contains a large extent of land in important ecological European protected sites (SPAs and SACs). These sites include several with freshwater dependent interest features that rely on surface water sources. The most notable where freshwater availability is an issue is the Somerset Levels and Moors SPA/Ramsar site. A surprise for many of my European colleagues was that agriculture and nature exist side-by -side even in areas designated as protected ecological sites. In this context of multi-layered management of land and water resources, the coherence of the coordination of adaptation to drought and water scarcity is particularly important.

It really makes a difference to these governance team exchange meetings if we manage, where we can, to see the landscape and talk to people ‘in situ’ – particularly in such a complex social and environmental system such as the Somerset Levels and Moors!

As such, one highlight was our visit to the Willows and Wetlands Centre – an important and historical industry in the Levels. Another was the tour of the artisan ‘Somerset Cider Brandy Company’ farm with the incredibly entertaining Julian Temperley, given context relevant to climate change by a joint report by UKCIP (UK Climate Impacts Program) and the National Association of Cider Makers.

Governing Drought and Water Scarcity in the Context of Extremes

One of the most significant reflections I have had following this visit to Somerset is how to plan for drought and water scarcity in the context of climatic variability and experiences of extremes. I believe this is particularly an issue for countries across North West Europe, and areas such as Somerset which have historically and characteristically had more enduring and visible problems with flooding than drought.

Adapting to drought and water scarcity in the context of extremes is significantly important. From 2010 to 2012 a drought spread across the UK, and extended into the south west region of which Somerset is a part. This regional designation of drought indicated a particularly strong impact for agriculture and nature, although drinking water supply was not affected in all of these regions. However the drought in 2012 quickly turned into the second wettest year since records began according to the UK Met Office! This caused widespread flooding and a number of associated problems across the Somerset region. Fast forward to summer 2013 and the driest and sunniest summer for 5 years (since 2006) was experienced, with many stakeholders noting this dryness causing ‘crunchy’ and parched features in the higher agricultural ground during the summer. As I am writing this, the south of the UK is being hit by one of the biggest storms it has experienced since the ‘Great Storm of 1987’, and a wide range of flood warnings are in place across the country.

Flood, drought, flood, dryness and crunchy land, great storms and flood warnings! Apart from giving this blog entry a touch of the apocalyptic and dramatic, the question of how to govern for drought in the context of such extremes is particularly difficult. What it involves is a truly committed approach to adaptation across the widest possible range of stakeholders at a regional and national level, and a coordinated set of strategies.

In Summary….

Part of the point of the governance team visits is to do an ‘assessment’ of the regional context in relation to the governance of drought and water scarcity. Therefore, each of our regional cases will highlight where there is room for improvement and need for coordination of the different social, economic, agricultural and environmental agendas to support drought adaptation. However, it was evident from this visit that there are a significant number of policies, tools and instruments in place related to planning for drought adaptation for agriculture, nature and drinking water in and around Somerset. These tools and instruments all form a strong foundation for the consideration of future drought and water scarcity adaptation in the region, and beyond.

Many of our stakeholders joked that what we need to get drought truly on the local and national political agenda is ‘a really good drought’, not a drought period followed by the second wettest summer on record! However, this very British tongue-in-cheek response underplays the wide ranging activities occurring from the farmer level right up to national UK policy level which will assist the region to adapt before crisis. In the coming months there will be many lessons to draw out from the Somerset case study to assist the governance team in identifying a range of possible pathways for better governance of drought and water scarcity across the North West European regions.

This post originally appeared on the DROP project

2013