Find out if your area has a community ‘emergency’ or ‘resilience’ plan and familiarise yourself with

it. The plan will have information about the skills and resources available in your neighbourhood. If there is no plan, find out how to write one with your community www.dorsetforyou.com/391857 or www.devon.gov.uk/emergency_planning-community_planning.htm.

As sea levels rise, it is increasingly unlikely that sufficient funds will be available to defend many of the places defended today. This will leave us with decisions to make about where to defend and where to consider other options.

LiCCo Project

A partnership project helping coastal communities to better understand, prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change, sea level rise and erosion on the natural and human environment.

Want to know more?Go to www.licco.eu where you can contact the LiCCo team.

How resilient is your community?

You have the power to act:

We can help slow down climate change by cutting the amount of carbon dioxide we produce. Use the http://carboncalculator.direct.gov.uk to see how you can reduce the amount of energy you use at home and when you travel.

Landslide drop-in event © Elli MacDonald.

and when you travel.

Swanage beach before beachrecharge © Jon Deare.

What does the future hold?

The ‘Living with a Changing Coast’ (LiCCo) project is working to empower local people to identify how their coast might change and what that change might mean. By understanding and planning for change now we can take action to ensure that our coastlines and communities can adapt to change and continue to thrive in the future.

Find our project outputs at www.licco.eu and start engaging with your community on coastal change.

Products include:

• Coastal change community engagement toolkit.

• Changing Coasts animation.

• LiCCo primary, secondary and A-level learning and teaching programme.

• A householders’ guide to coastal change.

• Tourism business guide to coastal change.

Above: Coastal change boat tour for local business owners ©Elli MacDonald.

01/15 Printed on 100% recycled paper

Living with a changing CoastEngaging communities in planning for coastal change

The Living with a Changing Coast project is working with coastal communities impacted

by coastal erosion and sea level rise in Poole Harbour, the Exe Estuary and Normandy, France.

The Channel coast has always been subject to erosion and change - so why this project and why now?

• The winter storms of 2013/14 caused decades worth of damage forcing us to make decisions and changes almost overnight.

• A warming climate and rising sea level will exacerbate patterns of erosion, flooding and storminess.

• With limited government funding available, building large coastal defences is not always possible or sustainable.

Future forecast for the south-west:

• Sea levels will rise by approximately 30-40cm by 2060 and by 1 metre over the next 100 years.

• Rainfall patterns will change - with less rain during summer, but more intense downpours when it does rain.

• More very hot days and heatwaves.

(UKCP09 projections)

Above: Dawlish Warren aerial view 2013 ©Environment Agency.

Left: Chesil Beach near Weymouth, Dorset on the 5th of February 2014 ©Richard Broome.

Below: Storm damaged groyne at Dawlish Warren ©Environment Agency.

Tomorrow’s sea

Above: Where might fish be swimming in the future?Tomorrow’s sea art installation ©Mike Fletcher.

We all have a role toplay as the impacts will

affect everyone.

Coastal adaptation -not just surviving but thriving:

Are you at risk?

Check if you live in an area at risk of flooding or coastal erosion - see the Environment Agency’s flood and erosion risk maps at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency.

Is your family prepared?

• If your home is at risk of flooding you can make a flood plan www.gov.uk/government/ publications/personal-flood-plan.

• See the Home Owners Guide to Flood Resilience for information about how you can prepare your home: www.knowyourfloodrisk.co.uk/sites/default/ files/FloodGuide_ForHomeowners.pdf.

Front cover: Exmouth high tide 2014 ©David Weatherly.

• For useful guides on preparing for extreme winter and summer weather, see: www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/get-readyfor winter. www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/heat-wave.