Dumfries and Galloway Council hosted the fifth annual “Winter Day” on Monday 27th October entitled “Climate Change – Impacts & Implications”.
The main aim of the event was to raise awareness amongst Local Responders and Stakeholders within Dumfries & Galloway. In addition the workshop also gave a number of agencies an opportunity to outline any plans in place to deal with severe weather over the coming months.
The opening address was provided by Cllr John Martin, Vice Chair of Community & Customer Services Committee and the events keynote address was provided by Graeme Forrester of the Met Office. There were further contributions from Dumfries and Galloway Council, SEPA, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, and NHS Dumfries & Galloway.
Attendees included representatives from Police, Fire, Ambulance, NHS, Met Office, SEPA, Scottish Water, Scottish Power, DGHP, The Crichton Institute, Community representatives and staff from across the Council.
Feedback received after the event indicated a positive response to the proceedings and there were some key learning points gained from the day, including –
• Longer term impacts from the change in our climate which continue to have severe effects on our communities
• The possibility of new challenges associated with climate change including new strains of disease, heatwaves and increase in wildfires
Councillor John Martin, Vice-Chair of DGFirst Committee said “I was very pleased to see such a wide range of organisations and also community groups represented at the Monday’s workshop.
In the past 5 years Dumfries and Galloway has faced various extreme weather conditions including coastal flooding and heavy rainfall, significant snow events and severe wind. It is a council priority that we continue to protect the vulnerable in our region and extreme weather conditions pose a risk to us all. It is events like the workshop on Monday that help give our region one of the strongest reputations for responding to emergencies.
The Scottish Government, for example, recently announced plans to locate a new National Resilience Centre in Dumfries in Galloway. The work of the centre will focus on Natural Hazards, Community Resilience and Water Resilience. The decision to locate the facility in Dumfries is at least in part in recognition of the excellent work and the continual levels of achievement delivered by local agencies. The communities who have been at the forefront of the development of Community Resilience have also played a vital role in this decision.
To ensure that Dumfries and Galloway maintains its excellent record we all need to continue to work together to consider the implications of future weather events and climate change. We also need to continue to learn from our experiences over the coming winter, and to keep striving for improvement in how we prepare for and respond to weather events.”
