On 24 June, the Minister for Climate Change announced a major consultation to ensure Scotland is prepared for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. The consultation will inform the forthcoming Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Framework.

Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing Scotland and the world today. While it is vital that we reduce the amount of climate change emission we produce, we also need to ensure we adapt to the impacts of the unavoidable change. Due to past and present emissions, our climate will continue to change for at least the next 30 to 40 years. We cannot prevent this change - but we can adapt.

Scotland and its communities are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate. Over the last few decades, temperatures have risen in every season and in all parts of Scotland and extreme weather events have increased significantly, especially in the winter months.

This consultation is about providing leadership and guidance through the development of an overarching, strategic approach to climate change adaptation. The forthcoming Climate Change Adaptation Framework will allow us to work better with local government, the private and public sectors to build Scotland's resilience by managing for the risks and capitalising on the opportunities that climate change brings.

A consultation to help to shape this forthcoming Framework has been launched and responses are invited from across all sectors and parts of Scotland. To view the consultation document Adapting our Ways: Managing Scotland's Climate Risk and to access the online consultation questionnaire template, please visit: www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechangeadaptation

The consultation will close on Friday 31 October 2008. (Please note that late responses cannot be included in the consultation analysis.) We would be grateful if you would use the online consultation questionnaire template provided as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

Sustainable Climate Adaptation

The impacts of a changing climate will affect everyone living and working in Scotland and present significant challenges. Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Framework will seek to develop guidance for decision-makers to ensure that Scotland takes a sustainable approach to climate adaptation - one that builds the resilience of our communities and the long-term prosperity of our environment and our economy.

This consultation proposes the following strategic principles and priority actions to underpin a sustainable approach to climate adaptation in Scotland.

Strategic principles for sustainable climate adaptation are:

• Adaptation should be through actions that build resilience
• Adaptation should be continuous and responsive to new information
• Adaptation should be integrated into normal development and implementation practices
• Adaptation should be integrated at an appropriate scale and involve relevant levels of decision making
• Adaptation must be addressed alongside actions to reduce emissions
• Adaptation by one sector should not restrict adaptation by other sectors

Strategic priority actions for sustainable climate adaptation are:

• Where possible, act now
• Provide leadership and co-ordination
• Build adaptive capacity
• Reduce and manage uncertainty
• Educate the public and other sectors on the nature of climate risks and how it can be managed

For further information about this consultation or to view the questionnaire template, please visit: www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechangeadaptation

For further information about how will climate change affect Scotland, visit: www.sccip.org.uk