Challenge areas and responses | Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership

Across the 2020 report card topics, there are clear synergies between the key challenges and emerging issues. Drawing on the long list of issues, three challenges ‘areas’ are identified, with a logical progression from building the evidence base, through to supporting decision making. A one page ‘narrative’ has been created for each challenge area.

Challenge Areas

Challenge area 1: Building the evidence base

Develop existing, and establish new monitoring to track the effects of climate change. Improve the representation of physical, chemical and biological processes in models, and refine model outputs for users.

Challenge area 2: Understanding drivers of change and their effects on ecosystems and society

Improve understanding of the physical effects of climate change, habitat and species response to climate change and human pressures and build knowledge of the socio-economic effects of marine climate change.

Challenge area 3: Applying knowledge to support cross-cutting decision making and fulfil obligations

Applying knowledge to support cross-cutting decision making and fulfil our societal obligations (e.g. to minimise adverse effects from climate change on people and the environment).

Workshops were held for each challenge area, bringing together researchers and end users. The challenge area narratives were validated and updated, and response options identified. The responses were grouped, and the ones with the most votes were taken forward as priority actions and explored in more detail (What, Who, How, When?).

The response options and actions have been fully transcribed and organised in the spreadsheet found in the downloads, below. Users can ‘pick out’ issues of interest to them from the challenge area(s) and see what solutions might be available.

Full detail of challenges narratives responses and priority actions

All of these outputs informed the guiding principles on how best to approach these issues as a community.