Flood Resilience Coastal change adaptation knowledge sharing & case studies Why is Sniffer working on coastal change? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected in 2023 that sea levels will rise about a metre by the end of this century, but this projection is looking increasingly conservative. The risk that several major ice sheets may be at or have passed an irreversible tipping point and could rapidly disintegrate is of significant concern to the scientific community today. If this happens, multi-metre sea level rise is likely to continue for several centuries after we hit net zero. However, many people outside of the scientific community are not aware of this risk - including many of those who live at or have assets on our coasts. The degree of sea level rise we are facing necessitates a new approach to coastal management. In Scotland, this shift is being supported by the development of Coastal Change Adaptation Guidance (CCAP) and the Scottish Government's Coastal Change Adaptation Fund which directly addresses these issues by funding adaptation planning and resilience actions which can be undertaken immediately. Sniffer has been working with Scottish Government, Dynamic Coast, Nature Scot and SEPA, as well as coastal experts from the public, private and academic sectors to develop the Coastal Change Adaptation Guidance, and we are working together to raise awareness of how climate change will affect Scotland's coasts. Coastal Change Adaptation Fund (CCA Fund) Part of Sniffer’s work in this area has been to promote the Scottish Government capital funding available for Local Authorities and their partners for case studies to help advance Coastal Change Adaptation in Scotland. The CCA Fund supports adaptive and nature-based approaches. Applications for the 2024-25 funding round are now closed. There may be future funding opportunities for further case studies, but the distribution of funding has not been agreed with CoSLA for 2025-26 yet. What is the funding for? Full details of the projects which have been successful in their applications in the 2024-25 funding round, and in previous years can be found here. Proposals for ambitious projects which support actions in a Coastal Change Adaptation Plan (CCAP), or pre-existing Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are welcomed. Proposals from a group of adjacent local authorities working together are also welcomed, with one local authority the agreed lead. Authorities can use match funding to leverage greater benefits, though this is not a prerequisite. Case studies must include adaptation to coastal change, and may include (but are not limited to) restoration of natural coastal defences (e.g., sand dunes or salt marsh), purchase of fall-back land for coastal paths to be relocated into, development of adaptation options on urban shore and community consultation etc. Whilst applications are welcomed to initiate adaptation planning work, the fund particularly welcomes applications that address more challenging aspects including implementing difficult decisions, managed retreat of assets from at risk areas, securing carbon & biodiversity benefits, and addressing substantive climate risks via transformative change. Coastal Change knowledge-sharing events Sniffer hosts webinars with Scottish Government, Dynamic Coast, Nature Scot, SEPA and other partners to explore coastal change issues and encourage adaptation action. These can be viewed on the Sniffer Vimeo channel. 14/09/2023 Coastal Change Adaptation in Scotland - Scottish Government funding call for Case Studies. This session was designed to encourage applications to the CCA Fund by providing information on: the application process, projects funded in previous rounds and the type of projects that are encouraged to apply. View the slide pack and watch a recording of the webinar 01/02/2024 Moving from Shoreline Management to Coastal Change Adaptation. This session was designed to raise awareness of the latest sea level rise projections and help local authorities and other coastal landowners to better understand the CCAP guidance and the need for adaptation at the coast. The webinar presents the latest high-level sea level rise storylines from the Met Office, illustrates how climate change is already impacting our shores, and showcases some of the excellent work being undertaken across Scotland to adapt to the coastal dimensions of climate change, which have been funded by the Scottish Government's Coastal Change Adaptation Fund. Watch a recording of this webinar below, and view the slide pack. Speakers also provided additional answers to some of the questions we ran out of time to cover in the session. These are available here. 16/04/2024 Passing on the baton: sharing learning of adapting Scotland's coasts. This session was designed to pass on the lessons learned from previous CCA funded case studies to the 2024-25 projects just starting out with their coastal change case studies. View the slide pack and watch a recording of the webinar below: Manage Cookie Preferences