Context 163 - March 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 3 : M A R C H 2 0 2 0 31 Ireland JACQUI DONNELLY Ireland’s climate change sectoral adaptation plan Action on climate resilience is designed to ensure that the irreplaceable historic built environment of Ireland’s cities, towns and countryside is protected against future threats. The architectural and archaeological heritage is a finite and irreplaceable resource. While many of our historic buildings, archaeological sites and monuments have survived for centuries, there can be no denying the risks that a changing climate poses to this heritage. The risks identified for Ireland’s built heritage include flooding (both inland and coastal), storm damage, coastal erosion, soil move- ment, pest and microbiological infestation, and wildfire. Impacts may be both immediate and cumulative. Damage from catastrophic events such as floods and storms are likely to increase at the same time as the slow onset of changes in deterioration processes. The built heritage is also vulnerable to maladaptation, that is, the inadvertent loss or damage to structures and sites during adaptation works. Hotter and drier summers, warmer and wetter winters, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are placing additional stresses on to already vulnerable structures. More intense rainfall in autumn and winter may saturate building fabric and increase the risk of fluvial and pluvial flooding. Changes in ground conditions may result in subsidence, landslide, the collapse of structures and loss of mature planted features within designed landscapes. Already we have experienced significant loss and damage to heritage assets due to extreme weather events. Examples include the extensive flooding across the country in November-December 2009; Storm Darwin in February 2014; and Storm Ophelia in October 2017. On the other hand, the prolonged dry spell in the summer of 2018 led to the identification, mainly through cropmarks, of over 800 additional monuments. Ireland’s first national adaptation strat- egy, the National Climate Change Adaptation Framework (2012) marked the start of the development of a national policy to address the anticipated impacts of climate change through a structured programme of action on adaptation. This non-statutory framework was replaced in January 2018 by the National Adaptation Framework (NAF). The NAF, coordinated by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, identified a number of sectors of government to prepare sectoral adaptation plans. It also required local authori- ties (31 county and city councils nationally) to develop long-term climate-change adaptation strategies, and to integrate these into plans and policies under their remit. Dunbeg, County Kerry: the promontory fort, a national monument in state care, has suffered extensive coastal erosion since the mid-19th century and a marked increase in erosion rates over the past decade, most recently in 2018 (Photo: Office of Public Works)