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The IMCORE project ran from 2008 to 2011 and was funded under the EU Interreg IVB programme.
Planning to adapt in Lough Swilly: the process
Access or download overviews, tools, techniques and examples of visualisation tools, educational tools, legal and policy tools, future scenario techniques, etc
" There was no central bank of data available which delayed progress in identifying data gaps."
Practical tips for following the IMCORE approach to planning to adapt to coastal climate change
Feasibility study for Research and Education Coastal Centre in Lough Swilly
Marine Discovery Centre Implementation proposal
Thank you note from Donegal County Council and University of Ulster
"Sincere thanks to the members of the Lough Swilly Consultative Group for the time, effort and expertise they put into the development of the Lough Swilly Adaptation Strategy".
To identify the coastal and climate change issues in Lough Swilly we:
o Hosted a workshop with Donegal County Council staff
o Had a high level meeting with senior management in the Council
o Identified relevant strategic state agencies with management responsibility in Lough Swilly
o Conducted telephone interviews with staff from these agencies and set up a Lough Swilly Consultative Group to input to the IMCORE process in Lough Swilly
The issues workshop did not work as intended:
o Participants could have been better researched and the adaptation process better understood.
o We should have included a wider group of participants.
o We also realised that it is not necessary to hold a separate issue identification workshop to gather this information. Once participants have been identified it would be possible to gather the information using telephone interviews.
| What we did |
aa |
|---|---|
| Why we did it |
bb |
| What we achieved | cc |
| Problems we had | dd |
| Solutions |
ee |
| What we learned |
.ff |
| What we did |
Researched previous work carried out in the area. Reviewed Donegal County Council staff involved in the area. Invited them to a workshop to determine what they considered the biggest issues with regard to Climate Change in Lough Swilly. |
|---|---|
| Why we did it |
To determine the priority issues affecting the study area. To determine the key people who should be involved. To get staff buy in to the process. |
| What we achieved |
Improved awareness of the IMCORE project and identification of some climate change issues within the local authority. |
| Problems we had |
Workshop not facilitated properly and therefore went off on a tangent. Should have invited a wider scope of people and not just internal council staff. Lack of response to workshop. |
| Solutions |
Experienced facilitators. Better choice of participants. A lot of follow-up personal contact to encourage participation. |
| What we learned |
Need strong facilitation. Need to understand why issues are being identified and how they feed into the adaptation process. |
| What we did |
Met with Donegal County Council's senior management team (SMT) and County Manager |
|---|---|
| Why we did it |
To determine their most pressing concerns with regard to the impact of climate change in coastal and marine regions. To get buy in for the IMCORE and scenario process. |
| What we achieved | Key concerns: potential flooding of Letterkenny. They provided staff to participate in the project. |
| Problems we had | Availability of the SMT for the meeting |
| Solutions | Needed Director of Service to promote the project and put it on the SMT agenda. |
| What we learned | Need buy in at highest level to ensure staff involvement, Climate Change not high on the priority list of SMT as it isn't a core responsibility as yet. |
| What we did |
Identified who should be involved during the rest of the process and made contact with them via telephone. |
|---|---|
| Why we did it |
To set up the consultative group comprising Donegal County Council staff, elected members and representatives of other state bodies with management responsibilities for Lough Swilly. To make personal contact and encourage participation in the process. To determine their biggest concerns re climate change (i.e. what issue workshop above should have done). (Main concerns were Sea Level Rise and associated flooding and increases in sea temperature) |
| What we achieved |
Good scenario workshop turnout. Greater level of awareness of IMCORE by participants. IMCORE staff got a greater level of understanding of their concerns and issues. This fed into the scenario workshop and enabled us to shorten the length of the scenario workshop as we only had to validate these concerns with the group rather than go through the identification process. |
| Problems we had | Availability of participants for telephone interviews. |
| Solutions | Persistence |
| What we learned |
Preparation for the interviews was important. We had a list of set questions which we asked participants this made sure that the interviews were consistent. Responses were collated which proved a useful resource for facilitators. Personal contact helped get better buy in to the process as responses to emails were few. |
Click here to download the Donegal issues output from workshop
Click here to download the main issues guidelines report
