New guidelines have been launched by the government to help local authorities prepare for the impacts of climate change.

They will help local authorities fulfil their role in helping the government develop a nationwide plan in response to climate change.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development Sean Canney T.D. launched the guidelines today, 03 December.

Minister Canney said: "We want to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change, not a follower. That will require a significant step change across government. Being a leader means acting now, stretching ourselves and seizing the enterprise opportunities in a low carbon economy, including the new circular and bioeconomies. Being a follower means the final costs of adjustment are much higher and opportunities much lower or completely lost. Local authorities, as the level of government closest to communities, have a key role to play in this. The sector has already demonstrated a very effective response to extreme weather events in Ireland over recent years and with the recent establishment of the four Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs) the sector can now build on this emergency response capacity and drive climate action at local level."

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All local authorities will be required to adopt a local adaptation strategy in line with the published "Local Authority Adaptation Strategy Development Guidelines".

Under the National Adaptation Framework, 12 national sectors are also preparing sectoral adaptation plans and local authorities will work with these sectors through the Climate Action Regional Offices to ensure effective coordination and coherence on actions proposed.

The deadline for the completion of both sectoral plans and local strategies is 30 September 2019.

(CM)