good morning and welcome to the january garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of monday the 8th of november just a few days ago on the 5th of november which is what we would call here guy fawkes day we were saying prayers for the safety of all those in public life we have another reminder of that today with the memorial service for sir david amis which people will gather for in london you remember he was a member of parliament who was brutally murdered in his own what we call surgery when mps are holding a question and answer session for anyone who wants to come and join them so we continue to remember with thanksgiving david himself and members of his family and all those close friends it will be a moving service and it will also be something where people are very conscious of our need to protect those in public life right across the world so at the same time the 8th of november is a day in our calendar when we give thanks for the saints of this land and when we come to the special prayer for that it talks about our land and talks about them as lights to to to lights in the darkness within our land use that wherever you are in the world as your own land those who have been shining lights in the culture and lands in which you live as we shall think of that here we will come back to that but let's go next to the fact that this is the eighth day of the climate conference cop 26 in glasgow and after a day of of comparative rest and reflection yesterday when we were thinking about the oceans today we are joining again with the themes which the hard-working people in glasgow with so many pressures on them but the pressure also to make good intentions by the end of the conference to give hope to the world but today we are talking about adaptation of cultures and practices to the world as it already is already affected by climate change and seeing all those huge fires and surges of of water and terrible droughts all of those things are present now future intentions will mitigate but there are other things we can do to mitigate on the way through so adaptation and mitigation and resilience to what is going on now and the sense also of the cost of loss and damage from those things that we were talking about fire and flood and drought causing loss of life and extreme danger to all forms of life but in different ways across our planet and we'll also be talking about the balancing of resources and finance from those nations which have resources in finance to those who need those resources in order to mitigate and also repair damage already done and the way in which promises that are made have to be trusted and a question mark hangs over that even from paris in 2015 that conference then but let's for the moment begin our prayers on this really important day what i was wanting to say and want to say it as well is that there are so many things that we could show you some of those things coming from cop 26 and today at the end of all their activity they will have a global tour on screen of many places which are already imaginatively mitigating what is happening there and changing practices in that way we'll put some of those on but that's not meant to be seen as part of morning prayer all the way through i shall end with the blessing at the at a particular time and you may want to come back to those things and choose to look at them later is the one huge advantage of the way we go forward in this way you can revisit places and and you won't have time to do the whole thing at once you'll revisit those things which we're filming together and then afterwards go back and think let me look at what's happening in kenya well let me look at what's happening in venice or let me look at what's happening in the fires of california or in zimbabwe or in the islands of the south pacific all of those places places of danger but places also of imagination and of mitigation and of changing practices to deal with what's happening now let's then say our prayers on this what we call the octave of all saints the eighth day i always think of an octave is as far as my hands can stretch on the piano uh hands breath the psalm sometimes speaks about well that's eight days and on this day thinking of the saints of our land and use the hour as your own pronoun when we get to that o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this eighth morning of the month is psalm 40 i waited patiently for the lord he inclined to me and heard my cry he brought me out of the roaring pit out of the mire and clay he set my feet upon a rock and made my footing sure he has put a new song in my mouth a song of praise to our god many shall see and fear and put their trust in the lord blessed is the one who trusts in the lord who does not turn to the proud that follow a lie great are the wonders you have done o lord my god how great your designs for us there is none that can be compared with you if i were to proclaim them and tell of them they would be more than i am able to express [Applause] sacrifice and offering you do not desire but my ears have you opened burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you have not required then said i lo i come in the scroll of the book it is written of me that i should do your will o my god i delight to do it your law is within my heart i have declared your righteousness in the great congregation behold i did not restrain my lips and that o lord you know your righteousness i have not hidden in my heart i have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation i have not concealed your loving kindness and truth from the great congregation do not withhold your compassion from me o lord let your love and your faithfulness always preserve me for innumerable troubles have come about me my sins have overtaken me so that i cannot look up they are more in number than the hairs of my head and my heart fails me be pleased o lord to deliver me o lord make haste to help me let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it let them be driven back and put to shame who wish me evil let those who heap insults upon me be desolate because of their shame let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad let those who love your salvation say always the lord is great though i am poor and needy the lord cares for me you are my helper and my deliverer oh my god make no delay it's a powerful sound and at machines in the cathedral when we read all three psalms for the morning that would have been prefaced by psalms 38 and 39 which take the psalmists through desperate areas and then in psalm 40 you find everything begins to become much more clear and the sense of offering the psalmist offering themselves to step forward and be the one that the lord uses in a particular situation becomes intensely important but we are asked always to look around us and see where in the gift of this new day we ourselves may be the one to carry that good news of the kingdom body mind or spirit to another who needs it we're going back to our lesson today in the exodus once more and you will remember that we left the children of israel at the oasis of elim where there were the palm trees and the springs and that beautiful image of the shelter from the heat given by the 70 pound trees and the refreshment given by the twelve springs seemed like a gift from the lord who ended that lesson i am the lord your healer another i am statement for the knapsack but of course that was a day or two ago and here we are today in chapter 16 and the people as a whole community are about to leave elim the oasis and set out on their journey they set out from elim and all the congregation of the people of israel came to the wilderness of sin which is between elim and sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of egypt and the whole congregation of the people of israel grumbled against moses and aaron in the wilderness and the people of israel said to them wood that we had died by the hand of the lord in the land of egypt when we sat by the meat pots and at bread to the full for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger then the lord said to moses behold i am about to reign bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that i may test them whether they will walk in my law or not on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in it will be twice as much as they gather daily so moses and aaron said to all the people of israel at evening you shall know that it was the lord who brought you out of the land of egypt and in the morning you shall see the glory of the lord because he has heard your grumbling against the lord for what are we that you grumble against us and moses said when the lord gives you in the evening meet to eat and in the morning bread to the full because the lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him what are we your grumbling is not against us but against the lord then moses said to aaron say to the whole congregation of the people of israel come near before the lord for he has heard your grumbling and as soon as aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of israel they looked towards the wilderness and behold the glory of the lord appeared in the cloud and the lord said to moses i have heard the grumbling of the people of israel say to them at twilight you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread then you shall know that i am the lord your god in the evening quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning dew lay around the camp and when the dew had gone up there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake-like thing fine as frost on the ground when the people of israel saw it they said to one another what is it for they did not know what it was and moses said to them it is the bread that the lord has given you to eat this is what the lord has commanded gather of it each one of you as much as you can much as you can eat you saw each take an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent and the people of israel did so they gathered some some more some less but when they measured it with an omer whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack each of them gathered as much as they could eat and moses said to them let no one leave any of it over till the morning but they did not listen to moses some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and stank and moses was angry with them so morning by morning they gathered it each as much as they could eat but when the sun grew hot it melted the manna bread of heaven and the psalmists also in telling that story later on make much also of the fact that the lord provided quails also for them to eat and in providing the quails that was as you said giving them meat in the evening and bread in the morning the manna that questioning word what is it the manner and they gather it we shall go on with that but notice the lessons from it they have to gather it each morning morning by morning and see is the opportunity of the day how many times have i said to you and it sticks in my mind so much of that speech uh which the bishop of mozambique uh bishop singulani made in the general synod when he said god has no freezer he gives his gifts fresh daily or we could go back to the hymn no new every morning is the love our awakening and uprising prove and we are called by the sunrise by the light and gift of a new day to begin to give gather god's gifts as much as we need everything you saw there was a balance this is a new way of life and i think that's what all these intentions of adaptation and mitigation and resilience and the assessment of loss and damage and trying to balance out who has lost so much and been damaged so much with those who have the resources to put that right but also the mitigation later on in order to make sure that everything is in place for good resources when such things happen the children of israel are starting out on a completely new journey they've left their old way of life in egypt 430 years they've left all of that behind and there's much looking back and much grumbling about that why can't it be like it was before that's one of the great things why did you bring us out here we're going to die in the wilderness the naysayers are actually the ones who are really large and moses and aaron must have been scratching their heads and thinking what on earth do we do here and they had faith and trust in the lord but they had to lead the people not by saying it will be as it was don't worry everything you knew will be coming back not like that at all this is a journey through the wilderness through the desert and different ways of subsistence different ways of daily food different ways of refreshment using things which before have been taken for granted and eaten in excess by the rich and now here's everyone in the same boat and anyone taking to excess is actually falling foul of the lord's rules in all of this they gather as much as they need as they go forward and this is going to be their life for much much longer than they thought but for the moment they're just setting out with much hankering back that feeling will come again and again it always does with us why couldn't it be as it was before and yet the most important lesson they had to learn was adaptation to the wandering life in the wilderness they've all become wayfarers as the psalmist would say and also much that they had had has been lost and now is out of reach adaptation loss and damage damage to their past but within them they carry the story and we're hearing that story read written down many many years later but it was a story that was told by them as they traveled travellers tales as they go along the old will tell the young as the generations moved on through all those years in the wilderness and we gain from that because the story as it's told is told in details of how they would tell it sing their songs about it write songs about it and those are captured in the psalms so that the images given become to us very precious indeed because it's how to adapt as a community how to cope with loss from the past but seize the day the gifts of god each day and not be frightened of change when he is leading in the journey to become resilient and to mitigate everything for one another and at the moment it's not just in cultures and and nations it's in mitigating things across our whole planet the memory of the past helps when the story is told to help the people face the future stories on the way become crucial that's why we read all these stories of the way in which god was perceived to act to strengthen faith in the past in many different cultures and we shall be remembering the lamps lit by what we call saints faithful people in so many ways with a vision in each of our cultures throughout the world but this is a day that's in our calendar is that here in the church of england acceptance that there's no going back that's all part of the wilderness story a complete change of lifestyles they've now become not a settled people 430 years of settlement but are wandering people seeking where they will go next but meanwhile adapting day by day on the way after five years after 10 years after 20 20 years it the years will run on 40 years in the wilderness but happily that is hidden from them in the earliest stages there's just the lesson there's no going back you've now begun the journey and the journey must go on and the earth will provide the resources by the good hand of god in his gifts the quail and the manner as signs of that and the the the manner known as the bread of heaven even into the psalms at that time a lovely image bread of heaven but the stories it told if you want to see how the psalmist tells it then look at 105 106 the psalms i mean and and read them through and you'll get so many of these images they're carrying one great memory from the past with them they're taking the bones of joseph who himself had had the vision to provide for the people when there were no resources in years of famine and they're taking those bones with them as almost a sign of god's care for them then but now a sign that the journey must move on and they must take the lessons of joseph with them where they're going they're on the move well let's turn to the lessons for today because they are really big ones in terms of the way in which our representatives in glasgow from all nations are thinking adaptation mitigation loss and damage and resilience the great human quality resilience the ministers and leaders are committing themselves to building not this is a a a a step forward but it's a different kind of step it's dealing with the situation as it is now so building a more climate resilient future in each society and how they will contribute their resources whether they be financial or resources of technology or knowledge of how things go forward sitting here in front of the great herbaceous border and the way in which we ourselves have made that resilient but in a way that conserves water through tiny amounts of water not huge sprinklings all the time to keep flowers going we're using flowers and crops which will grow in this climate at this time some of them would certainly not have grown in the really cold winters but you see what's behind me right along the border but at the same time when there is not enough water then the sprinkler system which is here put along there will give just enough but not more and that you can see um being taught and acted out in cultures which have not enough water but in storing water each drop becomes precious for crops which become the right crops to be growing in that atmosphere and they may be completely different from things that you had in the past but at the same time the resources to give them a refreshment through water and the right kind of soils i'm sitting in front of the herbaceous border here which is still flowering on this sunny morning there is compass spread on the ground from our own compost heaps which we've been talking about and at the same time the sprinklers water the right amount of water at night so that the ground being cool at night and soft with the compass takes in the water watering in the hot parts of day just evaporates the water and so all kinds of decisions are being made which we learn from others and now put into practice ourselves in a small way we want to emulate those things which happen in a massive way and all the way through today we shall be talking about how little is much and sometimes much depends on little and all of us can be involved so as we think of climate and mitigation adaptation resilience and loss and damage let's just change our place in the garden so that we can learn other lessons as we go we briefly come into the tomato house which you would have been used to full of tomato plants and the the green leaves it's been cleared but it's been cleared after a fairly disastrous year for tomatoes the lack of sunshine brought blight in great quantity here and both the potato crop failed because of too much wet outside and the tomatoes became blighted because not enough sunshine we can mitigate those things and we're intending next year to get a more blight resistant tomato crop by using other species of tomatoes and you will see around the floor here the the irrigation system which monitors just enough water not too much so we waste nothing as the tomatoes are growing but meanwhile and you've seen this in the past we use this place to protect the birds whether they be chickens or the turkeys you've seen in here as well because the the climate change has brought an increase in pathogens which are dangerous to birds and the at certain times of year we have to protect the birds from bird flu so that they don't mix with wild birds like seagulls coming across here and then get the the the um bird flu and so in bringing them into here we can protect them and you've seen how the chickens themselves in the chicken runs are are covered and that's mitigating the dangers which are already there those pathogens calling or causing all side kinds of problems in this small kingdom shall we say this tiny one and a half acres of our own garden small is learning from what is happening in a huge way in cultures across the world and you can find out if you if you visit some of the websites you you'll see below how these kinds of lessons are being learned in cultures which need that the chickens will come in here with the turkeys and they will be manuring the ground as they go along and adding fertilizers at at all times they'll be fed here and then the ground then when things come back uh will will actually be at that time much more fertile for the tomatoes themselves one of the one of the things which we we seem to have done across the world is to separate in farming which was demonstrated in the past separate animals from food crops so that the ability of animals to fertilize the soil where food crops will grow and then different food crops can be used which are more adaptable to the climate changes which let me say again already exist that rotation causes that the natural healing powers of the of the earth to help us in all the work that we're doing and we learn from one another and we resource one another across the world with knowledge and also with real financial resources having things ready in terms of food instantly to go to the help of those needing them and in terms of loss and damage instantly to go to the help of those whose homes have been destroyed but at the same time we shall talk in a moment we'll move again but we'll talk about about fire management and the management of drought but the the financial resources that are needed to to help but those financial resources must come pretty well at once and this is the decision that the delegates have to make about how financial resources can be released in that way in the past uh promises of resources being shared have not been kept so in paris in 2015 the nations which had the resources agreed that 100 billion dollars would be given given not learned given each year to deal with this problem the united nations reckoned that four trillion is needed but the the that early promise in 2015 has not actually been kept and so to regain the trust that we are ready to share resources this week is crucial in the activity there perhaps it's worth saying that certain crops which we couldn't have grown here 20 years ago because the earth has warmed can now be grown and at the same time there's a silver lining to the fact that chickens and and turkeys uh can be kept under cover during the winter or must be kept under cover during the winter because they lay their eggs much longer and they lay plentifully and so the earth again and the the the rules of the natural world are helping us in all that we do and those gifts of god in the wilderness so to speak are plentifully received but have to be grasped and that moment has come just a pause as we make our journey up to the bastion garden and we've come into the other greenhouse which is very much a place where plants which are always going to need protection from the frost can be brought inside and and given proper protection and i'm standing by all the succulents which you can see very often in the bastion garden but they would not survive a really cold winter and those cold winters may be part of the things that we have to to accept as well but at present they are protected in here and we can continue to grow them with just a modicum of watering because succulents don't need vast amounts of that but here they are having a fine time with the christmas cactus here flowering beautifully in front of me and then also the um the the citrus fruits and things of that sort the trees will be brought inside to this greenhouse here as well recognizing the fact that like the birds protection is needed sometimes from too much heat the tree canopy and green roofs and all of those things which which cool the atmosphere down in heat spots in great cities and areas of stone and at the same time from too much cold which these have been brought in from here too much wet and uh too much of anything which is against that plant's nature sometimes so of course you have to change the species that you're growing and not say but we always grew those because it may be the time to say we can never grow those now because this climate change has happened entering the world of the succulents brings you into a fascinating landscape and we learn many lessons just from them themselves adaptation clearly has been part of the way in which this planet has evolved and the succulents are a wonderful illustration of all of that all these shapes which we find so beautiful and they're all so different we've brought them together but many of them will have evolved in very very different climatic circumstances and gone on evolving as climates have changed and the way in which the leaves form themselves are in response to what is happening around them in climatic conditions so that we look at some of them and they have long pointy leaves with others in lovely shapes climbing up stems you'll find they spread the leaves to look in particular areas for what they're trying to capture in terms of warmth and moisture and the way in which they themselves can produce their flowers which usually are very beautiful when they come at the same time some of them retain moisture and their shapes show that they store the moisture and other times they put out things to protect themselves against the predators which will come to devour them all of these things developing through some of them grow to huge sizes and others are simply the size they need for the habitat they find themselves in it's truly the most wonderful world and uh i know that some become totally fascinated with them some have little gardens of them at home and that's easy enough to do but here in the deanery garden some we protect and some we leave to take their chances so in very very severe winters we even cover them to give them necessary protection because none of them are really in their natural habitat here but they can become so and our biggest problem at the moment with all that is happening is that the climate is changing so fast that we're not giving these species or any the plants or creatures time to adapt we saw that all too well with the bumblebee song the bumblebee could well adapt but we're not giving time with this climate change for that to happen and the result of course is that we lose species of plant life and the life of creatures throughout the world so we've come up to the bastion garden and here you see succulents which are more hardy and year by year have resisted the cold when it comes here we may cover them in really desperate times but largely speaking that they have resisted and so they're going to be fine um the protection in the greenhouse is given to those which absolutely won't be and as we came up we passed through and you can hear russell crowing below me here but as we came up through we passed to our usual feathered friends the guinea fowl and also ducky there and the the the various hens and uh darcy the turkey and it reminded me of one of the stories told in one of the clips which has come which you may find as you're investigating the various uh cop 26 clips which we'll put on for you very attractive clips and it's a story about a woman who kept a chicken farm and the chicken farm year after year started to be flooded in a way that it never was before and every year she had to recoup the damage and and do everything that was necessary and then suddenly a really bright idea came to her and she kept ducks instead which then mitigated the fact that water would come because uh as with our ducky here the ducks loved the water and everything then became good again choosing the right species the right kind of crop the right activity in very small ways and you will find that story being told as an example of how we may mitigate it would take me all morning and you also to think of little ways that we can mitigate but we're getting that all the time and it's not just individuals which mitigate it's or who mitigate it's actually local governments in mitigating all that is going on in particular areas and making sure there's enough green space and enough resource for those who have damage from flooding and and even in different parts of the world better fire management better flood defenses better emergency food distribution that can be a local thing but at the same time it can be an international thing sometimes small has to become massive sometimes massive can be made nearly all the time by small acts by everyone suddenly getting the realization that this is what we should be doing and the moment we get it right then the planet helps us god's gift of this earth helps us too it has huge qualities of healing and it's hardly surprising when you think of that sentence once again the knapsack sentence i am the lord your healer but in calling us into partnership in creativity it becomes absolutely inherited inherent honest to to respond day by day to that gift and manage things well in our own lives not simply thinking let's go back to where we were before which has become impossible nevertheless to tell the stories of how things were before because that gives deep roots as to how we got to this position and then are going on to prevent the destruction of forests and grasslands to stop draining wetlands to stop overfishing very often too what seems most expensive in terms of food or in terms of the way forward proves in the end because if we don't do it the loss and damage will be catastrophic proves in the end to be the cheaper way flood defenses might cost a lot but the repairing of those flood defenses and they might be sea walls or they might be the re replanting of the mangrove forests and all those things would be much much less expensive every time as this climate crisis continues through it'll be a very long time even if we take the right steps for the the uh the temperature to go down to the 1.5 which everyone is seeking for at the moment and even more than that so that the climate change might be in some way reversed it'll take a very long time meanwhile mitigation means expensive solutions might be the cheaper ones to have locally nationally internationally in the end for the protection of people and also the harvesting of resources that any help given must be swift otherwise the help is useless people are suffering and to hold help back or to make it alone which is so crippling later on that everything that has been done then begins to the society or the community which has been given that loan and people who could well afford it at the time in the balancing of things are saying now we want it back all these are scriptural lessons and everything tends to connect with that wilderness experience which the children of israel as a whole society are having to embrace with much grumbling which might with much hankering for the past and with much um fear about the future and not knowing how long that journey is going to last so let's think about this day because it's one of the most important days of the cop 26 conference and the one that we can probably learn most lessons from in the ordinary ways of our life wherever we are we can take little steps whatever garden we have or don't have we can still take little steps and the little becomes massive but at the same time we have to look at the great solutions and encourage our representatives to grasp those two representatives in councils to get the picture not short-term gain but planting the green spaces protecting the green spaces all of these things now become a matter of life and death and people are represented to help us in that way i think that i would uh just point out the fact that that one other aspect of i've said there are sometimes some benefits of all of this that of course electric cars are a much cleaner way of going along they're also a much more silent way of going along and the you hear the noise of the traffic outside at the moment here and we said how noise is is something which adds tension in the oceans it also adds tension to people if they have to live absolutely next to a noisy road we know medically how that affects them at the same time here we've seen the rise of leaf blowers all over the the the precincts and it comes from that mentality which says that every leaf the minute it drops needs to be picked up tied it away every blade of grass when it grows up to about an inch high needs to be clipped and that kind of mentality is going to have to pass away and and the in in in some way or another we have to control all of that because the the kind of fuels that have been using and the noise it's creating far too much for human society so that would be a benefit from things and also it would allow the leaves to rot back into the ground and self-fertilize keep it moist in in that way well you and i could go on for a very long time about this because i hope we've stirred up all kinds of ideas in you but let me remind you that anything which is added on after my blessing you can easily stop at the blessing and revisit when you have time because some of those films about venice and about zimbabwe and about the islands of the south pacific and the fires of california are beautiful films but also films of warning about how things must proceed and certainly the way in which we allow water to sink into the land through porous pavements and not by acres and acres of stone then rushing so fast the water off it that it floods elsewhere all those things are lessons we're learning as we go along i said this morning that this was the day that we are thinking of the saints of our own land and we would ask you to do the same but there's a lovely hymn which we tend to sing on this day and i'll read it because it talks about moving on always moving on here's the the the hymn for saints of our own land on this day in our day of thanksgiving one psalm let us offer for the saints who before us have found their reward when the shadow of death fell upon them we sorrowed but now we rejoice that they rest in the lord in the morning of life and at noon and at evening they were gathered to heaven from our worship below but not till god's love at the font and the altar had clothed them with grace for the way they should go these stones that have echoed their praises are holy and dear is the ground where their feet have once trod yet here they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims and still they were seeking the city of god sink prays then and thanks that god's love here has found them whose journey is ended whose perils are past they believed in the light and its glory is round them where the clouds of earth sorrows are lifted at last i find it a very moving hymn but the best line is here they confess they were strangers and pilgrims and still they were seeking the city of god a journey the past is remembered the future lies all before is the gift of god's new day each morning but at the same time we know that our creator is calling us into partnership to use the gifts of this earth and the earth responds in creativity as we've seen this morning in this day of mitigation of what's happening but also looking forward to the the future and being adaptable at all times adaptation and then helping one another in the loss and the damage right let's say our prayer for today and as i said it's a prayer of the saints of our own land use that hour as your land and then at the same time we remember in the anglican communion this is actually dear to my heart the diocese of hereford in the church of england in the canterbury province of the church of england i had 10 very happy years serving as dean in the cathedral there and would pray for that whole community today and then at the same time we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for emma bishop at lambeth and for the diocese and the diocese as i've said are not praying parish by parish they're praying with us for our delegates at cop 26 but the headline over the diocesan part is careless choices cost lives well we've been saying that all morning internationally nationally locally individually careless choices cost lives here's the prayer for today god whom the glorious company of the redeemed adore assembled from all times and places of your dominion we praise you for the saints of our own land and for the many lamps their holiness is lit and we pray that we also may be numbered at last with those who have done your will and declared your righteousness through jesus christ our lord amen so in our own language the prayer our savior taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men moment for your own reflections [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] so i've been very conscious of sitting here through that little time of reflection not only of the noise of the traffic but a a different music beside my left here here because the bees our own bees and the bumblebee or two are still enjoying this salvia flower which is flowering next to me in the sunshine salvias tend to last a long time and still are providing sweetness for the bees as they come out as you saw some of the herbaceous border flowers like the alstrom areas there before when we began our morning film this morning so it causes us to remember that that any of us can provide flowers in small gardens and even window boxes for the bees to come and visit and also little ways in which to help hedgehogs trundle around smaller gardens there are constant ways that we can be imaginative in terms of helping step by step which all feed into the bigger picture and we remember sir david attenborough saying no race has been more able to find ways of adapting than our human race and i would add to that well it's hardly surprising because we're made in the image of the creator whose imagination and creative ability gave us everything which is our home on this planet god give you grace to follow in your own journey his saints in faith and hope and love and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you on those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music] kenya is renowned for her scenic landscape that rises from the indian ocean in the east through the great rift valley and lake victoria in the west despite her picturesque beauty and strategic location near the heart of africa kenya like most african countries has not been spared from the effects of climate change major rivers increasingly show severe reduced water volumes during droughts and rainfall has also become more unpredictable hence affecting farming activities across the country we have different problems during the dry season too much sun destroys the ambulance and the quality we've been in collaboration with carl for the last three years and it has been of immense benefit to us we've had access to quality scenes which are proving better than what we've been traditionally planting they are more assistant and going forward you'll be able to get more knowledge especially from them and assistance kal ros technology innovations and the management practices help to contribute to the reduction of production shocks and offer alternative options in the interest of food and nutrition security how the technologies we use or we have been advancing is drip irrigation we are also investing heavily in conservation agriculture and also enhance soil fertility issues around the farmer because it's very key to enhance productivity pastoralists who travel long distances in search of pasture and water for their cattle have also been adversely affected by climate change receding rangelands threaten the very basis of their livelihoods and the health of their livestock the kenyan government with support from the world bank launched the kenya livestock insurance program to compensate the pastoralists for loss of livestock due to extreme weather under lifestyle program we have a thermostable vaccine that is available and this vaccine can be used in the drier parts of kenya where refrigeration may not be necessary and the power is a challenge in an effort to adapt to the effect of climate change kenya is increasingly securing her energy resources the growth in geothermal and solar power plants is expected to provide more reliable and environmentally sustainable energy kenya is referred as a renewable energy leader because it is generously endowed with that resource we have enough geothermal resource enough wind and solar secondly kenya is around 12th in the world in the usage of renewable energy we are also ranked number one in africa in terms of geothermal kenya is a strong number nine in the whole world installed capacity for geothermal in kenya currently starts at 5 34 megahertz and it is our dream that we can be able to expand that to at least one thousand two hundred megawatts by twenty twenty five strathmore is the first zero carbon footprint universe in the whole of sub-saharan africa we settled on 600 kilowatts which is 0.6 megawatts the size of the plant those are 2 400d panels distributing around six building of ours here and it began working on the 24th of june 2014. the increasing awareness and usage of alternative clean energy sources such as briquettes biogas and clean cook stoves has helped to greatly cut down on the harmful carbon emission to the environment as the country's population grows so does consumption every day tons of solid waste are disposed of at various landfills however with the replacement of open landfills with sanitary landfills and recycling of waste into clean fuel positive and lucrative environmental outcomes will be achieved we in the metropolitan development through the funding of the world bank we are developing the first central view in the country once we do this it will be like a good example which can be replicated in other urban areas with a population of close to 50 million people and growing the impact of climate change and livelihoods in kenya cannot be wished away it is therefore paramount to sensitize our population because we all have a collective responsibility our journey to green growth is therefore indeed the pathway for sustainable development economic stability and prosperity for every last one of us [Music] we used to cope with storms we built coastal walls of stone planted mangroves and constructed houses on higher stills but these efforts had their limits now cyclins hit the solomon islands every season powerful enough to our economy overnight with rising sea levels our islands are sinking some completely submerged and with them fundamental parts of our history identity and culture trapped underwater gone forever climate change is often called the biggest injustice of our generation the least developed countries like ours have emitted the tiniest fraction of the planet warming gases that drive climate change yet we are five times more likely to lose our lives from climate-related disasters salt from the encroaching waves poisons our fresh water and forces people to travel great distances to find water for drinking and cooking our coral reefs home to thousands of marine species are dying and with them the protein that sustains us the losses we are experiencing from climate change are irreplaceable this damage is irreparable as our water and land disappears whole communities are forced to relocate some forced to squat illegally exacerbating tensions between ethnic groups which makes us afraid we will revisit the violent conflicts of the past that labeled our country a failing state we are worried about our country's future recognizing our deep and personal losses governments must prioritize the climate crisis and agree a clear plan to address loss and damage that provides desperately needed support through finance and technology we must avert conflict and safeguard humanity we cannot let climate change cause more states to fail we must act now [Music] my country is beautiful with breathtaking mountain ranges deep valleys and low-lying coastal areas but over the last 15 years i have witnessed the escalating trails of destructions left in the wake of floods rise and sea landslides and more we have always experienced moderate temperatures heavy rainfalls and high humidity and we used to have two equally marked seasons dry and rain when i was young the rainy season kept us cold enough to play football and the rains nourished agricultural production where indigenous crops drive but as climate change has intensified more frequent and prolonged dry spells have threatened our food security due to rise at sea levels flooding now occurs yearly and is far more severe floods contaminate our drinking waters spreading sicknesses and diseases people living in a disaster-prone areas constantly worried about their homes being destroyed most lives are damaged buildings and infrastructures are now common in 2017 nearly 1 000 people were killed and over 3 000 we are displaced in our overcrowded capital free town least developed countries face the largest damages from climate change proportionate to the size of our economies and face financial losses of hundreds of billions each year the impact of climate injustice severely affects people's lives we urgently need nations across the world particularly the richest nations whose heavy emissions have caused this damage to take leadership and provide dedicated financial support to address the fire risk launch and damage caused by climate change [Music] as world leaders were preparing for the cop 26 climate summit macy celestinia was collecting cactus flowers to eat she lives in southern madagascar where several u.n agencies have been warning that drought is causing a climate change famine the 47 year old says her eight-month-old son died because of cactus fruit seeds that had piled up in his stomach look at our crops there are no leaves growing not even one when you pass on the road you can see it's dry there are only sandy winds the un's world food program reports that more than 1.1 million people in madagascar have been affected by severe hunger with 14 000 in near famine-like conditions it expects that number to double by the end of the year video filmed by the wfp showed young children being tested in mid-october the red band indicates severe malnourishment wfp country director for madagascar arduino mangoni says poor agricultural production has sent prices skyrocketing meaning people can't afford to eat these people have not contributed to climate change but they're paying probably the highest price madagascar produces less than naught point naught one percent of global carbon dioxide emissions according to the world carbon project indeed africa as a whole is responsible for just three percent but is seen as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of climate change at the cop 26 summit in glasgow madagascar's president andre radarolina has been among leaders of developing nations demanding the wealthier world keep its promise a more than decade-old unmet pledge to provide support of 100 billion dollars a year asked what she would want to tell world leaders at the summit celestinia said simply that the forest has a life just as humans do and that the lack of rain is breaking her heart we know enough about climate change it is time for decisions now coping with climate change what does that mean climate has always determined how we live and when it changed in the past we adapted so what's new about adapting to climate change today shouldn't we focus on other challenges such as education unemployment and economic development sure enough the climate has always been changing but the recent change caused by our emission of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that increase the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere has happened in a much shorter time frame as a result the earth is warming this change in our climate is already leading to significant impacts glaciers are melting faster than expected sea level is on the rise and it's very likely that droughts and extreme weather events like cyclones will become more frequent these impacts destroy people's livelihoods and homes they damage our infrastructure and disrupt communication and trade moreover climate change is endangering development successes and the poor and marginalized are often affected the most okay climate change is evidently taking place whether it accelerates further depends on our lifestyle and economic activities so is it all about reducing carbon emissions well even if we were to stop emissions instantly the world would not stop warming immediately due to the amount of gases we've already emitted that's why we must do both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to inevitable climate change but how exactly can we adapt considering that the precise extent and form of climate change aren't known climate projections will never be able to predict the future with absolute certainty partly because the way in which the climate will change depends on our decisions in coming years but do we really need certainty to make decisions no we routinely make decisions based on experience facts or insights available to us without knowing exactly what the future will bring and while we don't know everything about future climate change we know enough to act but what exactly do we need to do differently basically we need to bear in mind both current and future impacts of climate change climate projections do not translate into concrete strategies but they can serve as guard rails for planning we should consider how development plans policies and projects might be affected by climate change and to what extent these in turn make climate change worse one possible consequence of climate change is precipitation pattern changes these may lead to both droughts and extreme rain sometimes in the same place we should ask ourselves how a land use plan must be changed in order to remain flexible in reacting to future challenges what adaptation measures can help to minimize effects on the local economy and people's livelihoods coastal mega cities worldwide are threatened by the adverse consequences of sea level rise and extreme weather events but what does an urban planner need to consider in order to make these cities climate resilient what are the most suitable adaptation options clear criteria like urgency costs and political and social acceptance can help to prioritize adaptation options such as flood preparedness measures improvement of drainage systems wetland restoration and coastal management adaptation is a learning process we all need to continuously improve our adaptation strategies and making climate change adaptation a topic at all levels is important there are many resources available that can support these activities such as online information platforms like ci grasp we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change and we must start acting today together involve decision makers increase understanding about climate change create awareness about the need for society to adapt these are important first steps preparing for possible things to come is much better than bearing the impacts of climate change without any protection we know enough now let's adapt the present is already catastrophic the present is already scary if we fail to address loss and damage the future will be much worse this is loss and damage it's what happens when climate change intensified disasters like hurricanes wildfires and floods and slow moving catastrophes like droughts and sea level rise lead to a loss of life culture biodiversity territory and livelihoods as well as damage to homes hospitals schools and roads which often forces people to flee their homes loss and damage as of this year 2021 is taking place in every single country in the world including the rich countries but the biggest impacts are on poorest people living in the poorest countries in asia africa and latin america if your island is going underwater you have to leave if your farmland is turning into desert you have to move and if forest fires are destroying your home what choice do you have last year around mid-may we saw heavy rainfall causing four rivers to bust their banks in the western part of the country causing massive destruction and leaving over a hundred thousand people displaced in the global negotiations on climate change in the paris agreement agreed in 2015 there's an article article 8 that says we need to deal with loss and damage but unfortunately there hasn't been a single penny paid for loss and damage yet and this is a problem because areas prone to loss and damage are no longer insurable insurance is something that works on probability when you know that you are definitely going to face climate impacts insurance doesn't work therefore money for people to put their lives back together needs to come from somewhere else those who are at the front lines are the least responsible for the climate crisis i do believe in the polluter pace principle fossil fuel companies and the biggest polluting countries they have the responsibility to provide composition for loss and damage the major fossil fuel companies around the world have known for decades that they were producing a polluting product and they have suppressed that information and they prevented action as a result they've made billions of dollars of profit therefore they are completely liable to be challenged now to pay up for the loss and damage that they have knowingly caused and they have profited from although there is clearly a pressing need to support communities impacted by loss and damage finance has been blocked denied and deemed too expensive by those who have polluted the global north hasn't done anything about loss and damage because it has refused to accept responsibility for the climate crisis they don't want to pay the bill with similar compensation funds already in existence it is high time to set one up for loss and damage we do have an example of compensation for pollution the major oil companies quite willingly put money into a pot and if there's an oil spill anywhere the people who are affected don't have to prove which company caused it that's the kind of thing that we need for loss and damage from climate change the present is already catastrophic the present is already scary and if compensation is not given the future is going to be much worse with cop26 rapidly approaching it's time to put loss and damage firmly on the agenda cop 26 coming up later this year is a critical event where the issue of loss and damage has to be front and center otherwise the developing countries particularly the most vulnerable countries will deem the copper failure the cop will be successful only if a compensation fund is put in place for communities that are facing the impacts of the climate crisis right now we have been waiting and waiting for the last 30 years and we cannot wait any longer if we do not address loss and damage then there is no climate justice it's not just what loss and damage is but what it means it speaks of the existential threat that the heating of our fragile band of atmosphere represents it's the signpost of what's to come the alarm bell that tells us we are running out of road for ignoring it as if it isn't there we are running out of road for doing nothing proportionate to the scale of the problem we are running out of road taking care of those at the sharp end of this climate change that is happening now not tomorrow but now is urgent and long overdue [Music] do [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] we rely on a fantastic environment across scotland to help us to provide our water and wastewater services to customers [Music] our climate is changing and one of the more obvious areas in which we will see this is in the water environment we are already experiencing the impact of climate change on our services drier summers can reduce river and reservoir levels and lead to an increased customer demand for water [Music] so here we see lock arklet which is much lower than what we normally see at this time of the year reservoirs go up and down throughout the year but this is a particularly low level that we're seeing it right now as a consequence of the dry weather we've seen so far in 2021 increases in the frequency and intensity of storms can affect the performance of our infrastructure and lead to flooding of customers and urban spaces [Music] to adapt to climate change we're taking action now to reduce water losses to manage future demands and to find ways to manage storms without overwhelming infrastructure we're exploring the risks of a two degree to four degree temperature rise across the century and what it will mean to the water environment our assets and services and how we will adapt this will help us deliver a resilient service in the future [Music] water adaptation is a process of adjusting our society and behavior to minimize negative impacts related to climate change whilst also building long-term resilience the water adaptation community is a broker between solution seekers and solution providers collecting knowledge and giving advice to those taking the adaptation journey it is important that water adaptation is owned and driven by national and local governments with them signaling water issues as a priority a really important one is the organizational dimension the roles and responsibilities that an organization have in terms of making sure that we do adapt we need a paradigm shift in assessing risk the past is no longer a good reference for the future two things we really need to do in the new era of risk assessment look at the future risk and look at risks across sectors the risks are the greatest for the most vulnerable but common understanding from cross-sector dialogue can build resilience [Music] we need to start thinking creatively about finance models and recognize how the gains are spread across many beneficiaries it's really about adapting the financing models looking for new sources of capital looking for creative ways to adapt proven financing models but also be creative about innovative financing models decision makers need to support resilient solutions and sustainable development by putting in place the right policies and strategies in oslo we made a strategy for surface water storm water handling it says the rain should be used in a good way a green way deep down we know what we value in society now we need to speak a language that touches hearts and triggers action finally we must make sure adaptation is implemented and is adjusted as we progress adaptation implementation is very much a learning by doing process working with the most vulnerable communities enabling them to understand the problem and take adaptation measures [Music] [Music] the realities of a warming planet are all around us with nuclear science and technology we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions monitor changes to the environment and adapt with techniques such as climate smart agriculture these are just some of the many uses of nuclear technology that make up the iaea's multi-faceted approach to climate change the environmental challenge of our time is here with the power of the atom we have the tools to help tackle it [Music] in zimbabwe nuclear techniques are helping a village to adapt to climate change which has made droughts more frequent when there is drought actually there is very little to feed the families and the parents have pressure to look for food leaving children with no basic things like education chronic drought also meant families had no crops to sell without that income many couldn't afford school fees we had low law attendance in schools it was due to economic hardships but now this village is starting to thrive isotopic techniques determined the exact amount of water and fertilizer needed for crops using that data a drip irrigation system was set up it uses half as much water as before but produces far more crop per drop with bigger harvests families can start selling crops again and they can afford to send their kids back to school last year we had 895 lenders in the school but for this year we now have 900 and 60 due to the introduction of the drip irrigation really i would like to say it was a blessing to the school [Music] innovations in plant breeding are speeding up the rate that better crop varieties can be developed to reduce global hunger for nearly 100 years gamma rays have been used to safely induce mutations and enhance the genetic diversity of crops like barley or quinoa mutation breeding has already developed thousands of improved crop varieties with valuable traits for farmers such as resistance to disease or tolerance to drought nuclear scientists are now taking a new approach using genetic markers to find the chosen mutant trait so that breeders don't have to grow several generations to find out if a plant has the desired mutation so it's something that can accelerate and enhance the impact of mutation breeding the goal is to be able to quickly identify a positive trait in a mutant plant and then introduce that trait in other varieties what we hope to say to the member states in the future is first of all that we'll have a toolkit that allows to introduce traits that are interested into their locally adapted varieties and then equally important i think that we can provide the trainings on how to do it themselves in the future [Music] a global project to track the journeys of specific raindrops is harnessing the power of big data to monitor water supplies for our thirsty planet every month for over 50 years researchers have gathered rainwater from stations like this in vienna and hundreds of other sites around the world the unique isotopic signatures or fingerprints of each rain sample are recorded and this information is entered into a large online database where it's compared to similar data from surface water to see which raindrops end up in which rivers this large amount of data allows researchers to better understand the water cycle for example how when and where water is recharged [Music] this information is key for managing water resources especially in the light of climate change the sets and maps are available to download for free and can be used in many ways for example in costa rica where they're helping the government identify key locations to protect groundwater so they can target conservation measures and avoid drought we now know which areas need special attention we know how to protect them to ensure water supply for now and the common decades [Music] adapting to the impacts of climate change has become an important priority for many governments for example in places like here in venice italy which is used to dealing with flooding but has seen an ever increasing frequency in intensity of flooding 2019 registering the most intense flooding in over five decades as the recent report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change has underscored is very important to reduce the negative impacts that are resulting from climate change in addition to a very strong reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the focus has shifted over the recent years to implementation from planning to implementation and so an important question has been to what extent does adaptation take place and to what extent does it reduce climate risks and there have been two recent outputs which have addressed this question one is a large research project called the global adaptation mapping initiative where more than 120 researchers have synthesized the entire scientific literature to see where adaptations taking place who is taking action in which sectors and what the results are and the findings from this research are reported in the november 2021 issue of the journal nature climate change another one is the adaptation get republished at the cop and it's looking at progress on gaps in adaptation in planning finance and implementation first the paris agreement has been the first globally binding agreement to take adaptation to climate change to the international level however it's important to keep in mind that the responsibility for implementing adaptation often lies with national and sub-national governments which is different from mitigation which as a global public good has to be regulated at the global level so in fact many of the provisions on adaptation in the paris agreement are voluntary for countries not mandatory with the exception of the provision of support to developing countries which is mandatory uh the uk presidency of cop26 has put an uh special special emphasis on adaptation and resilience there will be an adaptation day on 8th of november and the main topics to be discussed on adaptation will be to look at what progress has been made globally and what the negotiations can do at the global level to advance adaptation practice and specifically on further support for developing countries to help them to adapt to the impacts of climate change that's what the cop will be looking at and there will be many events and publications being launched so inviting you to have a look including on the coverage from the grantham research institute thank you climate change is transforming the world and our lives the ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising bushfires are raging in australia hurricanes are devastating the americas no matter what part of the world you live in you've probably felt the effects of climate change in some way whether through flooding heat waves crop failures or water shortages so now that climate change is here and becoming impossible to ignore what do we do people around the world are making heroic efforts to limit global warming perhaps you drive an electric car you stopped eating meat or started thinking twice about buying fast fashion as we take better care of our oceans forests and soil mother nature is doing her bit too by keeping some of the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere of course all this is great and necessary but it's no longer enough we need to take our efforts to the next level it's time for full-on climate adaptation in plain english that means adapting to the changes that have already begun adaptation means reducing our vulnerability to rising sea levels extreme weather and food shortages it also means taking advantage of new opportunities like longer growing seasons and increased crop yields in some places people could grow rice in parts of africa or make wine in scandinavia makes sense right so we urgently need to step up our efforts to adapt because the impact of global warming is only going to increase we need to adapt now and here's the good news humans have adapted to climate change before and we're getting better at it all over the world we're building better flood defenses we're anticipating hotter weather we're greening our roofs and gardens we're using porous paving to deal with excess water improving water retention and use in bangkok they've turned an abandoned railway bridge into an elevated park that helps soak up increasing rainfall while reducing air pollution in vietnam's mekong delta where sea level rise has inundated rice paddies and ruined harvests farmers are reducing losses by planting earlier and switching to new hardier varieties but we can and must do much more leaders in government and business need to radically rethink how they make their decisions they need to understand the risks of climate change and take account of these risks in their plans policies and investments and society needs to dig deep into its pockets to finance the necessary adaptations okay so much for the lofty language what are we really talking about him here are a few examples of the kinds of things we need to do next in bangladesh coastal cities could install an early warning system for cyclones so that a young couple will hear this site siren and be able to get their family to safety in time at macro level that same system could save their community 10 times the money they paid for it in zimbabwe a farmer could grow a new type of maize that's more resistant to drought in denmark engineers could redesign city streets to make them less prone to flooding and in indonesia a business executive could use water risk data and maps to help him decide where to invest his money meanwhile his government could plant mangrove forests to protect villages from flooding and create rich fishing grounds as a bonus feeling inspired good because all this isn't just up to world leaders mayors and the people who write the checks it's also up to you and me each and every one of us has a part to play our actions don't have to be fancy or high-tech they can be cheap and practical a resident of manchester can green her tiled garden so that heavy rains will drain into the soil and the trees will keep her home cooler an urban planner in colombia can paint roofs white to deflect dangerous heat yeah and did you know that some trees are more fire resistant than others so they can help protect homes from wildfires adaptation will pay off for all of us we'll save lives protect nature reduce inequalities and create new opportunities we'll even be promoting growth and development while we're at it our work is just beginning join us as we adapt our way into the future [Music] we're in a climate change world the science will always continue to evolve but we know enough now to act and we are acting we have to see this as an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that we have made the way we've been doing things in the past is just no longer going to be possible in the future [Music] the earth's climate is changing we're confronted with a change in our environment which is unprecedented in human history due to the emission of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere we are experiencing the warming of land air and oceans the effects of this are numerous there's an increase in the risk of more extreme and intense weather events such as tropical storms droughts and flooding consequences include a rise in sea level reduced food production a reduction in plant and animal life and harm to ocean ecosystems the two main pillars of the global climate change convention are adaptation and mitigation and it is the responsibility of this generation all of us who are alive right now to mitigate enough that means to bring greenhouse gas emissions down enough to allow that adaptation in particular in the most vulnerable communities is actually possible and effective adaptation is the invitation that we are being given to change behaviors and consumption and production patterns that we have had for 150 years that are simply no longer sustainable there is a need to mobilize the capacity the knowledge the tools the political and financial support and the scientific expertise to increase resilience to climate change through adaptation [Music] throughout history humankind has adapted to changes in climate by adapting to the available sources of food housing clothing water or warmth today however climate change is causing changes faster than vulnerable populations and ecosystems can cope with and adapt too adaptation responds to the risks while at the same time building future resilience [Music] in 2010 194 nations under the united nations framework convention on climate change set up the adaptation committee the work of the adaptation committee essentially is to try to bring people together try to bring governments representatives from u.n agencies regional centers and other organizations towards working for a common vision of adaptation the adaptation forum organized by the adaptation committee in november 2013 brought together prominent global leaders and individuals to highlight the urgency of action on adaptation and the way forward the way we've been doing things in the past is just no longer going to be possible in the future what we all want is a vision of a climate resilient future where in fact all rights to food to water to health education life are protected where women are safe and empowered and secure and contributing equally with men we can see the kinds of investments that we have to make and it's development adaptation mitigation wrapped up together so for me actually it's about political will we don't know everything but we know enough to start and start strongly and will discover things along the way [Music] resilience means giving the capacity enabling uh society uh ecosystems to be able to bounce back to recover from change an essential component of that is learning and that learning can only happen from that exchange of information of success and failure a touching explanation of what resilience is is a woman who has realized that her chicken farm has been increasingly flooded over the years and that is where she was getting her income for her and for her family the brilliance of this woman to realize that her chicken farm was getting flooded so often that she should no longer have a chicken farm she should have a duck farm that is resilience that is understanding that from now on you're living in a changed environment resources for adaptation include as much knowledge and information as possible to support adaptation planning and action scientists can provide information on past and present conditions and future risks communities can be more prepared for climate change if they are not poor people who have secure livelihoods access to education and information on climate change impacts health care facilities fresh water sanitation and social support will fare better in the face of climate change helping people to prepare for and respond to extreme events is also important including putting in place early warning systems understanding vulnerabilities of all members of society and making sure adequate places to take shelter from storms are available access to technology and services and quality infrastructure also contribute to climate resilient societies ensuring ecosystems are healthy and diverse for instance wetlands coastal areas and forests is an important aspect of ensuring resilience [Music] climate change is global but adaptation is local and which adaptation measures need to be taken is very very much determined by the specific circumstances and by the specific impact that each family each community each city is is experiencing local communities and indigenous peoples they are at the front lines of climate change they are feeling the impacts of climate change today firsthand and i think it's really important for their knowledge and experience to complement the science that is continuing to evolve their experience will inform the planning and implementation of adaptation actions going forward the first hand knowledge of communities can ensure that adaptation measures are effective and actually do increase resilience we need to reform our model of development we need a model of development that encompass respect for human rights good governance respect for the right of community respect for indigenous people's right we cannot be hopeless we may need help but we're not helpless and i think in our context we're in adaptation is really important adaptation also requires financial resources vulnerable developing countries need financial support to make the necessary investments resources for adaptation also include the collaborative efforts of many different people strategies to build disaster and climate resilience should engage all sectors of society and government and require the input of all people involved [Music] sharing lessons identifying best practices is essential for adaptation building a long-term vision based on that knowledge that we gain is essential at the court or one of the actions that is already underway it's what we call national adaptation plans which has already been implemented in many countries adaptation helps our societies and nature cope with climate change there are many ways to do it and communities need to decide what works best for them there are many examples here are just three for many communities they've been dealing with climate for generations i give the example of communities who live on small islands and traditionally have been dealing with a risk of flooding where for example their small island shrinks in half because the river rises and erodes the outside of the island they build their their houses on the top of that island and when it floods for about seven months of the year that island turns literally into a small mound of land climate change is going to affect the frequency and severity of that flooding they've been experiencing for generations there's a reason why those communities are living on these islands that turn into these small mounds it's because they're living in poverty it's because of their marginalization it's because of a variety of issues that are related to basic development and so as the international community works with those communities with the governments to help secure better livelihoods they need to make sure that what they're doing on adaptation to climate change is integrally related to what they're doing on development adaptation and development really do go hand in hand channan kulo sea is an urban neighborhood in maputo mozambique more than 150 000 people live here however there is only one drainage ditch when torrential rain caused by the changing climate became frequent the neighborhood became prone to flooding worse still people had thrown waste into the drains and the flooding spread the waste around the neighborhood this led to malaria and other illnesses particularly among children establishing awareness and communication channels among the local citizens and between the municipality and the relevant institutions was very important public public-private partnerships empowered the people living in maputo to design and implement activities to adapt to climate change the local people proposed a construction project to clean the ditch allowing it to drain properly and to manage local waste in the netherlands sixty percent of the country is vulnerable to flooding which means that there is a need to plan for the future there they've developed the delta program its aim is to protect the country against high water levels and to ensure an adequate fresh water supply it looks 100 years ahead and also includes measures to deal with more immediate problems [Music] climate change for example is affecting the frequency of floods so communities that used to experience a 1 in 100 year flood may now be experiencing a one in 25-year flood what does that mean for infrastructure we're spending a lot of money on building roads and bridges and if we don't take that change in the frequency of flooding into account we may build a road or bridge in an area that is really at risk of flooding in a way that it wasn't before why not take that new information into account move where you build that road so it's on safer ground that investment today will actually save us money in the future there are studies that have been done that show that one dollar in preparedness one dollar in forethought will actually save four to seven dollars in response and what we as the international community need to do is start thinking about spending that money today in order to save that money in the future people living in the bangladesh delta are extremely vulnerable to problems caused by erosion soil salinity frequent floods and cyclones the population here is dependent mostly on rice cultivation for their food in a nationwide project the women of the community started developing practical solutions to adapt they raised dikes for ponds to preserve fresh water all year round they stopped saltwater intrusion into canals and they built a bunker for their own safety during cyclones thus they have come up with their own solutions to ensure their own survival and security of food and water supply using their own initiative the women have created resilience for themselves and their community [Music] the effects of adaptation can be immediate however people in vulnerable areas need help to access resources including financing and knowledge people can develop creative ideas and innovative solutions they can build partnerships with local administration bodies and organizations [Music] building climate resilience and the capacity to adapt provides more than just climate related benefits its influence has beneficial effects for individuals families communities countries and society as a whole if we don't adapt we threaten to roll back decades of progress in reducing poverty and improving economic growth it really does compromise the stability and security of communities and countries so we have an opportunity to act now and to make investments in adaptation that will have an impact in terms of the future we also have to see this as an opportunity an opportunity to transform society an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that we have made and be able to build better so that we can have a future for us and for future generations that is safer that has the same opportunities and that is better for all very often i get asked well and what if we don't do that what's what's the plan what are we going to do if we're not able to address climate change and the simple answer to that is we don't have plan b because we don't have planet b we have one planet and so plan a is we are going to address climate change that doesn't mean that it's easy because if we're easy we would have done it but none of us can hide behind the responsibility and the commitment that we all have to have to do this and to do it in a timely fashion [Music] [Music] deltas around the world all face the same challenges in relation to climate change and alongside mitigation adaptation is urgent and i think it is time to adapt now and not only in the netherlands my country but worldwide if we don't adopt a change in climate will not have our beautiful island for children and for our children's children so it is very important that we make all efforts to ensure that this future is secured for the survival of islands like mine we have to act and act urgently any impact on climate change will affect our economy and our people uh well our people have been adapting to climate change ever since they have been inhabited they are finding their own ways but i think they would need urgent actions by the international community because the path of the changing of climate change is something that the people alone cannot cope up with we need to make lot a lot investment in adaptation we look at adaptation cost not only as cost but as an investment and people in bangladesh and in my region trying to adapt to climate change by experiencing by developing floating gardens floating schools floating education system so that we can face climate change in a far better way but we have to receive lot of support for making our communities our ecosystems more resilient to adverse impacts of climate change in malawi addressing the challenges of climate change is very key to sustainable development as such the government is prioritizing addressing adaptation in such a way that we are developing policies and programs that will help to identify critical adaptation needs africa is the one of the most vulnerable continent to the negative impact of climate change so the way we see it is working with communities increasing their resilience and empowering the communities would mean building the capacities of the different members and particularly the women the elderly and the youth because their vulnerability vulnerabilities are increasing with climate change europe like the rest of the world is increasingly challenged by climate change there are increases in extreme events such as heat waves floods and proud and this needs to be addressed and what can we do about that we have to change our paradigms and goals that inform decisions in the past we will have to deploy new technologies in order to reduce the risks of climate change [Music] climate change is a human story the causes of climate change are man-made and the solutions must be man-made in order to reduce climate change in order to adapt to these changes and to mitigate our impact on the planet we have to start with human stories i love listening to people's stories i'm victoria hermann i'm a geographer and a national geographic explorer [Music] when people read stories about climate change it's often in far-off places like the arctic or small islands but climate change affects everyone by the end of this century at least 420 town cities and villages across the united states will be partially underwater no matter how much we reduce our greenhouse gases today [Music] but there's never a narrative that should be hopeless there is hope in every climate change story it's just about finding the right solutions over the course of 2016 and 2017 i traveled across the united states and u.s territories and conducted over 350 interviews with local leaders from the chesapeake bay to american samoa from alabama to alaska at first i thought the biggest challenges were going to be the loss of property the loss of houses of critical infrastructure but what people really wanted to talk to me about was losing histories the traditions that they can pass down to the next generation i think of myself as first a listener and then a connector [Music] most days for me are coming to places like here we are on the eastern shore of the chesapeake bay geographically we're in a place called poverty point but the great organization we're working with has renamed it patriot point to reflect the work they're doing with vets this is an incredible property where vets come to hunt to fish to seek the healing that they need these are the coats that we give out to wounded service members when they come in the owners of patriot point didn't realize that climate change would impact them so quickly and so intensely i want to understand their history their landscape and their climate change challenges so when you see shoreline erosion uh is it usually with a big storm that's coming in or is it just a king this year we're having two to three foot above normal tides when we think of sea level rise and extreme storms we first go to our shorelines to the jersey shore with hurricane sandy or to louisiana with hurricane katrina but climate change impacts all bodies of water whether there are bays that can see sea level rise or rivers they can see flooding into the plains around them the chesapeake bay is one of the fastest changing ecosystems in the united states related to climate change at patriot point i walked along the eroding edges to see how the land has changed over the past year decade maybe 50 years we're looking for trees falling over for tides rising above the marshland to understand the rate of erosion and how much sea levels are rising to get a different perspective on that we jumped onto a boat and saw it from the water side so we can see how those waves are cutting under the land and seeing how that is making this whole property more vulnerable to sea level rise now that was the tidal pond right there oh wow it's all built in and we're losing a little bit there all local people are valuable experts here lately we've had these 65 70 mile an hour northwest winds northeast winds and there's nothing here to stop it the best knowledge that we get from any place is the people who are living there 24 7. the people who are living through those changes when you got to almost two and a half miles of waterfront it's hard to especially when that waterfront is changing constantly [Music] i take everything that i've listened to and analyze it think about what potential solutions what other expertise we can bring in to make that place safe climate change adaptations along shorelines often take two different forms greener solutions which use nature to make our landscapes more resilient creating salt-resistant marshes creating areas that can flood and bounce back or more gray solutions using concrete to build up a sea wall patriarch can benefit from both of these if you've grown up working and living on the water not being able to live on the chesapeake bay fundamentally changes who you are and that's what people are afraid of people are afraid of losing their identity i love this area born and raised here and like i say this is what i truly love how can you leave this place that's it each of us has expertise that we need to share so we can make better solutions we have skills-based volunteers working all across the country whether it's rebuilding a sea wall in alaska helping to move a building in louisiana [Music] we are helping preserve local histories in the face of sea level rise the more people we have working on a climate change solution the better it will be my grandparents were holocaust survivors they were survivors of auschwitz concentration camp and they came to this country with nothing but themselves and the memories of those who were lost and built an incredible life and gave back to their community [Music] if they could find hope and resilience in that story there's no reason why i can't share that same hope and resilience in climate change stories today the future can be hopeful if you can work together and you can identify what every person can contribute to a climate change solution [Music] you