Our fifth and final Quick Fire Talks event on Adaptation was held at St Matthew's Church on Thursday, 19 June. Five speakers from across Lambeth presented their concepts, findings, and lessons learned.
Our fifth and final Quick Fire Talks event on Adaptation was held at St Matthew’s Church on Thursday, 19 June. Four speakers from various initiatives and organisations presented on learning and adaptation, how sports venues can combat increasing temperatures, impacts on supply chains, Sustainable Drainage Systems in Lambeth, and then Cllr Chowdhury ended the event with a summary of the event series so far.
Dee Halligan, Founding Director at Forth, introduced the work of First Hand as part of Forth, which is built around the learning and skills needed for adaptation on a community level. She highlighted the importance of building 'soft skills' in communities, helping them become more resilient and better able to adapt.
Emily Iveson-Pritchard, Head of Sustainability at KIA Oval, Surrey Cricket Club, talk about how the sports ground has introduced a new extreme heat policy to protect its players, staff and spectators during high temperatures. She reflected on how sports ground across the world still have a lot of work to do to adapt to extreme weather.
Gus Fordyce, Principle Consultant at Biodiversify, spoke about how supply chains need to adapt and become more diverse and flexible as climate change impacts affect crop yields of resources such as olive oil, tomatoes and natural latex. He reflected that supermarkets are not ready to quickly change between suppliers to their shelves stocked.
Matthew Panou, Flood Risk and Climate Change Adaptation Manager at Lambeth Council, showcased Lambeth's large-scale Sustainable Drainage System programme and how combating rainfall where it lands in the borough helps alleviate flood risk in the most vulnerable areas.
Councillor Rezina Chowdhury, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air at Lambeth Council, ended the event with a summary of the business network programme so far, highlighting the need for collaboration and peer-to-peer connections to adapt to climate change.
