SRA-E Lisbon 2017

In this two part symposium we explore public perceptions of climate change, its causes and its impacts. Public support for climate policy, and willingness to undertake behavioural change, may partly determine the success of efforts to limit the impacts of climate change through greenhouse gas reduction (mitigation) and limit the harm caused by those impacts that do occur (adaptation). It is therefore important to understand how different public audiences currently conceptualise climate change, its underlying causes, its present and future impacts, and the steps that can be taken to mitigate and adapt to it. The presentations included in these two sessions will cover all of these aspects of climate change risk perception. In Part 1, the first paper by Dryden et al, examines beliefs about the causes and consequences of climate change in contrast to other forms of air pollution. Second, Harcourt et al. report on findings from in-depth interviews exploring the ways in which concepts such as mitigation and adaptation are interpreted by a diverse sample of the UK public. Third, Schmitt et al, present findings from a series of engagement workshops exploring how different stakeholder groups in different Portuguese municipalities perceive climate change and adaptation. In Part 2, the first paper by Taylor et al. uses data from a large UK national survey to compare public expectations about climate change impacts and adaptation priorities with expert assessment. Following this, Klima et al, explore willingness to actively engage in adaptation amongst UK and US residents. Finally, Delicado et al. explore perceptions of climate-related impacts and strategies for resilience amongst children and young people in five European countries, a group often excluded from debates around adaptive measures to climate change. Taken together these papers highlight key differences between expert scientific assessment of climate change and its impacts, and how these are interpreted by different non-expert audiences.