ABSTRACT
Clima te cha nge adap tation has typically bee n seen as a bot tom -up process, d riven by the ma rket, or by the self-interest o f the ind ivid ua l, firm or community benefiting from the ada ptation measure. However, events such as the Boscastle and Carlisle flood s and now the UK floods of summer 2007, let alone those on the sca le of Hurricane Katrina, demonstrate tha t geograp hically concentrated wea the r events quickly escalate costs as infra structure - physical assets and networks as we ll as social support sys tems - are di srupted (at the date of writing approxima tely 140,000 homes in C louces te rs hi re we re w ithou t runn ing wa ter due to flood damage at the Mythe trea tmen t wo rks nea r Tewksbury). As the reviews and enqui ries into the UK's floods of summe r 2007 ge t underway, comments mad e by the Prime Ministe r, Gordon Brown and by Barone ss Young (Chief Executive of the UK Environment Agency) ind icate that the sca le of the problems caused by those events w ill d rive a response characterised by governmen t interv enti on . Baroness Young has already stated that mill ions of pounds must be spe n t o n imp roving d ra inage and protecting infrastructu re, such as electricity sub-stations and wa ter plants.
