A united front is being formed across the North-East to adapt to and combat climate change as its impacts are felt in the region.

The first meeting of the North-East Climate Change Partnership, involving between 40 and 50 organisations, will be held on July 12 at the Rivergreen Centre in Durham.

The aim will be to evaluate what is already happening in the region to meet the challenges of climate change and identify what needs to be done.

The partnership will draw up action plans and lists of priority tasks as part of a bid to co-ordinate a regional approach to global warming.

The business sector, local authorities, North East Assembly, Environment Agency, and Natural England will be among those making up the new partnership.

It is expected that the action plans will be unveiled in March next year.

"We want to agree on a regional approach to climate change and who will be taking what action, and the action plans will be the delivery mechanism. We want to make sure the region adapts to climate change," said Adrian Hilton, climate change co-ordinator for the North-East.

He is based at the North-East Assembly but works for Sustaine, the independent body which champions sustainability in the region.

Sustaine also has a new board, which will hold its first meeting on July 10.

A total of 25 councils in the North-East have either signed up to, or promised to sign, the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change, which obliges local authorities to work with their communities on the issue.

But as part of the new partnership, a North-East Declaration on Climate Change is being drawn up, which will allow a wider range of organisations to join in.

Steve Brooker, sustainability manager at the North East Assembly, said: "The partnership will work on how businesses, local authorities and their communities, and the natural environment can adapt to the inevitable climate changes, and how to minimise those changes.

"There will be some very clear messages and the action plans will certainly not sit on a shelf. Climate change is one of the biggest threats we face and we need a co-ordinated response across the region."

Earlier this year the results of a study of the effects of climate change on the River Wear catchment were unveiled at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

Commissioned by the Environment Agency, it warned that by 2050, summer temperatures across the area were forecast to be 3C higher with an increase of up to 20% in winter rainfall.

Now the study is to be extended to cover the whole region, looking at how the North-East needs to adapt, with the results to be announced by the end of this year.

The Government has also just issued advice to clarify how bodies like the North East Assembly should be working towards a more sustainable way of living in the region.

"We are working very closely with One NorthEast, Government Office for the North East and a range of other partners to ensure that our economic and planning strategies are carried out in a sustainable way," Mr Brooker said.

The assembly is working on 50 facts sheets which offer advice on how to live sustainably.

"If we carry on living the way we are then our quality of life is likely to suffer," Mr Brooker said.

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Learning quickly

A climate change officer is to work with schools in the North-East.

With the subject being included in the schools curriculum from next year, the appointment is being handled by Durham University's Science Learning Centre.

The centre offers training to science teachers at its base in Pity Me, which was opened two years ago and has sustainable living features such as a wind turbine, solar panels, rainwater recycling system and a hook-up to recharge electric cars.

The post will be funded by the Environment Agency's Northumbria regional flood defence committee. The job will be a key part of the Climate Change Schools Project.

"The aim is to raise awareness of climate change in schools, what it will mean for the next generation, and that they are fully aware of the implications," said Environment Agency spokesman Peter Kerr.