|
Welcome!
|
Planning to Protect
Lynne Carter
Director, Adaptation Network
In April, the Adaptation Network co-sponsored, with the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Cape Cod Commission, a workshop entitled: "Plan to Protect". The workshop was designed to offer guidance to decision-makers on how to prepare for climate change. The presentations were case studies that demonstrated how different communities have approached planning for adaptation to specific issues that are likely to become more of a problem as the climate changes, e.g., heavy downpours, sea-level rise, infrastructure planning, and forest fires. These specific issues were chosen because they are hazards that the Cape Cod communities already include in hazard planning and they are likely to become more problematic as the climate continues to change.
One of the workshop goals was to offer examples with the hope that the communities who learned about what others had done would be able to extract transferable lessons and practices from these models and begin to think about new information to include in their community planning efforts.
The second goal of the workshop was to kick off an opportunity for towns on Cape Cod and the Islands (in Massachusetts) to begin to incorporate climate adaptation into their hazard planning efforts.
I am delighted about the workshop and the encouragement it gave many towns--more than just the Cape Cod towns who attended--to rethink their perspectives on future planning.
I am even more excited about the second goal of the workshop: finding a way to incorporate climate information into the regular (every-five-year) hazard planning process. I have been thinking more and more, as I wrote in the last newsletter, that climate change issues and adaptation planning can’t remain stand-alone issues. Rather they need to become interwoven in the planning efforts that are on-going in many communities. We as members of society need to understand and factor into every facet of our planning what is likely coming environmentally. We cannot continue to plan developments without looking to see where sea level will likely be when these developments are completed--and filled with families. We cannot blindly build without taking into consideration what those buildings and their infrastructure will face over their lifetimes. Do we build drainage basins as we always have or do we recognize that more of our rain is coming in heavy downpours, and make culverts bigger to avoid damage to roadways and downstream structures and communities? Do we recognize what it means that just since 1990 the hardiness zones for plants (e.g., trees) have moved significantly north, so that we plant different trees so they can be healthy, more appropriate to their local climate, and live longer?
Or do we pretend that all is as it has always been?
I am looking forward to the adventure of trying to figure out how we can build into the FEMA pre-hazard mitigation planning process that the climate of the future will be different than the climate of today or yesterday. This is critical: communities can no longer afford to keep adding work to their underfunded and overburdened administrations. We need to incorporate new knowledge (projections of likely future climates) into efforts already being undertaken on a regular basis, like hazard planning. Stay tuned for our notes on how we accomplish this effort in the “Plan to Protect” program. It will take nearly a year but I will keep you informed as we make progress.
For a map of the new plant hardiness zones, go to
www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
|
|
Potential Funding Opportunity
|
Please note the closing date has been extended from the original announcement:
Environmental Protection Agency
Advancing Public Health Protection through Water Infrastructure Sustainability
Current Closing Date for Applications: August 17, 2009
Expected Number of Awards: 8
Estimated Total Program Funding: $6,000,000
CFDA Number: 66.509 – Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Research Program
http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2009/2009_star_water_infrastructure.html |
|
|
Adaptation Network News
|
What's Going ON!: Adaptation a Household Word in the United States of America?
In the past few months, we are seeing
- New reports by respected climate voices
- In June: “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” by the US Global Change Research Program (its first major publication since Obama took office). Our director Lynne Carter is among the primary authors of this report. This is “the most comprehensive and authoritative report of its kind” on impacts in different regions of the U.S. and on various aspects of society and the economy such as energy, water, agriculture, and health. See
www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts
- In June: “Ask the Climate Question: Adapting to Climate Change Impacts in Urban Regions,” by the Center for Clean Air Policy’s Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative, led by Josh Foster whom we interviewed in our last issue. See
www.ccap.org/docs/resources/674/Urban_Climate_Adaptation-FINAL_CCAP%206-9-09.pdf.
- In April: “Good Morning, America!: The Explosive U.S. Awakening to the Need for Adaptation,” by Susanne Moser, supported by the California Energy Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center. See
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/publications/need-for-adaptation.pdf
- In January: “Adaptation Planning: What U.S. States and Localities are Doing,” prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. See www.pewclimate.org/working-papers/adaptation.
- These reports join and in some cases update others produced during 2007 and 2008 which are available free on our website. Topics include: downscaling, coastal impacts, guidance for governments, and a survey of adaptation planning around the world.
- A national climate service proposed in Congress (HR 2685, which the Adaptation Network was asked to review; see below for our evaluation of what’s great and what could be better about the bill).
- Adaptation emerging as a focus in the domestic philanthropic community (and the Adaptation Network invited to advise) joining those who have been funding adaptation in developing nations.
What’s going on indeed? When we started in 2006, major national environmental organizations edged politely away from us when we brought up adaptation in conversation as both a progressive political imperative and a social and ethical necessity. We had to use “vigilante public speaking” to get our point across at important panel discussions on climate change (getting to the mike first at question-and-answer time.) We were told—by climate panelists--it was politically too risky even to bring up adaptation, and too expensive to do anything about. We were told we’d have to wait until Bush was out of office to do anything other than nibble around the edges of the debate whose terms others told us were defined inside the Beltway. Not so!
Suddenly, adaptation is on everyone’s tongue—and more importantly, on their minds! It’s being defined as we define it: “just better planning.” While CCAP (in the report referenced above) asks how planning, policy, funding, infrastructure and land development decisions affect emissions and adaptation, and we reverse it to ask how climatic changes affect our planning, what has changed is that the questions are being asked.
The Adaptation Network’s “Take” on HR 2685
The Adaptation Network was invited to review a new bill in Congress (HR 2685) to establish a National Climate Enterprise. Beyond celebrating the bill’s many good points, Lynne emphasized in her letter to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife of the Committee on Natural Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives, that a neutral office may be more effective than one run by an agency; incentives and disincentives may be important to build in; and equity issues be addressed, so that those who need the information get it, regardless of ability to pay. For a copy of Lynne’s letter, please contact us directly. We’ll be glad to provide it.
|
|
New Resources in Adaptation and...
Adaptation Training
|
The Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the [world-famous for producing downscaling information decisionmakers can actually use] Stockholm Environment Institute, are offering a 2-week 'winter school' in the use of climate information for developing adaptation strategies, plans and policies. The winter school took place from 13 to 26 July 2009, and was designed to provide a balance between seminar style teaching and hands-on training, supported by leading climate scientists and adaptation experts, using the weADAPT platform for developing the curriculum. THEY aim to provide an overview of the latest relevant climate science as well as working through sector specific case studies and experiences of the application of this knowledge in acting to reduce risks. The winter school is supported financially by UNITAR and SENSA. See www.csag.uct.ac.za/winterschool2009 for more information. Note that this particular course is full and registration is closed; the webpage notes that “Expressions of interest from potential participants are being solicited and should be addressed to Tracy Ewen at tewen@csag.uct.ac.za"
The question was asked of the of the United Kingdom’s Governance and Social Develoment Resource Center, “Please identify a range of training centres and/or training courses on climate change adaptation. Ideally, courses or centres will have a greater focus on social impact and links to public policy and planning. Courses should be short, a few days to a couple of weeks. In-house options from multilateral agencies might also be a possibility.” What a practical question! For the answer, see www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Helpdesk&id=508.The short answer is that they don’t have a lot more than we don’t have – I don’t understand this comment, but there is certainly some useful training out there if you are interested in specific sectors. A summary and a link to the full report are at this link. Who are the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre? The GSDRC “was established by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in 2005 to provide high quality, timely information to support international development project and programme planning, policy-making, and other activities in the field. The GSDRC is the successor to the Governance Resource Centre (GRC), established in 2001.
Note: It is often useful to look internationally as well as domestically for up-to-the-minute, down-to-Earth adaptation “how-to” information! We help you do that in this newsletter. |
|
“Blue-Green” (Worker-Environmentalist) Alliances
|
We like the looks of this new nonprofit advocating carbon caps for increasing blue-collar jobs: www.thecapsolution.org
|
|
Coastal Areas
|
The NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) has released the Coastal Climate Adaptation Web site at http://community.csc.noaa.gov/climateadaptation/. It offers local and state plans, new policies, case studies, risk and vulnerability assessments, and decision-support tools. The site is also building a community of practice on coastal climate adaptation via a forum where users can suggest new resources, engage in dialogue on the issues, and submit comments and questions. For more information, contact Stephanie Fauver at Stephanie.Fauver@noaa.gov.
“How Resilient is Your Coastal Community?: A Guide for Evaluating Coastal Community Resilience to Tsunamis and Other Hazards” is available from:
http://apps.develebridge.net/usiotws/13/CoastalCommunityResilience%20Guide.pdf.
While the title suggests a focus on tsunamis, we feel the guide offers a straight-forward approach to assessing coastal community resilience to any number of natural hazards. It is a good addition to any community repertoire for methods assessing coastal resilience, whether storm surge or any other hazard. It was developed by six different partners, all well known in coastal management issues.
EPA’s Climate Ready Estuary Program has recently released the document: Synthesis of Adaptation Options for Coastal Areas. This guide provides a brief introduction to key physical impacts of climate change on estuaries and a review of on-the-ground adaptation options available to coastal managers to reduce their systems’ vulnerability to climate change impacts. The guide is organized in three sections: overview of key climate change impacts on coastal areas; existing adaptation options; and selected resources for further information. You can download this document from EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries website at
www.epa.gov/cre/adaptationoptions.html
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of the State of California issued an Executive Order on November 14, 2008 for a NAS research and assessment effort on California sea-level rise, a public gathering of policy-relevant information, development of advice on how California should plan for future sea-level rise, a biennial review of the NAS assessment, incorporation of estimated sea-level rise amounts in any state agency construction plans in areas vulnerable to future sea-level rise, an assessment of the vulnerability of the state’s transportation systems to sea-level rise, a coordinated state Climate Adaptation Strategy, and that the California Resources Agency will provide state land-use planning guidance related to sea-level rise and other climate change impacts. See: gov.ca.gov/index.php?/print-version/executive-order/11036/
|
|
Collaboration
|
Join us in the frontline knowledge explorer and take part in an exciting initiative to share YOUR valuable first-hand experience with decision makers, experts and practitioners around the world. Go to http://tinyurl.com/frontlineknowledge
The Danish government’s dialogue, “Climate Change Adaptation for Land and Water Management” is a way to find best practices that lead to robustness and resilience around land, water, and climate issues. They have developed a list of guiding principles that promote integrated land and water management. The general information is gathered from a series of regional conferences and the website encourages posting of ideas, discussion, and sharing. Go to www.landwaterdialogue.um.dk
Climate Frontlines is an on-line discussion asking: “how is local knowledge of climate and weather patterns helping your community?” Adaptation Network director Lynne Carter notes she always finds something interesting in others’ experiences with climate change and adaptation, and is continually reminded that traditional knowledge has a great deal to offer in addressing climate extremes. The most recent discussion here includes the recognition that using a traditional grass in erosion situations will stop the erosion and that helps both the land and the corals in the wash zone. Another note from a recent newsletter is to "stay where the old village used to be." It was built in a location that avoided even irregular flooding that is becoming more common with sea-level rise. If you have experiences that you want to share, write to peoples@climatefrontlines.org
|
|
Community-Based Adaptation (CBA)
|
The Third International Workshop on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change was held in Bangladesh, February 2009 and included three days of field visits to observe community-based adaptation (CBA) initiatives firsthand. The workshop shared latest developments in adaptation planning and practices and disseminated knowledge among stakeholders, with a view to integrating adaptation into national and international development programs. The report is now available at www.iisd.ca/ymb/sdcab/
Adaptation Africa is a quarterly bulletin from the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program that helps communities develop the capacity for adaptation, and the capacity to participate in action research. They offer an online “adaptation learning mechanism” (ALM) “that supports the integration of climate change adaptation into development planning by widening access to available knowledge and experience.” The ALM includes templates for sharing information, country profiles, case studies and lessons learned, and a collection of guidance and tools. See www.adaptationlearning.net/resources/studies.php
Community-Based Adaptation (CBA-X) is a shared online resource designed to bring together and grow the CBA community. It provides a space for exchange of up-to-date and relevant information about community-based adaptation, including news, events, case studies, tools, policy resources, and videos. See www.cba-exchange.org
|
|
Database
|
The Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington is developing the CASES (Climate Adaptation caSE Studies) database. CASES is a searchable database that provides basic information on state and local adaptation planning efforts anywhere in the world. Users may query the database using a range of criteria including location, population size, climate impacts, and adaptation activities. In addition, users can contribute to database development by submitting new records directly over the web. See http://cses.washington.edu/cig/cases
|
|
Definitions
Evaluation
|
Often, evaluation is advocated in planning but not included in any detail. The result is often inability to assess an actions’ real success. A new paper provides a guiding framework for adaptation evaluation, “Are We Adapting to Climate Change?: Research and Methods for Evaluating Progress.” Contact the corresponding author for a copy of the paper: Benjamin L Preston, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Aspendale,
VIC, 3195 Australia, benjamin.preston@csiro.au
“Evaluating Climate Change Adaptation from a Development Perspective” presents a multi-scale adaptation evaluation framework and argues that clear and effective adaptation evaluation feedback mechanisms are needed at all levels from household to project to program. Download the full report or the research summary at
http://www.ids.ac.uk/index.cfm?objectid=E7F528D9-D84A-8558-5512ADF4C4807209
Many other worthwhile-looking adaptation-related reports are available from this website, many of them downloadable free in pdf. Go to www.ids.ac.uk/go/bookshop (or click on the "Bookshop" tab from the report link above). There, click to search "All" versus "Bookshop" only and insert the search term "adaptation" to locate these reports.
|
|
Farming
|
“Understanding Farmers' Perceptions and Adaptations to Climate Change and Variability” is a case study of farmers in South Africa examining how farmer perceptions correspond with climate data recorded at meteorological stations in the Limpopo River Basin. It also analyzes farmers’ adaptation responses to climate change and variability: http://community.eldis.org/.59c1559f
|
|
Federal Efforts
Finance
Flooding
|
In November, 2007, the US Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Engineering Research Board undertook a flood-mitigation fact finding mission to the European Union, especially the Netherlands and the UK, to help develop a systems approach in water resources development and management that the USACE recognizes as even more critical since Katrina. Among other things, from the Dutch 50-year effort they learned that the “protection” in “flood protection” might more realistically be called “flood risk mitigation,” and that you always need to make room for the river, as rivers cannot always contain the higher amounts of rainfall. A number of lessons learned from this fact-finding trip may be of interest to others when considering flood-related adaptations. See the powerpoint:
www.iwr.usace.army.mil/inside/products/proj/docs_proj//CERBPowerPoint.ppt
|
|
Higher Education
|
The United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace and the University of Tokyo’s Integrated Research Systems for Sustainability Science organized a conference, “The Role of Higher Education in Adapting to Climate Change,” from June 10 to 12 in Tokyo, Japan. Conferees discussed the development of a common curriculum from overview courses to specialized topics on water and food security; joint postgraduate and student exchange programs; specialized training programs to share methodologies and tools, and development of joint research programs. For follow-on information, contact Akhilesh Surjan, UNU Adaptation 2009 Secretariat, adaptation2009@unu.edu or surjan@hq.unu.edu
|
|
Indigenous Peoples
|
Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change: The Inuit Circumpolar Council hosted April 20-24, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska a Global Summit on Climate Change that brought together indigenous delegates and observers. See
www.indigenoussummit.com/servlet/content/home.html.
Thanks to reader Laura Nigro for alerting us to this!
|
|
Poverty
|
“Poverty in a Changing Climate: IDS Bulletin”: ‘The poor’ are often lumped together as one group in the climate change response. The latest issue of the IDS Bulletin 39.4, “Poverty in a Changing Climate argues that adaptation measures will never be efficient, effective, or equitable unless the different layers and dimensions of poverty are recognized.” See
www.ids.ac.uk/index.cfm?objectId=D9DF8B29-E902-19CC-E904660956BBF16D
|
|
Risk
|
Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes: Insuring, Mitigating and Financing Recovery from Natural Disasters in the United States, is an extreme events project of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center in conjunction with Georgia State University and the Insurance Information Institute, released March 2008. The two-year study analyzes data on over 10 million homeowners' policies and the operations of private and state-run insurance companies in various hurricane-prone states. The report, which is being published by MIT Press under the title At War with the Weather (2009), also proposes a series of specific innovations to make the US more resilient to future disasters in the post-Katrina Era. See http://grace.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/
Duplicated activities, ineffective use of resources, and confusing policies are just some of the reasons why disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation should converge. This issue of id21 highlights captures the latest research findings on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction making a strong case for closing the gaps between them. Download at
http://www.id21.org/publications/climate_change_1.pdf
|
|
Sea Level Modeling
|
The Worcester County, MD, Sea-Level Rise Inundation Model was a cooperative project between the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Worcester County. The project was designed to support a number of the State’s sea-level rise and coastal hazard planning goals. The models were adapted to predict storm surge inundation of the area from Category 1 – 4 hurricanes. The Technical Report provides the methodology for the project and contains recommendations for future use of the model in State and local sea-level rise planning efforts. See
www.dnr.state.md.us/Bay/czm/wc_slr_model_final_report_nov2006.pdf
|
|
Security
|
The international e-newsletter Tiempo has a new theme site on climate change and security. There are numerous articles and links to websites on climate change and security. See www.tiempocyberclimate.org/portal/t69web.htm.
|
|
Urban Areas
|
The London Climate Change Partnership (LCCP) better prepares London to adapt to the portion of climate change that cannot be avoided. Topics useful to readers from urban areas in the US as well as the UK include: “Adapting to Climate Change: A Checklist for Developers” and “A Case Study Companion to the Checklist,” “Adapting to Climate Change Impacts: A Good Practice Guide for Sustainable Communities,” “Adapting to Climate Change: Business as Usual,” and “Retrofitting Existing Homes for Climate Change Adaptation.” See www.london.gov.uk/climatechangepartnership
“Systems Approach to Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Metropolises: Case Studies in Adaptive Capacity,” reports on the perceptions of local government officials in the Sydney, Australia metropolitan region regarding barriers to climate change adaptation associated with regional planning, infrastructure, and community expectations. For more information and results as they become available go to:
www.sydneycoastalcouncils.com.au/system-approach-to-regional-climate-change-adaptation-strategies-in-metropolises/index.php
|
|
Vulnerable Ecosystems and Livelihoods
Water
|
September, 2008, the USEPA released their National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change. This document provides an overview of the potential effects of climate change on water resources and the Nation’s clean water and safe drinking water programs. It also describes specific actions the National Water Program will take to adapt program implementation in light of climate change. The document is available from: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water (4101M), EPA 800-R-08-001: www.EPA.gov/water/climatechange/
|
|
Announcements
|
Read It and Weep: Article, “Our Moral Obligation”
This article wins our vote as “farthest out in front” of any we’ve read recently. The author is Lise Van Susteren; the publisher is The Huffington Post. Regardless of controversy attaching to either the author or the publication, we felt it important to highlight this article because we believe so strongly in what it argues. Here is an excerpt from the first paragraph:
|
I am a doctor. A psychiatrist. Over the years I have heard many troubling stories about the human condition…. I have listened to people recount being tortured, abused…. I have evaluated the psychological states of foreign leaders who threaten world security. People have died in my arms, dropped dead at my feet..Nothing has prepared me for what I am currently hearing: scientists all over the world warning us about the threat of catastrophic and irreversible climate change. As a member of several organizations that involve professionals working in the field of mental health, I am stunned that this threat to the health of the planet and the public is so underplayed by these organizations and their members. |
|
See the full article at
www.huffingtonpost.com/lise-van-susteren/our-moral-obligation_b_187751.html |
|
|
New Book from the Union of Concerned Scientists:
"Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming"
With a foreword by author Barbara Kingsolver, the stories in this book are poignant and well-chosen. While not specifically concerned with adaptation, the book’s 67 essays and images help us appeal to a wider audience for all we stand to lose of “beloved places, people, plants, animals, and activities at risk from a changing climate,” and tells “the efforts that individuals are making to save what they love serves as a powerful call to action.” See www.ucsusa.org/americanstories/ to launch the book online or purchase a copy. |
|
|
Global Citizen Dialogue on Climate Change
WorldWideViews on Global Warming will hold citizen deliberations in 45 countries on September 26, 2009. Our friends at the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University will organize one of the seven forums to be conducted in the U.S. Results will be communicated to each country’s delegates to the UN’s climate change conference (COP15) to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009. See
www.cspo.org/documents/newatcspo_ReleaseWWViews3-23-09.pdf |
|
Desperately Seeking
fellow researchers/practitioners. . .
Your AD Here!
no photo necessary.
send all correspondence in care of the Adaptation Network.
If you are seeking colleagues, partners, or simply contacts in any area related to adaptation to climate change, please send us your "ad" and we'll publish it!
|
|