Adaptation and Resilience
Issue Summary
U.S. EPA
Other Federal Agencies/Programs
Organizations/Non-government Programs
Databases and Tools
Publications
Multimedia
Financing
Issue Summary
Localities around the world are facing the
impacts of climate change today. Experts predict that continued shifts in the
global climate will result in widespread adverse effects, including sea level
rise, flooding, coastal erosion, drought, heat waves, wildfires and more
frequent and severe extreme weather events. Adaptation and resilience
refer to the adjustments that decision-makers can implement to stave off or
minimize the damages of these impacts.
Local governments can actively assess their
communities' vulnerability to climate change and begin to develop programs,
policies and strategies accounting for anticipated impacts on community
infrastructure, economy, health, safety and welfare.
For information and resources on climate mitigation,
please visit our Climate Change Mitigation
page.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
The
president issued executive orders addressing national climate change
adaptation actions. Some of these call for implementation through local
governments.
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U.S. EPA
EPA
Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center. Online compendium of EPA climate
adaptation resources. Provides links to financing resources, technical
training, case studies and state programs. Includes a regionally-tailored
search tool so users can find the resources most relevant to their locality.
EPA
Library for Climate Change Adaptation. Repository of EPA publications on climate
adaptation. Organized to include resources related to air quality, water
management, emergency response, public health and adaptation planning.
EPA Local Government
Climate Adaptation Training. Online, self-paced module discussing the basics of
climate change and vulnerabilities unique to local governments. Provides
strategies and resources for addressing these impacts through drought, fire and
flood management planning.
EPA Resilience and Natural Disaster Debris Workshops. Summary reports from an EPA workshop focused on preparing for climate change-related natural disasters. Provides key considerations for planning, including strategies for increasing community involvement in planning and ensuring environmental justice in debris disposal activities.
EPA Guidance About Planning for Natural Disaster Debris. Lists recommended components for a debris management plan, management options for expected debris streams, case studies and links to additional resources to consult when crafting your locality's plan.
Other Federal
Agencies/Programs
Center for Disease Control (CDC) Climate and
Health Program. Agency program focused on
helping state, tribal and local government health departments identify and
prepare for climate-related health impacts in their communities. Provides
grants, training and guidance materials for capacity-building.
Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Climate Portal. Compilation of
online tools, databases and guidance documents to increase knowledge and
capacity for climate-sensitive disaster preparedness and emergency management.
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Flood
Risk Mapping for Community Officials. FEMA guidance, data and tools to help
communities assess their flood-related risks and better mitigate future harm.
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Planning
for Future Conditions Fact Sheet. Brief fact sheet with guidance and
resources for building resilience through climate-sensitive, comprehensive
hazard mitigation planning.
Resilient National Partnership Network. Community of over 1500 organizations working together to inform, educate and motivate communities to improve their localities' resilience to natural disasters. Provides access to virtual forum series, email newsletter and guidance documents.
U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Climate Preparedness and Resilience Program.
Summary of USACE climate adaptation strategy with links to reports and
publications from USACE adaptation-focused projects and assessments.
NOAA Disaster and Risk Mapping Tool. Interactive mapping tool with county-level data on disaster risk and costs relating to droughts, floodings, freezes, storms, winter storms and cyclones.
Compendium of Federal Nature-Based Resources for Coastal Communities, States, Tribes and Territories. Compilation of federal resources and information for understanding nature-based approaches to climate adaptation. Includes information for designing projects like coastal habitat restoration, barrier islands, beach nourishment and sediment removal and wetland and estuary projects. Also provides detailed guidance for funding, financing and valuing such projects.
Organizations/Non-Government Programs
Extreme Heat and Resilience Alliance: Reducing Extreme Heat Risk for Vulnerable People. Multi-sectoral coalition focusing on addressing issues of extreme heat and climate change through providing guidance documents, developing policy recommendations, supplying access to funding and implementing interventions.
Georgetown
Climate Center. An initiative of Georgetown Law School dedicated to creating and
accumulating resources for local, state and federal climate action. Includes
links to climate change databases, guidance documents, policy briefs and
toolkits for both mitigation and adaptation.
Adaptation
Clearinghouse. Repository of adaptation focused resources for policymakers.
Content focal areas include water, coastal, transportation, infrastructure and
public health sectors, concentrating on adaptation planning, policies, laws and
governance.
International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Global network of local governments
and related stakeholders. Provides publications, webinars, toolkits and other
guidance documents focused on local climate action. Offers member cities
opportunities for peer-to-peer learning exchange.
Databases and Tools
Community Resilience Estimates Equity Supplement. U.S. Census Bureau tool providing information on communities' capacity to absorb external stresses from disaster. Includes data for the nation, states, counties and census tracts.
Climate. Park. Change. Climate change data accumulated to assist parks and recreation officials prepare for local climate impacts. Includes interactive map with locality-level data on climate impacts, adaptation strategies, case studies and a ready-to-use toolkit.
EPA Creating
Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU). EPA initiative to provide drinking
water, wastewater and stormwater utilities with technical training, resources,
assessment tools, case studies and historical and projection data to help
improve the water sector's climate resilience.
EPA
Climate Adaptation Tools. Repository of online tools to help with adaptation
efforts related to air quality, water management, waste management, emergency
response and public health.
National Integrated Heat Health Information System. Center for Disease Control and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration database for understanding and combating the public health and safety concerns posed by extreme heat. Includes a suite of experimental mapping tools as well as topical news and events.
Ready-to-Fund Resilience Toolkit. American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP) toolkit targeted at small and mid-sized municipal governments seeking to improve resilience. Provides strategies for designing fundable projects by focusing on specific policy levers, identifying opportunities for partnership, improving accounting practices and rethinking internal processes.
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Killer Heat Interactive
Tool. Interactive web tool to help local governments and
communities make future projections for the incidence of extreme heat days in
cities and counties across the U.S.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity. Provides information regarding HHS actions on climate change adaptation and environmental justice such as their work with the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice, the creation of their web pages detailing the nexus between climate change, environmental justice, and public health, and their newsletter sharing key news and events on related subject-matter. Includes links to ongoing programming as well as the HHS 2021 Strategic Plan for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.
U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. Comprehensive
online toolkit created by the federal government to provide cities with
step-by-step guidance, comprehensive data, regionally-tailored advice and case
studies to improve America's collective climate resilience.
Adapting Stormwater Management for Coastal Floods. Step-by-step guidance for developing climate-resilient, flood-prepared stormwater infrastructure by understanding, assessing and analyzing your current system and local flood projections.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Dashboard providing information on extreme heat to assist decision-makers in designing locally-tailored interventions. Shows extreme heat progression over time, heat-related health impacts and data visualizations of LIHEAP program impacts.
Publications
Changing Land Use
and Building Codes and Policies to Prepare for
Climate Change. EPA guidance document providing strategies
for overcoming common barriers to adaptation planning and discussion of local
government actions for adaptation to flooding, extreme precipitation, sea level
rise, extreme heat, droughts and wildfires.
Floodplain Buyouts: An Action
Guide for Local Governments on How
to Maximize Community Benefits, Habitat Connectivity and Resilience.
Offers practical recommendations for communities on how to optimize use and
management of buyout properties to provide habitat and improve community
resilience. Includes an action guide to help local governments maximize the
benefits of their floodplain acquisition programs. (Environmental Law
Institute)
Killer Heat. UCS report including
city-level data
for projected increases in extreme heat across the U.S. Includes discussion of
key adaptation measures including investment in heat-smart infrastructure and
climate-smart power systems.
National Climate Assessment. Interactive online
publication assessing the science of climate change and highlighting its
importance to the U.S. Provides regional climate outlooks and a comprehensive
review of important actions for American climate adaptation.
Principles for Locally Led Adaptation. Eight principles endorsed by 70 different organizations, led by the World Resources Institute, providing a framework for a bottom-up, inclusive and equitable approach to climate change adaptation planning.
Regional Climate Action Planning Framework. Provides methodology and other considerations for calculating the costs of implementing local climate action plans (CAPs) and performing CAP implementation cost-analysis. Developed by the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) for the San Diego Regional Association of Governments with best practices applicable to cities across the U.S.
Resilient
Cities, Thriving Cities: The Evolution of Urban
Resilience. ICLEI publication tracing the evolution of urban
resilience over the last decade. Explores a variety of resilience approaches
including nature-based solutions and includes successful examples from around
the world.
Sea Level Rise Technical Report. Provides sea level rise projections for each U.S. state and territory as well as different scenarios and probability for related hazards and extreme weather. Also includes use cases to assist decision-makers in staving off future negative impacts.
Status of Tribes and Climate Change (STACC) Report. Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) report on how Indigenous peoples across the U.S. are impacted by climate change and the innovative solutions they are implementing. Provides holistic, in-depth review of the unique experiences of and threats to Tribes, reviews resilience strategies spanning environmental media (air, water, soil, ecosystems and more), health and wellbeing, energy, economic development, cultural resources, emergency management and relocation; and provides recommendations for decision-makers and others supporting Tribal efforts.
Toward Climate Resilience. UCS report
detailing a
framework of 15 key principles to help decision-makers prioritize investments
in climate adaptation efforts, emphasizing science, sustainability, social
equity and financial feasibility.
Multimedia
Cool Cities Podcast.
Podcast episode featuring a climate
scientist, a legal expert and a local elected official's discussion on local governments' use of air
conditioning mandates to
address extreme heat, along with this
strategy's associated advantages, disadvantages and
alternatives. (Environmental Law Institute)
Cool Cities Webinar. An expert
panel of municipal officials, public health experts and legal scholars discuss
innovative strategies localities can take to address the increasing
temperatures and more frequent heat waves associated with climate change.
(Environmental Law Institute)
Financing
For more information on financing for
climate adaptation and resilience, visit our Financing page.
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