State Government Professionals
State action to prepare for climate change is essential for preparing the nation as a whole. This network provides state professionals access to resources specifically tailored for state decisionmakers. State climate adaptation leaders can find examples of innovative state policies, agency guidance, and sector specific tools. State actors can also share key resources with one another by uploading resources to the site.
READ MOREThis network page was created in coordination with state leaders from across the United States that participate in the Georgetown Climate Center's State Adaptation Policy Forum.
SHOW LESSState Policy Forum - Managed Retreat
GCC hosts a bi-monthly phone call with select State representatives. This tab features resources on managed retreat as one strategy to adapt to rising seas, flooding, and land loss, the topic for the October 2018 call.
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Louisiana 2017 Coastal Master Plan
June 2, 2017
In June 2017, the Louisiana State Legislature unanimously approved the state’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan, which updates the state’s 2012 plan. The Coastal Master Plan provides a 50-year blueprint for directing Louisiana’s investments, regulations, and programs in coastal restoration, resilience, and protection. The plan recommends 124 projects to restore coastal ecosystems, build flood control structures, and enhance land-use policies to reduce flood risks in coastal Louisiana communities and to enhance coastal economies and ecosystems.
Resource Category: Planning
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Norfolk Vision 2100
November 22, 2016
The City of Norfolk Virginia’s Vision 2100 sets out a high-level strategy to adapt to sea-level rise and flooding through the end of the century. By taking this long-term approach, Norfolk hopes to begin making planning and investment decisions now that will help ensure it remains a “dynamic, water-based community” as climate impacts become increasingly acute in the future.
Resource Category: Planning
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Building a Better Norfolk: A Zoning Ordinance of the 21st Century - Norfolk, Virginia
January 23, 2018
The City of Norfolk, Virginia adopted a new zoning ordinance in 2018 to enhance flood resilience and direct new more intense development to higher ground. The ordinance establishes a Coastal Resilience Overlay (CRO) zone, where new development and redevelopment will have to comply with new flood resilience requirements, and an Upland Resilience Overlay (URO), designed to encourage new development in areas of the city with lower risk of flooding.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Protecting the Public Interest through the National Coastal Zone Management Program: How Coastal States and Territories Use No-Build Areas along Ocean and Great Lake Shorefronts
May 2012
This report provides an overview of policy options for limiting new construction in vulnerable coastal areas, and a summary of existing laws and regulations in states with federally approved coastal management programs (CMPs). To better understand and communicate how state CMPs manage ocean and Great Lake shorefront development, NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) (now a part of the Office for Coastal Management) conducted this study to look specifically at where states are employing shorefront strategies to protect the public interest and natural resources.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Sea Level Rise Ready: Model Comprehensive Plan Goals, Objectives, and Policies to address SLR Impacts in Florida
May 2010
'Sea Level Rise Ready' presents selected model comprehensive planning goals, objectives, and policies meant to address local sea level rise adaptation for a hypothetical city/county in Southwest Florida. It offers best practice examples from other jurisdictions that illustrate the use of SLR adaptation policies, and it concludes that “low or no regrets” actions can be implemented now and in many cases already have been taken by one or more local jurisdictions. Model Goal 1 creates a "Vulnerable Area" overlay for spatial planning, while Goals 2, 3, and 4 establish a framework for pursuing the adaptation strategies of Protection, Accommodation, and Managed Retreat within the overlay.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Thomas Ankersen, Krystle Macadangdang, Melissa Newmons
Resource Category: Planning
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Lessons from the Storm: Climate Displacement Three Years After Hurricane Sandy
October 28, 2015
This report by the Center for American Progress assesses the recovery of New York’s and New Jersey’s middle- and low-income communities three years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the region in 2012. The report analyzes the challenges encountered by state and city leaders to help reduce displacement of people in the days and years following the storm, as well as innovative policies that emerged to prevent future extreme weather and climate displacement. The Center also highlights the important role that community groups play as citizen first responders, liaisons to government officials, and in long-term housing and recovery efforts.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Danielle Baussan, Miranda Peterson
Resource Category: Solutions
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National Park Service Coastal Adaptation Strategies Handbook
October 31, 2016
The National Park Service (NPS) has developed the Coastal Adaptation Strategies Handbook to support coastal area park responses to the climate change effects associated with coastal storms and sea level rise. This handbook reviews climate change impacts on coastal parks; identifies useful resources and adaptation strategies; provides examples of approaches to address coastal vulnerabilities from NPS as an agency and for individual parks, and offers policy and decision-making guidelines. The report provides guidance for NPS managers, partners, and other practitioners in selecting and implementing climate change adaptation strategies in estuarine and coastal areas, including the Great Lakes.
Resource Category: Planning
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National Park Service Coastal Adaptation Strategies: Case Studies
November 25, 2015
This National Park Service report reviews the successful implementation of coastal climate adaptation strategies through 24 case studies of coastal adaptation projects in National Parks. The adaptation efforts described include historic structure preservation, archeological surveys, baseline data collection and documentation, habitat restoration, engineering solutions, redesign and relocation of infrastructure, and development of broad management plans that consider climate change.
Resource Category: Monitoring and Reporting
