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Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas — Punta Gorda, Florida: Climate Adaptation and Comprehensive Plans and Updates
July 15, 2020
The harborside city of Punta Gorda, Florida has responded to the threat of coastal storms and climate change impacts with two different plans - a Climate Adaptation Plan and a local comprehensive plan - to promote, manage, and protect the city’s natural resources and plan for development in a way that minimizes risks to people and property and conserves ecosystems. The Adaptation Plan is unique because it was developed through a “citizen-driven process” designed to identify effective local responses to climate change and includes a variety of adaptation options that enjoy broad community support, including managed retreat or “planned relocation.” The city incorporated the Climate Adaptation Plan into its comprehensive plan to ensure that climate change is considered in land-use decisionmaking efforts. In 2019, the city released an update to its Adaptation Plan that identifies the city’s progress to date and future adaptation actions the city could consider implementing. Punta Gorda provides a useful example of how effective community engagement can enhance adaptation planning and build community support for managed retreat strategies and how adaptation plans can be used to inform future land-use decisions to ensure safer, more resilient development. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Resource Category: Planning
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Making Equity Real in Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Policies and Programs: A Guidebook
August 2019
To operationalize California’s statewide vision of honoring social equity in the climate adaptation planning and decision-making processes, the Greenlining Institute published Making Equity Real in Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Policies and Programs: A Guidebook. The guidebook provides detailed step-by-step guidelines for policymakers to ensure social equity is embraced and implemented throughout the adaptation processes, from goal setting, to policy implementation, to outcome evaluation.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Sona Mohnot, Jordyn Bishop, Alvaro Sanchez
Resource Category: Planning
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From Community Engagement to Ownership: Tools for the Field with Case studies of Four Municipal Community-Driven Environmental and Racial Equity Committees
June 2018
Recognizing the importance of collaborative governance in reducing inequities as a result of climate vulnerability, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network gave the Innovation Fund Project grant to four municipal community-based committees for racial equity and environmental justice. They were funded to learn and evaluate the collaboration process between community-based committees and the local governments utilizing the spectrum of community engagement to ownership as a tool to analyze the case studies. The four case studies include the Equity Working Group in Portland, the Racial and Environmental Justice Committee in Providence, the Environmental Justice Committee in Seattle, and the Equity Advisory Group for Ward 7 in Washington DC. The four committees and groups contracted with Facilitating Power (FP), Movement Strategy Center (MSC), and the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners to establish an evaluation process of collaborative governance. After conducting surveys and in-person interviews, the research indicates that all four cases are still at level two (consult) on a scale of five on the spectrum. While some have shown the potential of moving toward level three (community involvement), none of these cases have arrived at level four (collaborative governance). Building on the findings and the spectrum, the project further suggests a learning and evaluation tool for assessing the process of collaborative governance.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Social Cohesion: The Secret Weapon in the Fight for Equitable Climate Resilience
May 2015
From the Center for American Progress, this report discusses the role that social cohesion plays in preparedness and response to climate change induced extreme weather events, with a focus on the vulnerability of low-income communities. Methods to integrate community resilience into climate resilience, and specific recommendations to foster climate and social resilience are provided. In addition to the value of social cohesion in climate resilience, the report details how addressing the unique housing, economic and health vulnerabilities of low-income groups will in turn have benefits for the community at large.
Author or Affiliated User: Danielle Baussan
Resource Category: Solutions
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CA SB 1072: Regional Climate Collaborative Program: technical assistance.
September 13, 2018
California SB 1072 establishes a program to build and support existing regional climate collaboratives across the state that will assist "under-resourced communities" to access state funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects. California’s Strategic Growth Council (SGC) is required to develop best practices and technical assistance guidelines, and will award annual grants to collaboratives for capacity building. After passing the law in 2018, the state immediately allocated funding for implementation.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment
August 27, 2018
California’s statewide assessment of climate change impacts utilizes updated climate science to investigate vulnerability at the local scale and inform adaptation and resilience planning. The fourth climate change assessment includes 44 technical reports on projected impacts to specific sectors and potential responses, 30 summary reports, 9 regional reports, and 3 statewide topical reports on oceans and coasts, tribal and indigenous communities, and environmental justice impacts of climate change.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jennifer Phillips, Sarah Lindbergh
Resource Category: Assessments
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North Carolina 2020 Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan
June 2, 2020
The North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan is the state’s first climate change adaptation plan. It includes the results of vulnerability assessments within 11 critical sectors, climate justice concerns and strategies, and recommendations for nature-based solutions to enhance ecosystem resiliency and sequester carbon in the state’s natural and working lands. North Carolina Governor Cooper’s 2018 Executive Order 80 directed state agencies to integrate climate adaptation and resiliency planning into their policies, programs, and operations; and mandated that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) lead the development of this climate risk assessment and resiliency plan for the state.
Resource Category: Planning
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Building Resilience to Coastal Hazards and Climate Change in Hawaii
April 2019
From May 2016 until April 2019, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Planning partnered with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program to create three tools that support adaptation at the local level: an interactive data map—the Hawaii Sea-Level Rise Viewer, and two guidance documents—Integrating Coastal Hazards and Sea-Level Rise Resilience in Community Planning and Guidance for Disaster Recovery Preparedness in Hawaii. Much of Hawaii’s population and development exist on low-lying coastal plains that are vulnerable to erosion, flooding, and inundation. Building on the state’s 2017 Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, the complementary tools are aimed at helping communities better prepare for future sea-level rise and other climate change impacts.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Duwamish Valley Action Plan - Seattle, Washington
January 2018
In 2018, Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment, in collaboration with the Office of Planning and Community Development, released the Duwamish Valley Action Plan. The Plan lays out a variety of different strategies and projects that should be implemented in the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods of Seattle. The Plan itself is grounded in equity considerations and environmental justice principles, which results in recommendations that will benefit the communities most affected by the impacts of climate change and systematic racism. The published document is a result of the input of over 500 stakeholders within the Duwamish Valley Region – outreach that began very early in the creation of the report and its recommendations and continued throughout its development. The Action Plan breaks down its projects and proposals into facilitating the development of seven different priority areas: healthy environment; parks and open spaces; community capacity; mobility and transportation; economic opportunity and jobs; affordable housing; and public safety. Within each priority area chapter, there are detailed near-term accomplishments, actions, or projects, and opportunities that, if implemented, will go towards achieving the area-specific goals laid out at the beginning of each chapter. Included among these plans are projects that enhance the natural resilience of these communities, such as tree planting, the development of rain gardens, building more open spaces, and more.
Resource Category: Planning
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Los Angeles Clean Up Green Up Ordinance
April, 2016
In April 2016, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a groundbreaking ordinance to address environmental justice concerns within three distinct neighborhoods: Boyle Heights, Pacoima-Sun Valley, and Wilmington. For decades, these three communities – comprised primarily of low-income, Latinx individuals and families – suffered a wide range of health effects, due mostly to the high concentration of polluting industrial sites within their neighborhoods. To address these inequalities, LA City Council passed and implemented the Clean Up Green Up Ordinance with a three-pronged goal in mind: (1) to reduce pollution in the most toxic, hotspot areas; (2) to prevent additional pollution; and (3) to revitalize these neighborhoods through supporting local businesses and economic development.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
