Emergency Preparedness Adaptation Strategies
This tab includes strategies for how to avoid or reduce climate change impacts on emergency preparedness, including best practices and legal and policy analysis.
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32 results are shown below.
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Resource
February 3, 2025
As the human and financial toll of the climate crisis continues to climb, a growing number of jurisdictions are establishing a new role – the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) – to lead pre-disaster planning and risk reduction efforts to build resilience to climate-fueled hazards. Released by the Georgetown Climate Center, State Chief Resilience Officers: Establishment, Authority & Governance explores the position and functioning of Chief Resilience Officers across 12 states and provides recommendations for states considering creating a CRO position.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Author or Affiliated User: joshua saks
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
May 2021
The Environment law Institute (ELI) report “Nature-Based Goals and Actions in Local Mitigation Plans” examines the extent to which nature-based strategies (NBS) are included in the hazard mitigation plans (HMPs) written by county and regional authorities. About three-fifths of the HMPs reviewed by ELI include some type of nature-based mitigation, with the plurality of actions being in restoration and “conservation/preservation/management.”
Related Organizations: Environmental Law Institute (ELI)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Rebecca Kihslinger, Avi Li, Heather Luedke
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resource
September 2020
FEMA’s Guides to Expanding Mitigation are part of a series designed to highlight how emerging partnerships connecting communities to public and private actors in key sectors can support more effective hazard mitigation projects and planning. The guides cover a range of sectors and topics, including equity, transportation, electric power, municipal financing, public health, agriculture, and arts and culture. This project supports FEMA’s goal of building a culture of preparedness as part of the agency’s strategic plan.
Related Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Resource Category: Planning
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In 2017, the Town of Princeville, North Carolina engaged experts and communities in a long-term, comprehensive planning process to annex a 53-acre parcel of land located outside of the town’s 100-year floodplain to develop a safer, higher ground area where residents, structures, and infrastructure can be relocated. After experiencing flooding impacts from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Princeville was selected as one of six municipalities in North Carolina to receive technical and funding support from the state through the Hurricane Matthew Disaster Recovery and Resilience Initiative. Princeville provides an example for other municipalities either in a pre-or post-disaster context for how to balance the preservation of original townships while dealing with flooding vulnerabilities, while increasing the resiliency of core community assets and services through adaptation actions. As done in Princeville, local governments may consider options for relocating vulnerable residences and community facilities and services, including by annexing new land where sufficient higher ground land within existing municipal boundaries is not available to reallocate critical land uses and maintain local communities, tax bases, and economies.
Related Organizations: Town of Princeville, North Carolina
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
July 15, 2020
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services (CMSS) — a county-wide regional utility in North Carolina — has been administering a Floodplain Buyout Program to relocate vulnerable residents out of floodplains and reduce long-term flood damage. The buyout program is focused on risk reduction and flood mitigation best practices, where once bought out, properties are returned to open space uses to restore their natural beneficial flood retention and water quality improvement functions and provide other community amenities, like parks and trails. CMSS has purchased more than 400 flood-prone homes and businesses and enabled over 700 families and businesses to relocate to less vulnerable locations outside of the floodplain. CMSS has also supported a number of leaseback arrangements on a case-by-case basis with property owners to increase participation in the buyout program and reduce the county’s property maintenance costs. The program has been funded through a combination of federal and local government sources, with leasebacks also supporting the recapture of some costs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Floodplain Buyout Program is an example of a nationally recognized approach to supporting voluntary retreat in a riverine floodplain. Other local governments could consider adopting a comprehensive buyout program like Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s or individual program elements, like local funding options or leasebacks, to help support voluntary retreat decisions in coastal areas experiencing sea-level rise, impacts from disaster events, and land loss. 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: Solutions
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July 2020
The American Planning Association (APA) “Hazard Mitigation Policy Guide” was published in 2020 and provides guidance to federal, state, and local hazard mitigation planners regarding best practices on community preparedness, health, resilience, and sustainability. It covers a wide array of climate- and non-climate-related natural and human-caused hazards. As a whole, the guide recommends that response and recovery improve resilience to future risks such as climate change.
Related Organizations: American Planning Association (APA)
Resource Category: Planning
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Resource
May 2020
Prepared by the American Flood Coalition in collaboration with the American Public Health Association, the Dual Disaster Handbook provides six recommendations for local leaders to cope with flooding during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The recommendations emphasize the importance of using emergency planning processes, legal authorities, and volunteers and supplies effectively to simultaneously address dual threats, while focusing in particular on needs of at-risk populations. The Handbook draws on expertise and best practices from emergency management professionals and is intended for use by local officials involved in emergency preparedness and response.
Related Organizations: American Flood Coalition
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
June 2019
Governing for Resilience describes the lessons learned from the aftermath of the 2017 North Bay fires in northern California to offer key recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels for improving governmental recovery response and resilience building. Developed based on the input of more than 800 participants at the 2019 California Economic Summit, the paper aims to promote collaborative governance and encourage partnerships with the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors to support community resilience to climate change.
Related Organizations: California Forward
Resource Category: Planning
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Resource
September 26, 2018
This Guide developed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) discusses how low-income, communities of color, and other frontline communities are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change, extreme weather, and other natural and human-caused disasters (like industrial accidents or chemical contamination). To address these disproportionate risks, the Guide provides a framework for helping communities embed considerations of equity in all phases of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, resilience building, recovery, and redevelopment.
Related Organizations: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lorah Steichen , Jacqui Patterson
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
September 2018
Prepared by the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA), this briefing provides quick but essential tips for communities and residents rebuilding after a disaster. While communities affected by a disaster can be in a rush to immediately build back to their pre-disaster state, NHMA implores decision makers to rebuild "safer and smarter" with climate resilient planning. This guide offers nine steps to take when rebuilding to increase resilience and reduce risks from future disasters. This resource was featured in the September 20, 2018 ASAP Newsletter with the following description:
"In the aftermath of Florence and any disaster, what communities want more than anything is to be able to return to their lives and a sense of normalcy.
Resource Category: Planning
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