Adaptation Strategies for Rural and Small Communities
This tab includes strategies, best practices, and legal and policy analysis relevant to adaptation efforts in rural and small communities.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can be sorted by date or title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, impact, jurisdictional focus, state, or region.
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Resource
August 19. 2015
This report describes how climate-related extreme weather events exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. In this case, the report highlights the disproportionate challenges experienced by frontline communities during the California drought that began in 2012, which includes communities of color and low-income people living in tribal, rural, and farming communities. The report discusses the following topics: the causes and severity of California’s drought; the drought’s impacts on the national food system; demographics, water rights, and drought impacts in agricultural communities; and policy recommendations.
Related Organizations: Center for American Progress
Author or Affiliated User: Wendy Ortiz
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2015
After visiting more than 30 communities across the U.S. that are preparing for climate change, two enterprising young authors identify six big lessons from ongoing adaptation work in this report released by the Georgetown Climate Center.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Allie Goldstein, Kirsten Howard
Resource Category: Solutions
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October 2014
This report from the Union of Concerned Scientists describes the threat of tidal flooding in the East Coast and Gulf regions and offers steps that communities can take to adapt. The report makes the case that tidal flooding, currently just considered a nuisance, could become a daily or weekly occurrence, redefining how and where people along the coast “live, work, play, and move through their daily lives. " Data was collected in 52 locations to provide projections for sea level rise and tidal flooding in the region until 2045.
Related Organizations: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Erika Spanger-Siegfried, Melanie Fitzpatrick, Kristina Dahl
Resource Category: Solutions
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2014
The Sierra Climate Change toolkit addresses climate change across the Sierra Nevada region of California, with localized strategies for emissions reductions and adaptation. The report describes climate change impacts in the Sierra, as well as recent regulations, policy directions, and incentives to reduce emissions and adapt. Adaptation strategies are outlined for water and watershed management, wildlife and habitats, forestry, wildfire, and City and County land-use planning. This 3rd edition from the Sierra Nevada Alliance expands its focus from previous versions with more strategic detail, case studies and further support for the development of an adaptation framework that works within existing planning processes throughout the Sierra.
Related Organizations: Sierra Nevada Alliance
Resource Category: Solutions
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February 2014
In collaboration with the U. S. Forest Service and California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CA LCC), EcoAdapt has identified a suite of priority climate change adaptation strategies for focal ecosystems and wildlife species of the Sierra Nevada region of California including: Alpine and Subalpine Systems, Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs, Yellow Pine/Mixed Conifer Systems, Red Fir Systems and Marten, Wet Meadows and Fens, and Oak Woodlands. After a vulnerability assessment process, draft implementation plans were developed for each of the focal resources, incorporating the priority adaptation actions.
Related Organizations: EcoAdapt , Department of the Interior (DOI): California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC)
Resource Category: Solutions
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December 2013
From the Georgetown Climate Center, this compendium collects and analyzes federal programs with potential to pay for state and local government adaptation to urban heat islands. This report analyzes federal funding programs providing funding for economic development, energy, environmental protection, public health and transportation to determine whether these purposes can be used to implement measures to reduce the the urban heat island effect in cities. For each program, the report includes information on who can apply for the funds, what activities the funds can be used to fund, amount of money in the program and average size of grant, as well as potential for use in adaptation.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Author or Affiliated User: Sara Hoverter
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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November 15, 2013
In November 2013 the Obama Administration announced a new partnership between seven Federal agencies to help communities better prepare for drought, through both drought assistance and preparedness planning. The interagency National Drought Resilience Partnership (NDRP) was established as part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
Related Organizations: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) , U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) , Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Resource Category: Solutions
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March 2013
The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit is a web-based portal to many resources for decision and policy makers, waterfront landowners, and waterfront users. The Toolkit contains information about the historical and current use of waterfront space; the economic value of working waterfronts; and legal, policy, and financing tools that can be used to preserve, enhance, and protect these valuable areas. The Toolkit also features detailed case studies of successful working waterfronts initiatives from communities around the country.
Related Organizations: University of Massachusetts, Virginia Sea Grant , National Working Waterfront Network (NWWN)
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2013
This document provides information for communities and local decision-makers to identify and evaluate a range of potential mitigation actions for reducing risk to natural hazards and disasters. The mitigation actions are categorized into four types for each of the hazards discussed:
Related Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Resource Category: Solutions
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August 2, 2012
This article examines legal strategies to help state and local governments reconcile these governance challenges when adapting to sea level rise (SLR). In the context of Connecticut state law, this article examines how land use regulations can be used to ensure that coastal development is more resilient to SLR impacts and less harmful to coastal ecosystems.
Related Organizations: National Sea Grant Law Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jessica Grannis , Julia Wyman, Meagan Singer, Jena Shoaf, Colin Lynch
Resource Category: Solutions
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