Interagency Coordination of Federal Climate Adaptation and Resilience Activities

Abstract:

Communities across the country are recognizing that they are facing increasing risks from climate-related hazards, and are taking action to adapt to future conditions and increase resilience to climate impacts. While such actions are most often done at a local scale, the Federal government frequently plays an important role in these actions, whether through the provision of scientific information, grant funding, regulation and guidance, management of projects, or other mechanisms.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) serves an important function in coordinating and collaborating with many Federal agencies both to advance the science of global change and also to translate that science to inform community scale planning needs. The National Climate Assessment – as USGCRP’s flagship product – engages with local and regional experts across the country in its development process, and then addresses regional interests and contains links to data and tools for users to access localized climate information. In addition, USGCRP supports interagency groups that share research and practices in climate adaptation and resilience that cut across agency missions. In particular, the Federal Adaptation and Resilience Group has made connections across many agencies to consider the ways that those agencies address adaptation through their missions, with particular focus on natural and cultural resources, economic analysis methods, and infrastructure planning. This presentation will highlight the status and plans for regional engagement with the National Climate Assessment and discuss recent accomplishments of USGCRP’s adaptation work and the outlook for future workshops and publications.