Right Column

Planning for Climate Change: Resources for Bay Area Local Government

• Climate Change Science and Impacts
• Adaptation Planning Principles and Process
• Tools, Data Sources and Example Adaptation Actions
• Engaging Communities and Decision-Makers
• Example Adaptation Plans
• State and Regional Adaptation Planning Efforts

• Climate Change Science and Impacts

  Links to Documents

• Understanding and Responding to Climate Change
  Brochure that provides a primer on climate change science. It highlights findings and recommendations from the National Academies’ reports on climate change.
• Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences
  Another good primer document/brochure to help public to understand Earth's climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches for adapting and mitigating change. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion starters or launching points for scientific inquiry. The guide can also serve educators who teach climate science as part of their science curricula.
• Communicating on Climate Change: An Essential Resource for Journalists, Scientists, and Educators
  This report is the product of a series of un­precedented workshops that brought the na­tion’s top climate scientists and leading sci­ence and environmental journalists together to discuss media coverage and communica­tion of climate change science. Although the target audience is not local governments, the issues identified here and lessons learned are helpful insights for anyone communicating climate change.
• DRAFT 2009 Climate Action Team Biennial Report to the Governor and Legislature
  MUST READ: California Climate Action Team’s biennial science assessment report on climate change impacts and adaptation options for California.
  
• Living With a Rising Bay: Vulnerability and Adaptation in San Francisco Bay and on the Shoreline. Draft Staff Report
  Draft report describes the current state of knowledge regarding the potential impacts of sea level rise on the region. It identifies vulnerabilities in the Bay Area’s economic and environmental systems, as well as the potential impacts of sea level rise on public health and safety.
• Impacts of Sea Level Rise on the California Coast
  Institute's report on vulnerabilities of the CA coast to impacts of sea level rise. Includes cost estimates for replacing lost/damaged infrastructure as well as pro-active measures to protect infrastructure. Report includes separate values/ analysis for SF Bay Area.
• The Climate Gap
  Report "analyzes data on the disparate impacts of climate change and climate change mitigation policies on low socioeconomic status (SES) groups in the United States that is relevant to the California context."  Includes recommendations for addressing the gap issues identified in the report.
• Preparing for Climate Change: A Perspective from Local Public Health Officers in California
  Article presents the results of a survey of California’s local pubic health officers conducted between August and October 2007. The survey gauged health officers’ concerns about the public health impacts of climate change, programs in place that could help to mitigate these health effects, and information and resource needs for better coping with a changing climate. Background information includes overviews of public health-related impacts of climate change in CA.
• Coastal Communities and Climate Change Maintaining Future Insurability
  Report (~20 pages) looks at how the insurability of homes and businesses might be affected by increases in risk due to climate change -- specifically flooding.This report looks at the impact of climate change on flood risk at a number of coastal locations around the world, considering sea-level rise, the effect of wind speed on storm surges and, at one location, changes in land use. Clearly-written; good descriptions of methodology and terminology; and well-chosen and presented case studies.
• California Climate Risk and Response
  Research paper from UC Berkeley, Dept of Agricultural and Resource Economics takes a look at costs of climate impacts and responses by sector.  The Real Estate section (starts page 73) provides interesting (and eye-opening) comparisons and dollar values.

Links to Websites

• IPCC
  Definitive body for global climate projections. Summary for Policymakers is a good executive summary of the consensus science. However, there is much more information on projected changes for regions.
• Climate Change at the National Academies
  Links to reports on climate science and impacts prepared by the NAS.
• Climate Action Team & Climate Action Initiative
  Links to information about California's programs to reduce GHG emissions, reports about climate impacts, and adaptation strategy.
• Climate Choices
  A website that was created to explain to people in the United States what climate change will mean for us, our children, and our grandchildren.
• Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. June 2009
  The report summarizes the science and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It focuses on climate change impacts in different regions of the U.S. and on various aspects of society and the economy such as energy, water, agriculture, and health. It’s also a report written in plain language, with the goal of better informing public and private decision making at all levels. Scale of discussion is not refined enough to be directly applicable to most Bay Area planning decisions, but overview of impacts in "Regional Climate Change Impacts" (Southwest) and Climate Change Impacts by Sector" are good overviews.
• United States Fish and Wildlife Conference on Climate Change & Coastal Ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest
  Excellent resource for grabbing relevant literature recommended by experts in topical areas such as geology, hydrology, ecology, biology, forestry, policy, and management. Includes videos of presentations and annotated bibliography of recommended literature from presenters.
• California Climate Change Research Center
  Links to numerous reports of climate change research in CA. Of particular interest to planners are the reports under the "Impacts and Adaptations" and "Climate Monitoring, Analysis and Modeling" categories.
• Climate Change Planning Program
  Links to maps and draft (April 2009) report on sea level rise impacts to SF Bay and its shoreline.
• Impacts of Sea Level Rise on the California Coast
  Links to sea level rise inundation maps, GIS data downloads of inundation information, and the Institute's report (May 2009) on vulnerabilities of the CA coast to impacts of sea level rise. Includes cost estimates for replacing lost/damaged infrastructure as well as pro-active measures to protect infrastructure. Report includes separate values/analysis for SF Bay Area.
• Climate Change Resources
  Links to power points from a series of excellent presentations by scientific experts (hosted by the CA Coastal Conservancy) concerning impacts of climate change to natural systems in CA.
• Climate Change Adaptation
  MUST REVIEW: Exhaustive and well-organized list of adaptation resources from international to local levels.
• Alameda Creek Watershed Sediment Forum
  Link to information about the Forum which works to develop information about sediment in the watershed and coordinate efforts of different agencies, stakeholders, and land owners in the watershed. Included here because it has a nice presentation of conflicting sediment management objectives in watersheds for SF Bay with climate change impacts.
  
  

• Adaptation Planning Principles and Process

  Links to Documents

• Identifying Adaptation Options
  Relatively short document that articulates guiding principles for adaptation, types of adaptation strategies, selecting adaptations as well as examples of generic and specific adaptation actions.
• Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit
  Guidebook for adaptation planning. Probably too detailed to be especially useful for local planners. However, Page 2 of the Background ((Exhibit 1.1) has a nice articulation of guiding principles for adaptation.
• How Resilient is Your Community?: A Guide for Evaluating Coastal Community Resilience to Tsunamis and Other Hazards
  Has an excellent illustration (Figure 3-1) of what the term "resilience" means on Page 3-2.
• Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional and State Governments
  A “how-to” manual for taking adaptation all the way from theory to implementation, specifically designed for local and regional governments.  This guidebook provides detailed information necessary for policy construction, a table of possible adaptive strategies, a framework for assessing vulnerability and a section on implementation and lessons learned.
• Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional and State Governments
  A “how-to” manual for taking adaptation all the way from theory to implementation, specifically designed for local and regional governments.  This guidebook provides detailed information necessary for policy construction, a table of possible adaptive strategies, a framework for assessing vulnerability and a section on implementation and lessons learned.
• Adaptation Planning for the National Estuary Program
  Description of five critical elements that an estuary-wide adaptation plan needs to include to earn recognition in the Climate Ready Estuaries program. This is an overview-level report, so it does not include specific guidance for creating a plan. However, it does reference specific sections of other guidance documents than may be more detailed.
• Ask the Climate Question: Adapting to Climate Change Impacts in Urban Regions
  Document summarizes adaptation progress by the Initiative partners (including SF). Most interesting is the discussion of lessons learned (pages 4-7).
• Cities Preparing for Climate Change: A Study of 6 Urban Regions
  This report is focused primarily on city and urban region government level and provides a high-level process and case-study oriented overview approach.  The framework detailed in the report focuses heavily on stakeholder input.  There is a collection of adaptive steps and anecdotal examples and best practices.
• Resilient San Francisco:  Advancing San Francisco’s  Climate Adaptation Plan Wade Crowfoot, Office of Mayor Gavin Newsom. BAAQMD Conference May 4, 2009.  (presentation)
  Presentation outlining (starting slide 11) the structure and process for the city of San Francisco's vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning efforts that are being initiated (Summer 2009).
• Adaptive Management: The U.S. Department of the Interior Technical Guide
  Guidebook on adaptive management (which is not synonymous with adaptation) techniques. The guidebook identifies the "conditions in which adaptive management should be considered, and describe the process of using adaptive management for managing natural resources." Chapter 1 is a good primer on adaptive management and helps the reader understand what it means to say that a project/program will be "managed adaptively" and how to determine whether that's an appropriate management approach for addressing various climate change issues.
• Climate Change: Developer's Risk Management Guide
  Risk assessment and management guide for developers. Module 3 (starts page 15) provides potentially relevant information for planners about adaptation and risk management (starting page 20).
• Building California’s Climate-Related Decision Support Capacity and Fostering Social Science Contributions (DRAFT)
  Defines "decision-support" and how to make it effective in the context of supporting decision makers, policy-makers and managers for climate change adaptation. Includes recommendations for state and federal agencies to help overcome barriers to adaptation planning at the local level  (starts page 8).
• The Climate Crisis and the Adaptation Myth
  Article delivers a dose of realism, pointing out that the assumption that we in the U.S. will  successfully adapt to climate change affects is not well-supported by our planning and management mindsets and methods to date. Included here because it provides a clear articulation of common obstacles to adaptation and review of why adaptation is not happening already.
• Preparing for the impacts of climate change in California: Opportunities and Constraints for Adaptation. A Report from the California Climate Change Center
  Review of barriers that CA planners face in addressing climate change impacts in their work, and what they need to be able to overcome these barriers.

Links to Websites

• Adaptation resources: Principles of good adaptation
  Good list (1 page) of guiding principles for adaptation.
• Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative
  Link to the Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative, launched by CCAP to "serve as a resource for local governments as they face important infrastructure and land-use decisions that affect local adaptation efforts and empower local communities to develop and implement climate resilient strategies." Check out links to a report and Capitol Hill briefing by Initiative partners on Adapting to Climate Change in Urban Regions.
• Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate
  Link to report that "examines the growing need for climate-related decision support--that is, organized efforts to produce, disseminate, and facilitate the use of data and information in order to improve the quality and efficacy of climate-related decisions." Worth paying attention to decision-support literature because it seems to be a funding focus for the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program grant which local govts can apply for (see Opportunities page on NOAA Climate Program Office page).
  
  
• Engaging Communities and Decision-Makers

  Links to Documents

• Cities Preparing for Climate Change: A Study of 6 Urban Regions
  Section 3.1 of this report on urban and regional adaptation planning efforts has an excellent review of community engagement and awareness-building approaches taken by the 6 cities, as well as the effectiveness of these approaches.
• Public Listening Sessions: Sea Level Rise and Population Growth in North Carolina
  Fascinating report of a series of public listening sessions held in NC to help the public learn about sea level rise and population growth in the Abermarle-Pamlico region and give participants opoprtunities to share their concerns about potential impacts of these issues.
• Community Engagement Weblinks
  Compiled list of community engagement weblinks to background information, case studies and service providers. This resource was compiled by Pete Peterson, Executive Director of Common Sense California, a non-profit (non-partisan) organization with the state mission to "engage the citizens of this state in the policy decisions that affect our everyday lives."
• The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides and the Interested Public
  Almost like a cartoon guide to strategies for climate change communication. (But don't let this description deter you from checking it out!) Summarizes research findings on effective and ineffective communication of climate change issues and provides specific guidance/suggestions for improving your communication methods and messages, and for avoiding costly pitfalls in outreach efforts.
  
• Climate Witness Community Toolkit
  Toolkit describes pariticipatory methodologies to document local impacts of climate change and to devise appropriate adaptation measures that local communities can implement themselves. These techniques were developed for use in Pacific South West communities, so some of them are clearly not applicable in the SF Bay Area. BUT, keep an open mind and consider how some of these methods (or modified versions of them) might be unique yet effective community engagement tools for climate change adaptation in Bay Area communities.

Links to Websites

• Common Sense California
  Links to reports, studies and op eds about civic engagement (under the News & Resources link) as well as case studies of civic engagement projects (under Projects link) compiled by CSC, a non-profit (non-partisan) organization with the state mission to "engage the citizens of this state in the policy decisions that affect our everyday lives." CSC works with city governments, school districts, and civic organizations to sponsor, advocate for and consult on community engagement efforts.
• Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making (book), published 2008
  Book on public engagement in federal agency decision making. It concludes that, "when done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment," and "increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, which makes it more likely that the decisions will be implemented effectively." Of particular interest may be Chapter 6, "Practice: Integrating Science."
• Climate Witness in Action
  Website about the WWF Climate Witness program that documents stories from people around the world who share how climate change impacts their lives here and now. Potentially a method for engaging certain communities by recognizing personal connections to climate change impacts. Check out the Climate Witness Map for stories.
  
  
  
• Tools, Data Sources and Example Adaptation Actions

  Links to Documents

• Adapting to Climate Change Impacts: A Good-Practice Guide for Sustainable Communities
  Guidance and ideas for integrating adaptation into sustainable development (Section 2.3, beginning page 18), and examples of adaptation actions/plans in the case studies reports (Part 4, starts page 43).
• Adapting to climate change: A case study companion to the checklist for development
  An impressive compilation of case studies of adaptation actions ranging from use of climate resilient building materials to designating and designing "sacrificial" lands to prevent flooding of key infrastructure and residential areas.
• Goals Project. 1999. Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals. Prepared by the San Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project
  A report of baylands habitat recommendations that includes information on existing stressors on wetlands habitats and species that may help local planners assess vulnerabilities of shoreline habitat to climate change impacts. Additionally, Chapter 6 on restoration provides practical information on costs, design, and management of wetlands restoration projects that may be relevant to projects that employ habitat buffers for protection against shoreline flooding.
• Synthesis of Adaptation Options for Coastal Areas
  This Synthesis provides a brief introduction to key physical impacts of climate change on estuaries and a review of on-the-ground adaptation options available to coastal managers to reduce their systems' vulnerability to climate change impacts.  For each option, the synthesis describes what climate stressor and additional management goals are addressed, benefits and constraints of the option, and examples of specific locations where the option has been implemented (where available).
• Why Climate Change Makes Riparian Restoration More Important than Ever: Recommendations for Practice and Research
  Article outlines benefits of riparian restoration for ecological adaptation. "Riparian ecosystems are naturally resilient, provide linear habitat connectivity, link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and create thermal refugia for wildlife: all characteristics that can contribute to ecological adaptation to climate change."
• Safer from the Start: A Guide to Firewise-Friendly Development
  Guidance on minimizing fire risk to new residential development near the wildland/urban interface.
• San Francisco Stormwater Design Guidelines
  Draft report of design guidelines provides thorough review of low impact development (LID) principles integration into stormwater design guidelines in the urban watershed. Excellent illustrations and numerous examples of how the design guidelines are put into practice.  (Note that SF is by no means the first to use LID in stormwater design. However, of the documents on the topic, this is a nice example of a design guidance document.)
• Low Impact Development (LID): A Sensible Approach to Land Development and Stormwater Management
  Overview of low impact development (LID) techniques for stormwater management in residential areas. Looks at benefits and challenges of LID, and ways to address challenges.
• CEQA and Low Impact Development Stormwater Design: Preserving Stormwater Quality and Stream Integrity Through California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Review
  Technical guidance on using low impact development (LID) in stormwater design for CEQA mitigation.
• Abstract of Stream Setbacks and the Law
  Review of case law pertaining to stream setbacks and buffers used as a planning tool.
• Climate Change, the California Environmental Quality Act, and General Plan Updates:
  Straightforward Answers to Some Frequently Asked Questions
  Helpful guidance for local jurisdictions on the Attorney General's positions on CEQA review requirements for General Plan updates. Almost all of the FAQs concern GHG mitigation, except for the last question (page 6) which asks if local governments must analyze impacts of future climate change on development in the GP. Bottom line answer: yes. No guidance on how to do this, though.

• Sustainability and General Plans: Examples of Policies to Address Climate Change California Attorney General’s Office
  Resources and examples policies from a variety of sources on addressing climate change by incorporating sustainability into General Plan updates. Compiled by the CA Attorney General's office.

• Rising Seas, Coastal Erosion, and the Takings Clause: How to Save Wetlands and Beaches without Hurting Property Owners
  Legal analysis that examines "land use planning options by which coastal states might retain some of their public trust tidelands in perpetuity no matter how much the sea rises at least in areas that have not yet been developed. A key assumption of this analysis is that policies should protect coastal property values. " Great review (from legal perspective) of various policy tools available to land us planners and how they play out with rising sea level. (Does not really deliver on its promise (in the title) but definitely valuable information.)

• Marin Countywide Plan
  MUST REVIEW: Great example GP policy language for adaptation in GOAL AIR-5 and its corresponding policies (starts page 2-105).

• Example Climate Change Adaptation Planning Resolution
  Example language for an adaptation planning resolution. (Very similar to what Marin County adopted in its General Plan in 2007.)

• Example Council Motion for Combined Mitigation/Adaptation Plan
  Example language for a council motion to pursue development of a climate change mitigation and preparedness plan.

• Examples of Adaptation Planning in Bay Area Communities
  Summaries of various adaptation planning efforts and actions in Bay Area communities.

Links to Websites

• Eyes on the Earth
  MUST SEE: Excellent visualizations of global climate change. Useful for demonstrating to people the magnitude of impacts in the Artic and the atmospheric changes over the historic and recent periods.
• Applying Social Science to Coastal Management
  MUST SEE: Excellent (and accessible) resources specifically to help coastal planners make effective use of social science applications in their work. Site has tools, how-to-guides and case studies for various social science applications such as surveys, focus groups, community mapping and much more.
• WestMap Climate Analysis & Mapping Toolbox
  Click on California on the map to go to an interactive mapping tool that allows the user to create timeseries graphs of precipitation or temperatures by county. Although the maps solely represent historic conditions, they could be useful illustrations of climate variabilities at local scale.
• Tools: CanVis
  Link to CanVis, a visualization program used to "see" potential impacts from coastal development or sea level rise. Users can download background pictures and insert the objects (hotel, house, marina, or other objects) of their choosing. The software is used by municipalities to brainstorm new ideas and policies, undertake project planning, and make presentations.  NOTE: UPCOMING, FREE ONLINE TRAININGS FOR CANVIS SOFTWARE: October 21, 2009; November 18 2009; December 9, 2009.
• California Climate Tracker
  Excellent state and sub-regional climate data from historic and real-time climate sensors. Allows user to construct map and data graphics on precipitation and temperature trends.
• Climate Change Portal
  A MUST REVIEW: Well-organized, referenced and up to date library of climate change information. Click on "Sea Level Rise" link to view and use specific information and tools related to this impact. (For South Bay cities and counties, click on the link under #2 in the Tools section.)
• USGS CaSCADE Project
  Link to an ongoing integrated set of projects that take regional projections of precipitation, temperature, and sea level rise and model the cascading effects on Bay-Delta morphology and species. Include publication list and data from downscaled models. NOTE: Under "Other Documents" heading, look for link to Google Earth overlay files for sea level rise in SF Bay (under "Potential Inundation due to Rising Sea Levels in the San Francisco Bay Region, Noah Knowles, 2008.") GIS ESRI software-compatible sea level rise data are also downloadable from "San Francisco Bay" link.
• ABAG San Francisco Bay Area Local Hazard Mitigation Planning
  Links under "Hazards Maps and Information" to interactive maps showing areas at risk of flooding, wildfire, landslide, etc. (based on historic data).
  Links to the chapters of the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan for the Bay Area. The Plan has chapters that address infrastructure, health care, housing, economy, government, schools and education, environment and land use. For each of these sectors, the chapter includes various mitigation strategies to address earthquake, flooding, wildfire, landslide, tsunamis, hazardous materials release and dam failure. The chapters additionally outline regional priorities for these strategies. Hazard mitigation planning is one component of climate change adaptation planning. It is good to be aware of this Bay Area effort.
• Communicator's Guide to Wildland Fire
  Introduces ways of communicating about wildland fire issues so we have a basic framework to reach mutual objectives of protecting people and natural resources.
• Aquatic Buffers
  Links to a model ordinance and examples of stream buffer ordinances. Buffers serve as natural boundaries between local waterways and existing development. They help protect water quality by filtering pollutants, sediment, and nutrients from runoff. Other benefits of buffers include flood control, stream bank stabilization, stream temperature control, and room for lateral movement of the stream channel.
• Adaptation Options Relevant to Estuarine Management Goals
  Review of on-the-ground adaptation options available to coastal managers to reduce their systems' vulnerability to climate change impacts.  For each option, the review describes what climate stressor and additional management goals are addressed, benefits and constraints of the option, and examples of specific locations where the option has been implemented (where available).
• Smart Growth Portal
  Links to EPA's grants and programs that offer direct technical assistance to local governments for implementing Smart Growth. EPA recognizes the links between Smart Growth and adapting to climate change impacts, so it is worth keeping this website in mind as a potential source of adaptation-related funding and support.
• Coastal Risk Atlas
  The Coastal Risk Atlas (CRA) project goals aim at aiding hurricane preparedness efforts by providing the data and methodology necessary to conduct vulnerability assessments for the coastal United States. NOT USABLE FOR CA. Included here as an example of a NOAA tool that CA may want to seek. For example, the Demographic Vulnerability Assessment Tool could assist Bay Area communities with assessment of environmental justice issues related to climate change impacts.
• Opportunities
  Link to NOAA's Climate Program Office: Opportunities page. Worth reviewing to understand the grants available through Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) and Sector Applications Research Program (SARP) (click on the "View Information on programs accepting individual applications" link and scroll to the bottom.)
• Climate Readies Estuaries
  Main page for the Climate Ready Estuaries. (SF Estuary is a pilot project in the Climate Ready Estuaries program.) Overall, the information is not geared for local communities. However, we did review the resources available at Coastal Toolkit link and separately included those that seemed most useful for Bay Area local governments in this virtual binder.
• Managed Retreat Strategies
  Description of managed retreat as an adaptation strategy to address issues caused by sea level rise and increased storm surge and erosion. Describes 2 example managed retreat projects in Pacifica and Ventura California.
• Four California Coast LID & Permeable Pavement Workshops: Reining in the Rain: Watershed-Friendly “Low Impact Development” Site Design & Permeable Pavements for Stormwater Management
  Presentations and speaker contact information for 4 workshops held in April 2008 by the CA Coastal Commission on low impact development. Participants learned about "practical application, design, implementation, and maintenance of LID techniques, and their economic and ecological benefits, from industry experts and local practitioners with first-hand experience."
• Low Impact Development for Roads, Military Road S. at S. 272nd Street
  Case study of a Low Impact Development project that also served as an adaptation strategy for future increased flooding at the site due to climate change impacts.
• Cedar Grove Mobile Home Park Acquisition
  Case study of a community subject to repeated flooding. The county purchased the land and worked with residents to relocate.
• Urban Heat Island Mitigation
  A review of strategies for mitigating urban heat island (HI) effects, and a listing of federal, state and local actions to mitigate HI.
• Solar Carports
  Description of solar carports. This is clearly a GHG emissions mitigation strategy, but it may also help mitigate urban heat island effects. No specific research has been done to test this, but US EPA's Heat Island (HI) Mitigation program identifies shading in parking lots as a priority for HI mitigation.
• Installing and Using: Greywater
  Fact sheet from the Ecology Center in Berkeley about how to design, install and use greywater systems for homes. The Center’s building has the first permitted greywater system in CA. The fact sheet has links to resources for learning more (e.g. classes), buying kits and design drawings for the Center’s system.
• Massachusetts SmartStorm Coasts
  MUST REVIEW: Website provides info on how to address the challenges arising from storms, floods, sea level rise, and climate change, and provides a menu of tools for successful coastal floodplain management. Although the site is Massachusetts-centric, it is worth the time to check out the links (and sublinks) under "StormSmart Coasts Buildling Blocks" and "Background and Resources".  Site resources range from legal analyses of "No Adverse Impact", to guidance on how to interpret FIRMs, to an example bylaw for accommodating projected sea level rise in development.
• Planning for Climate Change Workshop
  Link to all the materials and video from the Planning for Climate Change Workshop offered by Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WA) in April 2009. The September 22 & 23, 2009 Bay Area workshops were modeled on this piloted workshop.
• Role Play Exercise Rallies MD Coastal Communities Around Climate Change
  MUST SEE: Video and links to info about an innovative negotiation role-play that demonstrated the key challenges and policy options coastal communities face. The role-play exercise was done in MD with coastal community decision-makers.

• Rising Tides San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)
  Webpage for a design competition held by BCDC in July 2009 for innovative designs for addressing sea level rise in estuaries. Winning ideas are posted and BCDC plans to make all entries available.
  

• Example Adaptation Plans

  Links to Documents

• Climate Plan
  Comprehensive, well-organized adaptation section with clear and proactive adaptation strategies and initiatives. Pages 99-138.
• Second Report and Initial Recommendations
  Recommendations from the Counties various Climate Change Advisory Task Forces for Built Environment, Natural Systems, and Economic, Social and Health Adaptations (starting page 9). Each recommendation is supported with the Task Force's rationale. Due to the large size of M-D County, many of the recommendations are more appropriate for implementation at a regional (as opposed to local) level.
• Berkeley Climate Action Plan: Chapter 6 Adapting to a Changing Climate
  With the stated goal of making "Berkeley resilient to the impacts of climate change" the plan identifies policies and implementation actions for achieving this goal. The implementation actions are primarily ones that can be implemented without further analysis of climate change vulnerabilities, and are extensions of existing sustainable practices.

• City of San Rafael Climate Action Plan (Draft)
  The chapter “Our Environment” includes recommendations for adapting to sea level rise, increasing local crop production, participating in the Marin regional vulnerability assessment, and creating a local vulnerability assessment.

• City of Homer Climate Action Plan
  Has Adaptation section (begins page 37) with a very well-written introduction that clearly and concisely lays out the reasons why adaptation (in addition to mitigation) is essential for Homer and, in general, the climate change-related impacts and issues that the city needs to address. Recommendations are aimed at creating a resilient local economy, protecting existing infrastructure, being prepared for extreme weather events and wildfires, and adopting wise policies for future development.

• Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change -- Highlights
  Very nice presentation of the City of Toronto's mitigation and adaptation strategies. Especially effective illustration of how the city's mitigation and adaptation actions overlap on page 3.

• Climate Change: Challenge to Urban Planning, Infrastructure and Sustainability - A New York Example
  Presentation about vulnerability assessment that NYC did for hurricanes.  Goes through the steps done (using HAZUS software) to assess impacts and issues. Includes ideas for adaptations

• Somerset County, Maryland: Rising Sea Level Guidance
  Example of a county-level assessment of sea level rise vulnerabilities, and recommendations that address suggested modifications to the County’s planning and regulatory mechanisms, including the Floodplain Management Ordinance/Building Code, Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations, Comprehensive Plan, and Hazard Mitigation Plan. (Prepared by a consultant.)

Links to Websites

• Planners Energy and Climate Database
  Large collection of climate change action plans and reports. Each linked document has a summary info page with a synopsis of the resource content and more detailed information about Strategies, Tools and Techniques described or included in the linked reference (very useful). (The linked documents are not organized into sub-categories -- not so useful)
  
• State and Regional Adaptation Planning Efforts

  Links to Documents

• 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy: Discussion Draft
  MUST REVIEW: Addresses climate change impacts, risks and adaptation strategies for six different sectors in CA: Public Health, Biodiversity and Habitat, Ocean and Coastal Resources, Water Management, Agriculture, Forestry, and Transportation and Energy Infrastructure. Note that in the "Preliminary Recommendations" (starts page 7), recommendations 3-5 and 9 are specifically applicable to local planning agencies.

• The Future is Now: An Update on Climate Change Science Impacts and Response Options for California
  MUST READ Chapter 5. Sums up for CA (as of May 2009) adaptation needs and adaptation-related science for CA underway.  Particularly informative is Table 2, page 68 that provides comparison of Hazards-based approach vs. Vulnerability-based approach to adaptation planning.

• A Guide to Bay Area Climate Plans and Planning Processes
  Summarizes the various Bay Area climate change planning efforts. Many of the efforts are solely directed at emissions mitigation. Provides a (slightly outdated, but) good overview of what's happening on Climate Change in the Bay Area.

• Bay Area Regional Agency Climate Protection Program
  Adopted Joint Policy Committee action on climate change (adopted August 2007). JPC consists of 4 regional agencies: Association of Bay Area Governments, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Bay Conservation and Development Commission,and Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Document describes goals and strategies of the JPC Joint Action on the Regional Climate Protection Program, and the roles of the different regional agencies in implementing the program.

• Regional Agency Climate Priorities for 2009-10
  Priority activities for the JPC agencies for 2009-2010 under the Climate Protection Program. JPC Action #6 calls for BCDC and ABAG to coordinate a regional/local approach to climate adaptation.

• A Summary of the Coastal Commission’s Involvement in Climate Change and Global Warming Issues for a Briefing to the Coastal Commission
  An update of Coastal Commission activities on climate change.

• CEQA Guidelines. Sections proposed to be added or amended
  Proposed amendments to the CEQA Guidelines to address climate change -- mitigation only!

• Climate change research needs for the San Francisco Bay coastal sector
  On September 24, 2008, BCDC hosted a research forum for regional experts in policy, planning, science, and engineering. The forum focused on research for identifying vulnerability to, projecting future impacts from, and developing effective adaptation strategies for Bay area climate change. The discussion groups focused on: physical processes of the Bay and habitat conservation, shoreline development, and social science, legal and policy issues. The research ideas generated from the forum and through ongoing partnerships with Bay area agencies, governments, and research institutions are summarized in this document.

• California Coastal Commission
  Climate Change and Research Considerations
  Summary by the Coastal Commission of research needs identified for CA's outer coast.

• A Sea Level Rise Strategy for the San Francisco Bay Region
  Thought piece that outlines the need for a new Bay Plan and a strategy for developing the plan.

• Bay Area Adaptation Assistance for Local Governments
  An overview of the Adaptation Assistance Program that BCDC, ABAG and other partners are developing to build local-level capacity to address climate change impacts and issues. COMMENTS ON THIS DOCUMENT ARE WELCOMED. PLEASE SEND THEM TO sarap@bcdc.ca.gov

• Climate Change Adaptation Efforts at the State and Bay Area Regional Levels
  This is a write-up of a information presented by Sam Schuchat (Executive Officer, State Coastal Conservancy, and Secretary, Ocean Protection Council), Nadine Hitchcock (Deputy Executive Officer, State Coastal Conservancy) and Steve Goldbeck, (Deputy Director for Climate Change and Legislation, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development (BCDC)) at Planning for Climate Change Workshops offered September 22 and 23, 2009 in Oakland and Sunnyvale, CA
• Update on Guidance for Addressing Climate Change Impacts in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Review.
  This is a write-up of a summary on presented by Sara Polgar, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development (BCDC) at Planning for Climate Change Workshops offered September 22 and 23, 2009 in Oakland and Sunnyvale, CA.
  
  

Links to Websites

• Executive Orders S-13-08
  Executive order from Governor directing the CA Resources Agency to initiate a National Academy of Sciences Sea Level Rise Assessment for CA coast; development of a CA Climate Adaptation Strategy; use of a range of scenarios for sea level rise in planning for construction projects; and OPR and Resources Agency to develop state land-use planning guidance related to sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

• Climate Action Team & Climate Action Initiative
  Links to information about California's programs to reduce GHG emissions, reports about climate impacts, and adaptation strategy.

• Climate Change Planning Program
  Links to maps and draft (April 2009) report on sea level rise impacts to SF Bay and its shoreline.

• Global Warming and Climate Change
  CA Coastal Commission's climate change page. Includes link to a review of the CA Coastal Commission's legal authority to address climate change in its decision making.

• Climate Change Resources
  CA Coastal Conservancy's climate change page. Includes links to the Conservancy's new climate change policies for projects, adaptation resources for ecosystems, and excellent series of presentations offered by the Conservancy.