Bay Area Climate News — Climate Readiness Institute — May 2015
- “Bay Area Water in a Changing Climate” —RSVP Today!
CRI is hosting a half-day regional drought event on June 10th at the Brower Center in downtown Berkeley. Best practices, the latest research, strategies for the future and more! See the CRI web site for complete information or the attached PDF flyer. Space is limited, so RSVP today to bruce@climatereadinessinstitute.org.
- Surviving the Storm
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute and its partners have produced a 100-page report on the economic impacts of a major 150-year storm event in the Bay Area. The study finds a $10 billion loss to the nine-county area and makes recommendations for local, regional, state, and federal actions to build our resilience to such a catastrophic event.
- Silicon Valley 2.0 Climate Adaptation Guidebook & On-Line Tool
The County of Santa Clara and AECOM have produced the Climate Adaptation Guidebook, an in-depth assessment of infrastructure vulnerability and risk for 9 sectors in the county. The guidebook assesses each sector’s assets vs. extreme heat, sea level rise, storm events, wildfire, and other impacts, and outlines a set of proposed strategies to build resilience. The guidebook will be officially released in late May on the County’s sustainability website. In addition, the project has produced an on-line tool for cities to explore their specific infrastructure vulnerabilities in detail.
- Climate Ready Sonoma County: Hazards and Vulnerabilities
Sonoma County Adaptation Forum
The Regional Climate Protection Authority and the North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative (NBCAI) have produced a comprehensive vulnerability assessment as part of Climate Action 2020. In April, NBCAI and partners produced an all-day conference on climate adaptation attended by more than 250 stakeholders. All of the presentations and materials from the conference are now available on-line.
- City of Benicia Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Benicia, with funding from the California Coastal Conservancy, has produced a 23-page vulnerability assessment summary as part of their forthcoming Adaptation Plan. Earlier, the city and its partners produced a 37-page existing conditions and stressors report.
- CHARG/BAFPAA Sea Level Rise Workshop and Strategic Brief
The FEMA-funded Coastal Hazards Adaptation Resiliency Group (CHARG)—a new collaboration of planners, scientists, engineers, and policy makers—held a regional workshop with the Bay Area Flood Protection Agency Association in February that featured the latest research and information on sea level rise and related issues for the Bay Area. You can view all the presentations on-line. CHARG has also produced a Strategic Brief which outlines the collaborative’s vision and approach to regional solutions to coastal and bay flooding.
- State Legislation on Adaptation
Governor Brown’s Executive Order on Adaptation
Four bills have been introduced in the state legislature that address climate adaptation.
Would create a multi-billion dollar bond act to support parks, rivers, coastal protection, and climate resilience planning and implementation.
Would require city and county general plans to address climate adaptation and resiliency.
Would expand the Climate Action Team’s authority, under Cal-EPA, to include coordination of the state’s climate adaptation activities.
Would expand the Resources Agency’s authority for coordination of the state’s climate adaptation efforts.
Governor Brown issued an Executive Order on April 30 that not only set a 40% GHG reduction target for 2030, but ordered state agencies to take specific actions to coordinate and advance state-level adaptation planning.
Tags: Bay Area, Climate change, policy