Moving from Adaptation Planning to Implementation and Back: Understanding How Best to Implement Local Climate Resiliency Strategies in a Flexible, Interconnected and Iterative Way

OneNOAA Science Seminar Series

Title: Moving from Adaptation Planning to Implementation and Back: Understanding How Best to Implement Local Climate Resiliency Strategies in a Flexible, Interconnected and Iterative Way

Speakers: Dr. Lisa Dilling (Western Water Assessment & University of Colorado, Boulder), and Dr. William Solecki (Hunter College-City University of New York & Urban Climate Change Research Network) 

Sponsors: Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), NOAA RISA Program

Point of Contact: Korin Tangtrakul (krt73@drexel.edu)

Remote Access: Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-from-adaptation-planning-to-implementation-and-back-ccrun-seminar-tickets-90804922969

Recording: Event will be recorded and posted on CCRUN's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqxnekXINtMARnkWCEgeSKA/videos

Abstract: Across the U.S., practitioners and policymakers are contributing to the development of new climate resiliency strategies and have begun their implementation. As a result several key issues are emerging during this time. These include: 1) What are the enabling conditions, including mechanisms and approaches, that make the implementation process as successful as possible, 2) What are meaningful metrics of success of implementation that can be used to illustrate and communicate the impact of resiliency programs, 3) What are ways to understand how resiliency efforts interact with other community quality of life concerns and other non-resiliency focused programs simultaneously being implemented, and how might these concerns and programs influence the success of the resilience work, and 4) How can monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning (MERL) collectively promote adjustments and flexibility in resiliency strategies to make more them more successful.

This panel discussion will focus on cutting-edge social science research being done within the RISA network that has begun to address these questions. Embedded in this new work are understandings that as the community moves from planning to implementation, there must be recognition that resiliency efforts can not only be understood as physical infrastructure but also has to take account of the social and governance contexts in which resiliency strategies are put in place. And, in turn, that “success” has many definitions and that different groups can have diverse metrics of success. Also it needs to be appreciated with the COVID-19 related public health crisis, conditions of cascading risk and underlying vulnerabilities in many communities have been revealed. All resiliency efforts moving forward will have to recognize this and incorporate potential valuable lessons learned. The need for flexible, interconnected and iterative climate adaptation action seems especially clear now.

About the speakers:

Dr. Lisa Dilling is Director of the Western Water Assessment and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Western Water Assessment is a NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment that studies and facilitates the use of climate information in decision making in the Intermountain West. Her scholarship focuses on decision making, the use of information, and science policy, to understand how we can best manage climate and weather risks. Her research topics include drought and urban water management, climate adaptation in cities and on public lands, carbon management, and geoengineering governance. She holds a PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Dr. William Solecki is a Professor within the Department of Geography at Hunter College-City University of New York. His research focuses on urban environmental change, resilience, and adaptation transitions. From 2006-2014, he served as the Director of the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College. He also served as interim Director of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. He has co-lead several climate impacts studies in the greater New York and New Jersey region, including the New York City on Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). He recently was a lead author of the IPCC, Working Group II, Urban Areas chapter (chapter 8) and a coordinating lead author of the US National Climate Assessment, Urbanization, Infrastructure, and Vulnerability chapter (chapter 11). He is a co-founder of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), co-editor of Current Opinion on Environmental Sustainability, and founding editor of the Journal of Extreme Events. He holds degrees in Geography from Columbia University (BA) and Rutgers University (MA, PhD).

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(Lisa Dilling, WWA/University of Colorado, Boulder and Dr. William Solecki, CCRUN/Hunter College-City University of New York)