Maine Adaptation Report

Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Posted on: 2/26/2010 - Updated on: 2/28/2020

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Abstract

The Department of Environmental Protection was charged by the 124th Maine Legislature with convening stakeholder groups to build upon the 2009 climate impact assessment by the University of Maine in evaluating the options available to Maine people and businesses for adapting to the likely environmental effects of climate change. That assessment concluded that climate change is already occurring in this State as a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and that, even with the greenhouse gas reduction goals set forth in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, sec-tion 576, more thorough planning is necessary to identify and implement the State's responses to climate change in the areas of: 1. Ensuring sustainable opportunities for the development of greenhouse gas offset projects and low-greenhouse gas emission technologies and processes in the various sec-tors of Maine's economy; 2. Built infrastructure, including coastal and inland flooding effects on roads and facilities, heat effects in urban centers and beach scouring; 3. Habitat and fish and wildlife species, including the effects of invasive species, a lack of adequate conservation areas, a lack of connectivity between habitat and wildlife and inadequate wetlands protection; 4. Marine ecosystems; 5. Forests and forest management practices, including a higher incidence of pests and fires and a lack of biomass availability; 6. Agricultural and farming practices; 7. Human health, including increases in heat-related and vector-borne diseases; 8. Water supplies and drinking water; and 9. Emergency response systems and planning. This is the report following the stakeholder process and the findings therein.

Citation

Maine Department of Environmental Protection. (2010). Maine adaptation report. Retrieved from CAKE http://www.cakex.org/virtual-library/625

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