The State of Climate Adaptation in U.S. Marine Fisheries Management

This report presents the results of EcoAdapt’s efforts to survey adaptation action in marine fisheries management by examining the major climate impacts on marine and coastal fisheries in the United States, assessing related challenges to fisheries management, and presenting examples of actions taken to decrease vulnerability and/or increase resilience. First, we provide a summary of climate change impacts and secondary effects on fisheries, focusing on changes in air and water temperatures, precipitation patterns, storms, ocean circulation, sea level rise, and water chemistry. We then examine non-climatic factors that affect fisheries management, such as overfishing, bycatch, pollution, habitat degradation and modification, invasive and non-native species, and conflicting uses of marine and coastal ecosystems. Next, we examine how the aforementioned issues combine to influence abundance and productivity, distribution and recruitment, and essential fish habitat. Then we present the results of a survey sent to federal, tribal, state, and other practitioners to identify challenges, needs, and opportunities for climate-informed fisheries management and conservation. Summaries of and trends in commonly used adaptation approaches and examples from our survey and other resources are presented in four broad categories (Gregg et al. 2011; Gregg et al. 2012):

  1. Capacity Building: Strategies include conducting research and assessments, investing in training and outreach efforts, developing new tools and resources, and monitoring climate change impacts and adaptation effectiveness.
  2. Policy: Strategies include developing adaptation plans, creating new or enhancing existing policies, and developing adaptive management strategies.
  3. Natural Resource Management and Conservation: Strategies include incorporating climate change into restoration efforts, enhancing connectivity, reducing local change, and reducing non-climate stressors that may exacerbate the effects of climate change.
  4. Infrastructure, Planning, and Development: Strategies include protecting critical coastal infrastructure used by the fishing industry, and creating or modifying coastal development measures (e.g., removing shoreline hardening, encouraging low-impact development) to increase habitat resilience.

The majority of adaptation efforts in fisheries management to date have been focused on capacity building, including conducting research and assessments, creating resources and tools, and monitoring how climatic changes are affecting species, habitats, and fishing communities. Finally, we discuss several more options to advance adaptation in the fisheries sector that are either not yet represented or are only partially addressed by the examples from our survey. 

Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change Within Governance Systems in South Asia: An Analytical Framework and Examples From Practice

This paper focuses on the governance challenge of adapting to the impacts of climate change. Adaptation requires a shift in how governments ‘do’ development: they now need to consider the impacts of climate change when making investment, planning and policy decisions. This idea of ‘mainstreaming’ adaptation to climate change within development is well established, but the governance dimension of this mainstreaming process is often side-lined in practice. In contexts where governance is already a challenge, the capacity to effectively adapt to climate change is particularly limited. Governments across the worldare experimenting with different approaches to tackling climate change, supported by technical consultants, donors and civil society, but often with a piecemeal approach to addressing the governance dimensions.

The Action on Climate Today (ACT) programme, a UK Aid-funded programme, is focused on climate-proofing growth in five South Asian countries at the national and subnational levels, and is designed to transform systems of planning and delivery for adaptation to climate change. This paper is based on lessons from the experience of ACT on strengthening governance systems to deliver adaptation.

 

Climate-Resilient Agriculture in South Asia: An Analytical Framework and Insights From Practice

Agricultural systems are extremely vulnerable to climate change (CC), given their sensitivity to variations in temperature, precipitation and occurrence of natural events and disasters such as droughts and floods. The paper introduces a framework of practical entry points at the national and local level for addressing CC adaptation and resilience and maps them across the agriculture value chain and non- farming options. The entry points, which target exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity within the vulnerability framework, are as follows:

  • Policy and institutional entry points
  • Financial entry points
  • Information and social behaviour entrypoints
  • Technical entry points

The paper also identifies and discusses the critical challenges and knowledge gaps that currently exist in interacting and working with governments and organisations across these four main entry points.

 

Upscaling Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation

There is a growing recognition of the benefits of nature-based solutions (NBS), a term that refers to projects and actions where natural ecosystems and their services are used in a sustainable and effective way in order to help tackle environmental and social challenges. Under the right circumstances, these solutions can provide alternatives that, compared with traditional infrastructure and engineering projects, are both cost-effective and capable of providing multiple benefits, while at the same time delivering conservation objectives. NBS can help society better adapt to climate change by, for example, addressing the risks of adverse impacts from extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, as well as food security issues. One example of NBS is use of the buffering capacity of riparian ecosystems, which act as a time and intensity buffer in the event of floods, but also as a filter for runoff waters. Nevertheless, it is essential to frame NBS within the right conditions; recent developments in ecological science and modelling have just started to provide a better understanding of what a “good operating space”—in other words, one that efficiently delivers these services—looks like for NBS.

Climate Change and Public Health Preparation Plan | Multnomah County

Climate change has serious and far-reaching health implications for present and future generations. A team of international scientists recently described these challenges in The Lancet as “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century” (Lancet 2009).

Even if there is local and global action to immediately reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we will likely feel the impacts from the current build up of emissions in the atmosphere for decades. These impacts, such as hotter summers and wetter, warmer winters for the Pacific Northwest, will likely affect our health, especially those most vulnerable. Communities must, therefore, begin to plan and prepare for the likely impacts that will be experienced because of the emissions already present in the atmosphere.

The Multnomah County/City of Portland Climate Action Plan identified “Climate Change Preparation” as one of its eight key action areas with the objective to “adapt successfully to a changing climate”. Adaptation means “to adjust to a new situation or environment” such as an increase in consecutive days over 95 degrees. This public health plan is a part of broader ongoing efforts by the City of Portland and Multnomah County to make our infrastructure, our natural environment, and our society more resilient to climate change. This plan communicates why we as a community, as policymakers and as public health professionals should care about climate change; what the local impacts may be; which populations and areas may be impacted; why equity and justice are key parts of this work; and what we can do to further prevent health issues and disparities.

Climate and Health Adaptation Plan | Crook County Health Department

The Crook County Health Department Climate and Health Action Plan was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative which was assigned to assist 16 states and 2 cities develop ways to anticipate health effects by applying climate science, predicting health impacts, and preparing flexible programs. The grant was administered by the Oregon Health Authority and the project ran from August 2011 through August 2013.

This grant opportunity was meant to enhance the ability of public health to engage in this important work. The Crook County Climate Health Action Plan developed by Public Health will:

  • Develop strategies for public health staff to be a source of leadership, expertise, and guidance concerning sustainable development in Crook County;
  • Raise awareness in Crook County as to the important responsibilities of, and actions regarding sustainable development and climate change; and
  • Help shape local policy promoting sustainable development, with strategies to mitigate climate change for Crook County.

Climate and Health Action Plan | Jackson County Public Health

Jackson County Health & Human Services (JCHHS) is ideally suited to coordinate and plan local adaptation strategies relating to the health impacts from climate change. The climate issue is a global problem, but responses may be ideally dealt with at a local level. Much of what we do as a county health department is appropriate to the monitoring, assessment, and response to the health effects from climate change. Surveillance of communicable diseases and outbreaks, public health emergency preparedness planning, and environmental health messaging and oversight are core functions of Public Health.

This plan was an outgrowth of JCHHS’s role in a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project from July 2011 to August 2013, using the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework. This project was designed to help states, cities and county health departments investigate, prepare for, and respond to the health effects that climate change may have on people.

Public Health staff and managers worked with external advisors and stakeholders to define the projected climate outlook for Jackson County Oregon at mid-century. Engaged advisors came from public and non-profit agencies, scientists, local business, and interest groups. Adaptation interventions and actions were jointly developed with input from multiple sources to insure appropriateness to the local social, economic, and political milieu.

Climate Adaptation Plan | North Central Public Health District

NCPHD staff determined which climate factors might already be addressed via other public health programs and local emergency management plans, and which factors would likely need more attention. Drought seemed the most likely factor that is currently not focused on by public health, and due to its chronic nature, not as well addressed via emergency management lens. So for now, NCPHD will focus on building community resiliency to address the many possible public health sequela of drought. Climate health will be rolled into the All Hazard Response plan cycle so that the NCPHD Climate Action Planning Team may revise the priorities and adaptation strategies to align with new climate and health discoveries and new insights provided by climate health scientists.

California, Oregon, Washington, and the Surging Sea

Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. Higher sea levels translate to more and higher coastal floods. To forecast future risk, this analysis integrates historic flood statistics with local sea level rise projections developed by the U.S. National Research Council. Under mid-range projections, floods exceeding today’s historic records are likely to take place throughout California, Oregon and Washington within the next 30 years. In Southern California, such floods would become annual events within the same period; in Northern California and Puget Sound, this would take up to six decades.

The tool includes:

  • Interactive local projections of sea level rise and increasing coastal flood risk from 1-10 feet by decade;
  • A zooming, zip-searchable map of low-lying areas threatened, plus layers showing social vulnerability, population density and property value;
  • Detailed assessments of populations, property, infrastructure and contamination sources exposed, for each implicated county, city, town, zip code, planning district, legislative district and more; and
  • State- and county-wide heat maps facilitating high-level vulnerability comparisons. Detailed knowledge of vulnerability is a critical tool for communities seeking to build resiliency to the climate challenges of today and the future.

Safeguarding California Plan: 2018 Update

The updated Safeguarding California Plan reflects hundreds of comments received during the public comment period and includes several new chapters and features, including a Climate Justice chapter highlighting how equity is woven throughout the entire plan.

From pinpointing vulnerabilities in the electricity grid to improving energy efficiency to realigning coastal roads to prepare for sea-level rise, state agencies are funding projects and actions to safeguard both natural and built environments from climate change impacts. Examples include:
  • Assessing transportation vulnerability
  • Studying grid vulnerability in Los Angeles County
  • Building drought resilience in Tulare County
Additional examples of climate change adaptation actions can be found in a compilation developed by the Natural Resources Agency in tandem with the 2018 update.