| "This workshop was developed to address the ‘Now what do we do?’ question." | |
| Cathy Angell, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve | |
Climate change looms large for many local and state coastal resource managers, but the real challenge may be trying to figure out how to help communities plan for and adapt to coming impacts. A workshop developed in Washington State may help coastal managers around the country better understand climate change and the planning processes and tools necessary to prepare for the future.
“This workshop was developed to address the ‘Now what do we do?’ question,” says Cathy Angell, Coastal Training Program coordinator at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Mount Vernon, Washington.
The Planning for Climate Change Workshop, which was created and piloted by the Padilla Bay Reserve, Washington Sea Grant, King County, and the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, lays out current climate change research findings and anticipated impacts, and then addresses the fundamentals of how to plan for climate change.
“The point of the workshop is to help demystify to some degree what planning for climate change involves,” says Lara Whitely Binder, outreach specialist for the Climate Impacts Group. “The fundamental skeleton of the training class is very transferable.”
Geared toward planners at the city and county levels, and those at the state level who support them, the workshop gives “some how-to’s on conducting things like vulnerability and risk assessments, engaging stakeholders who may be skeptical of the need for climate adaptation, and what tools and resources stakeholders need to be engaged,” says Katrina Hoffman, coastal resources specialist for Washington Sea Grant. “I tell folks that this is a practical workshop.”
Adaptation vs. Mitigation
One of the key components of the workshop, says Angell, is that it focuses on adaptation—what people can do to prepare for or respond to climate change impacts. It does not address mitigation, or the actions required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
“We are acutely aware that fortune favors the prepared,” says Elizabeth Willmott, Climate Change Program coordinator for King County. “It’s very important to reduce greenhouse emissions—that’s number one—but the impacts are going to happen inevitably, even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today.”
Willmott adds, “In general, folks on the front lines aren’t grappling yet with this issue in a full and rich way, and they need a fundamental amount of education about climate change.”
Determining Needs
After receiving a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center to create a climate change adaptation workshop that could be customized by reserves in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and other coastal managers, Angell first conducted a needs assessment with national reserve managers and coastal training program coordinators about their target audiences’ needs.
She followed that up with a needs assessment of the target audience in Washington. The national results mirrored the state survey.
“Our goals were really supported by the needs assessments,” Angell says. “People were interested in adaptation and planning, and what steps they should start doing to prepare.”
Following the Guidebook
The workshop also relied heavily on the publication, Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional, and State Governments, which the Climate Impacts Group and King County wrote in 2007. ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability published the guidebook and was a contributing partner in its national distribution.
The guidebook includes information on creating a climate change preparedness team, identifying community vulnerabilities to climate change, and identifying, selecting, and implementing adaptation options—all the steps necessary in creating a climate change preparedness plan.
Guidance on where to find and how to evaluate climate change information is provided, as is a checklist on “How to Prepare for Climate Change.” Information on implementing the resulting climate change plan and measuring its progress are also included.
Trial Run
In March, the partners held two pilot workshops at different locations in Washington. Survey feedback from the first workshop was overwhelmingly positive but did result in some minor adjustments being made to the second workshop, Angell says.
The training covered current climate change research findings and anticipated impacts, including flooding, storm surge, drought, and sea level rise. Participants were introduced to the fundamentals of conducting a vulnerability assessment, looked at how current regulations address climate change, and were shown how other governments are preparing for climate change.
The instructors helped participants become familiar with key data sources and covered specific strategies for engaging stakeholders in climate change preparedness. Each participant received a copy of the Preparing for Climate Change guidebook.
“It seems simple, but sometimes this information can be overwhelming to people,” says Willmott. “What the training really does is break it down and simplify it so coastal managers can understand that this is really like planning for any other uncertainty.”
Sharing with Others
All the workshop materials—including the agenda, PowerPoint presentations, and streaming video of each of the workshop sessions—are posted on the reserve system’s national website, www.nerrs.noaa.gov.
While some of the pieces are “plug and play,” Angell encourages others interested in using the materials to do their own needs assessment, use local case studies, and bring in local scientists to discuss climate change research and anticipated impacts.
“It’s really critical that people relate to how it’s going to apply to them,” she says. “I think it’s important to lay a foundation of local science.”
Whitely Binder encourages other coastal managers to experiment with the various components and come back to the website to provide feedback.
She adds, “It would be interesting to hear what is successful and what isn’t in other regions. We want this to continue to evolve.”
To view components of the Planning for Climate Change Workshop, go to www.nerrs.noaa.gov. To download Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional, and State Governments, go to www.cses.washington.edu/cig/fpt/guidebook.shtml. For more information on the workshop, contact Cathy Angell at (360) 428-1075, or cangell@padillabay.gov, Katrina Hoffman at (360) 416-7048, or kathoff@u.washington.edu, or Lara Whitely Binder at (206) 616-5349, or lwb123@u.washington.edu.
