Recommendations from the President’s Task Force on Climate Preparedness Unveiled

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie shares his climate resilience priorities in roundtable discussion with the with members of the President’s State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. (Photo by Office of Intergovernmental Affairs)

Contributed by Sarah Woodhouse Murdock – Director, U.S. Climate Change Adaptation Policy, The Nature Conservancy

The U.S. Office of the President has released the recommendations of the President’s State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience and made some associated new Executive Actions. To read the factsheet for more information click here. The Task Force comprises Governors, Mayors, county executives and Tribal leaders from across the country who are experiencing climate change impacts ranging from more severe droughts and wildfires to record heat waves and damaging storms. These leaders from around the country met over the past year to craft these recommendations as to how the federal government can work to enhance the nation’s resilience to climate change. They have informed their recommendations through their real world examples from around the country that demonstrate how climate changes are impacting their communities now in profound ways that threaten lives and livelihoods of the people and places that that represent. Importantly, the Task Force recommendations recognize the role that nature plays in reducing threats posed by climate change. They specifically call out the role that natural systems like coastal wetlands, floodplains, oyster reefs and coral reefs play in reducing flood risks and providing additional essential services for people and nature. For more information, science and reports on the role that habitats play in coastal resilience visit: https://coastalres.wpengine.com/our-work/habitats/

Along with the Task Force recommendations, the White House also released a new Climate Resilience Toolkit , a clearing house of tools and information that enables local planners to more easily assess their vulnerability to climate change impacts and develop solutions to lessen and adapt to these impacts. The Task Force also calls for tools like the ones provided in this toolkit to be provided so that scientifically sound information is more easily accessible. The Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience 2.0 tool is a featured piece of this toolkit and provides not only visualization of risk but real solutions to build coastal resilience.

Read more about TNC’s Coastal Resilience Tool and how it relates to two other federal mapping tools mentioned in the toolkit (e.g. NOAA’s Sea Level Rise Viewer and Surging Seas Risk Finder) in the NEW tool comparison fact sheet (click here to download) that was published by TNC and NOAA this month on www.coastalresilience.org.

Contact:
Sarah Murdock smurdock@tnc.org