The Southern California Association of Governments is pleased to
be developing a Regional Climate Adaptation
Framework, which assists local and regional
jurisdictions in managing the negative impacts of climate change.
The study looks at how the Southern California region can work
together to plan and prepare for the impacts of sea level rise,
extreme heat, increasingly frequent and damaging wildfires, and
other climate-related issues. We are already dealing with these
severe climate issues and adaptation planning is necessary to
help individuals, communities, and natural systems cope with the
unavoidable consequences of a changing climate.
For this effort, SCAG has been working with local municipalities,
advocacy groups, universities, and other stakeholders to assess
the unique issues affecting the SCAG region, available planning
tools and resources, scientific data, and messaging strategies.
Many local jurisdictions do not have the resources to adequately
assess their local hazards, develop effective adaptation plans,
and participate in regional planning efforts – our framework
provides jurisdictions with a roadmap to adaptation in an effort
to help build a more resilient Southern California.
As part of the overall Framework, SCAG is sharing new tools for
local jurisdictions – first, the Communication
& Outreach Strategies and Templates that can help
jurisdictions and community based organizations engage with
residents to understand better how climate related hazards are
affecting community members. Second, SCAG developed
the Southern California Climate Adaptation Planning Guide as a resource for local planning that
describes the range of climate change hazards the SCAG region is
likely to face in the coming decades. It also describes
adaptation principles geared to the region, and outlines a
general process of adaptation planning that can be applied by any
agency, no matter where they fall across the spectrums of
funding, available resources, knowledge of vulnerabilities, and
planning sophistication. It provides member agencies, including
towns, cities, counties and subregional organizations with a
compendium of tools, resources, and best practices to efficiently
advance their adaptation planning using the best resources
available
