Sept. 30, 2010

The report on national climate-change adaptation that was delivered yesterday to the White House science adviser is now available to the public. Dean Rosina M. Bierbaum, who co-chaired the D.C. climate adaptation summit last spring held by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) that formed the basis of the report, was one of the committee that introduced the report to Dr. John Holdren, the President' Science and Technology Adviser. The report identifies seven priorities:

1. Developing an overarching national strategy to guide federal climate change adaptation programs. This strategy should establish agency roles, clear goals and metrics, and better mechanisms for coordinating federal and non-federal activities.
2. Improving coordination of federal plans and programs. Strong management from the executive branch is needed to break down barriers, integrate planning, move funding into the highest priority areas, and maintain priorities across the multitude of involved agencies.
3. Creating a federal climate information portal. This would provide single-point access to data from all relevant federal agencies and programs and would evolve over time into a more í¢â‚¬Å“nationalí¢â‚¬  portal with information about relevant non-federal efforts.
4. Creating a clearinghouse of best practices and toolkits for adaptation. Such an effort could assist regions and sectors with similar adaptation challenges in learning from each other and explore the intersection of adaptation and mitigation.
5. Including support for assessment in U.S. Global Change Research Program agency budgets. This would enable the regular national-scale assessments of climate change impacts that are required by law.
6. Increasing funding for research on vulnerability and impacts, including economic analyses and pilot projects that join local, state, and regional governments and academic institutions to develop and test adaptation measures and tools.
7. Initiating a regional series of ongoing climate adaptation forums. The goal would be to integrate planning, communication, and coordination of activities across various agencies and U.S. regions.