The California regional scoping workshop was held in Santa Barbara on March 9-11, 1998. Since that time there has been ongoing positive feedback from the workshop, and significant efforts are being undertaken in the various sectors. For example, The Water Education Foundation, a well-regarded source of information on water policy issues, has released a special issue of their publication specifically on climate change, with input from the California region "white paper" and the workshop process (http://www.nceas.edu). Water resources, one of the main topics covered at the workshop, is a major issue in the west, yet climate variability and change have not been on the radar screen for many in the water community.

California is considering two major tasks for the next phase. The first is to complete the workshop effort by following up on critical sectoral components of the regional assessment. This will involve convening smaller meetings of stakeholders and experts on issues that require further analysis. The second is to work with those who are currently conducting research on key elements of the climate impacts issue (e.g. integrating the modeling of climate, water, fire, land-use, etc. and ecosystems and economic/social systems research) to coordinate their efforts and focus the outputs on climate impacts.

Task 1: Sectoral Meetings
While the workshop resulted in a good overview of the impacts involved in each sector, we did not have sufficient time to reach the level of detailed discussion that is needed. At least four sectors merit particular consideration and focused follow-on work for the California region:

• Coastal impacts (including natural systems and infrastructure aspects)
• Water (including supply, drought/flooding, and quality concerns)
• Agriculture (looking at both natural systems and market impacts)
• Urban centers (including larger human infrastructure and support systems)

Task 2: Research Priorities
There are several research topics which California proposes be addressed in the next phase. Each research thrust would involve a team of researchers and stakeholders from universities, laboratories, state and federal agencies, the private sector, and other non-government organizations. These teams will build on the successful regional workshop process and add appropriate participants as needed. This work will involve both direct support for certain research efforts and cooperation with research that is already funded but not now well-connected. There is already significant funding in place for a number of research projects which can be highly leveraged for the assessment effort. The four priority research areas are:

1. Integrated Regional Impacts Modeling Project

This project will involve coordination of currently-funded work (such as the research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Scripps Institution of Oceanography) on climate change at the regional scale. State resource agencies and other organizations, such as the Pacific Institute, also have on-going projects addressing issues such as water planning and fire-fighting. The objective is both coordination of research efforts across critical sectors of interest and sharing of existing information between research projects.

2. Ecological Systems Impacts Assessment

Climate-induced changes in ecological systems may involve profound impacts to both natural and managed systems. State interest in ecosystem impacts and links to existing management challenges, from fire fighting - to agriculture - to watershed management, is considerable. State and local agencies will be key stakeholders to involve in this effort.

3. Communities and Infrastructure Impacts Assessment

The national assessment effort has determined that urban centers and the general area of communities and infrastructure should be handled at the regional assessment level (vs. developing a national sectoral assessment process). This places a specific and important task before the regional assessment efforts to adequately address those concerns. The California region has significant urban/community infrastructure issues linked to water supply, transportation and communications, fire, sea-level rise, health, and other concerns. System resilience to variability and the capacity to adapt to and mitigate change are critically important issues for the region. The regional workshop succeeded in bringing together leading stakeholders in this area, including: local government associations, elected officials, planners at the local level, state and federal agencies concerned with these issues (e.g. CalTrans, Department of Water Resources, Bureau of Reclamation), and professional associations such as the American Planning Association (APA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). One post-workshop goal is to pull this considerable talent together to assess California region-specific concerns. This process will likely identify additional research questions to address.

4. Business and Economic Impacts

Impacts of climate change and variability on California's trillion dollar economy are complex and critically important to business and the economy. One of the major accomplishments of the California regional workshop and the numerous preparatory meetings was the high quality and diversity of business participation. In follow-up discussions with business participants, workshop organizers have received extremely positive feedback and a strong interest in continuing the assessment. Another post-workshop goal is to move quickly to maintain a valuable and significant level of interest and commitment on the part of the business community.

Based on these preliminary concerns, the overall goals of the California region's follow-on activities are:

• Establish a focus and an expanded network for climate impacts assessment work in the California region and support the National Assessment effort
• Facilitate information exchange among on-going climate change-related efforts in the region
• Provide research coordination and cross-fertilization with interested research centers and link these efforts to stakeholder concerns and priorities
• Produce an integrated assessment of potential impacts of climate variability and change in the California region as input for the national assessment effort

For more information, contact:

Robert Wilkinson, California Regional Workshop Coordinator, University of California Santa Barbara, 1428 W. Valerio Street, Santa Barbara, 93101; (805) 569-2590; wilkinso@envst.ucsb.edu