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Explore Climate Ready Estuaries
Background
The Climate Ready Estuaries program is a partnership between EPA and the National Estuary Programs (NEPs) to address climate change in coastal areas. This effort brings together EPA’s Oceans and Coastal Protection Division and Climate Change Division to build additional capacity in the NEPs and other coastal communities as they prepare to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Information Resources
Program Brochure (PDF) (2 pp, 456 K)
Program Newsletter Issue 1: Summer 2008 (PDF) (4 pp, 772K)
Program Newsletter Issue 2: Fall 2008 (PDF) (4 pp, 279K)
Other EPA offices, such as the Global Change Research Program, are supporting this effort as well. The purpose of Climate Ready Estuaries is to assist NEPs and coastal communities in becoming "climate ready" by providing tools and assistance to assess climate change vulnerability and plan for adaptation.
A number of other federal programs work on coastal adaptation to climate change. As part of the Climate Ready Estuaries program, EPA will coordinate and communicate with other federal agencies and external partners to share information, identify opportunities for collaboration, and minimize duplication of effort.
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What type of assistance is EPA providing?
The national program includes two levels of assistance focusing on climate change adaptation in coastal areas:
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A Coastal Toolkit of information products, data, tools, webinars, workshops, and technical assistance is available to all NEPs and other coastal managers. This Toolkit can help local resource managers build public support, develop partnerships among stakeholders, and identify vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning needs.
- Targeted assistance to a small group of NEPs to identify climate change vulnerabilities, develop adaptation plans, and begin to implement selected actions within these plans. Each year to 18 months, EPA will work with a separate group of NEPs. NEPs and other coastal communities will be recognized as "climate ready" upon completion of these adaptation plans. The results and lessons learned from working with each pilot will help inform future efforts.
Which NEPs are receiving in-depth assistance this year and what are the plans for this work?
For 2008, EPA has selected six NEPs to serve as pilots and receive targeted support. Below are brief descriptions of the work that each pilot plans to complete:
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Albemarle-Pamlico NEP
The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program (APNEP) is currently working with a number of its partners to bolster the region's resilience and mitigate the effects of climate change on the landscape and its communities. These partnerships include working with several universities and conservation and social justice nonprofits in a program to bring together community members and conservationists in the Albemarle-Pamlico region on a regular basis to discuss common concerns and solutions, including those related to climate change. APNEP is also working with the State of North Carolina, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and EPA to integrate monitoring and research efforts within the basin to prepare a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan.
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Charlotte Harbor NEP
Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) is developing a vulnerability assessment/overview for the seven-county southwest Florida CHNEP study area. The Climate Ready Estuaries pilot program will build on this work by developing an adaptation plan for a small city within the area. The adaptation plan will address a wide variety of issues, including anticipated futures, emergency response, minimization/avoidance/mitigation, building materials and design, land development regulations, fiscal policies, habitat translocations, exotic plant and animal invasion, management challenges, management solutions, and variable risk.
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Massachusetts Bays Program
The Massachusetts Bays Program will work with EPA in designing and completing a climate change vulnerability assessment for the coastal zone of Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays. This effort will leverage existing initiatives under the StormSmart Coasts program in the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. Upon completion of the vulnerability assessment, the information gathered will help to revise the Massachusetts Bays management plan to incorporate climate change preparation.
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New Hampshire Estuaries Project
The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) will lead a geographic information systems (GIS)-based analysis of road-stream infrastructure vulnerabilities associated with projected increases in stormwater resulting from climate change and future development in the coastal Oyster River watershed. The analysis will result in the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to be included in NHEP's 2010 Management Plan update.
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Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary will work with its many collaborators in the watershed to begin evaluating which resources are most at risk and prioritizing what can—and should be—done to monitor, protect, or otherwise benefit the most valuable and vulnerable features. The Partnership’s Climate Adaptation Project will focus on assessing vulnerability and adaptation needs for three critical "case study" resources in the Estuary: drinking water, tidal wetlands, and shellfish. The final product will be an adaptation plan that will provide new guidance on monitoring, management actions, and policies that have the greatest benefit for maximizing the "natural capital" of these key life-sustaining features in the Delaware Estuary and its watershed.
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San Francisco Estuary Project
The San Francisco Estuary Project's (SFEP) 2007 update to their CCMP targeted the assessment of and response to potential impacts of climate change. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) has taken a lead role in identifying and planning for these threats, completing an assessment of the impacts of sea level rise on the estuary, and further researching sea level rise impacts and adaptation methods. With BCDC and other partners, SFEP intends to work with EPA to complete a vulnerability assessment for other climate related impacts and produce an adaptation plan for the Estuary.