Climate Change Adaptation Task Force
On March 16, 2010, the Task Force released an Interim Progress Report, which recommended key components to include in a national strategy on climate change adaptation. In October 2010, the Task Force articulated a set of policy goals and recommendations in its Progress Report to the President, including:
- Make adaptation a standard part of Agency planning to ensure that resources are invested wisely and services and operations remain effective in a changing climate.
- Ensure scientific information about the impacts of climate change is easily accessible so public and private sector decision-makers can build adaptive capacity into their plans and activities.
- Align Federal efforts to respond to climate impacts that cut across jurisdictions and missions, such as those that threaten water resources, public health, oceans and coasts, and communities.
- Develop a U.S. strategy to support international adaptation that leverages resources across the Federal Government to help developing countries reduce their vulnerability to climate change through programs that are consistent with the core principles and objectives of the President’s new Global Development Policy.
- Build strong partnerships to support local, state, and tribal decision makers in improving management of places and infrastructure most likely to be affected by climate change.
The 2010 Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Progress Report is available here.
2011 Progress Report
On October 28, 2011 the Task Force released the 2011 Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Progress Report outlining the Federal Government's progress in expanding and strengthening the Nation's capacity to better understand, prepare for, and respond to extreme events and other climate change impacts. The reportprovides an update on actions in key areas of Federal adaptation, including: building resilience in local communities, safeguarding critical natural resources such as freshwater, and providing accessible climate information and tools to help decision-makers manage climate risks.
The 2011 Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Progress Report is available here.
National Action Plan for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate
The Task Force's October 2010 Progress Report identified freshwater resources as a priority area for greater attention. On June 2, 2011, CEQ released a draft National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate to provide an overview of the challenges that a changing climate presents for the management of the Nation's freshwater resources and describes actions that Federal agencies propose to take in response to these challenges. The draft Action Plan was available for 45 days of public comment.
On October 28, 2011, CEQ announced the final Action Plan that responds to public input. This plan is designed to help freshwater resource managers assure adequate water supplies, safeguard water quality and aquatic ecosystems, and protect human life, health and property. If you would like a printed copy of the National Action Plan, please send an email stating an addressee, mailing address, and the number of copies you would like (limit of 3) to the following address: adaptation@ceq.eop.gov
Background
The Task Force's work has been guided by a strategic vision of a resilient, healthy, and prosperous Nation in the face of a changing climate. To achieve this vision, the Task Force identified a set of guiding principles that public and private decision-makers should consider in designing and implementing adaptation strategies. They include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Adopt Integrated Approaches: Adaptation should be incorporated into core policies, planning, practices, and programs whenever possible.
- Prioritize the Most Vulnerable: Adaptation strategies should help people, places, and infrastructure that are most vulnerable to climate impacts and be designed and implemented with meaningful involvement from all parts of society.
- Use Best-Available Science: Adaptation should be grounded in the best-available scientific understanding of climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities.
- Apply Risk-Management Methods and Tools: Adaptation planning should incorporate risk-management methods and tools to help identify, assess, and prioritize options to reduce vulnerability to potential environmental, social, and economic implications of climate change.
- Apply Ecosystem-based Approaches: Adaptation should, where appropriate, take into account strategies to increase ecosystem resilience and protect critical ecosystem services on which humans depend, to reduce vulnerability of human and natural systems to climate change.
Implementing Instructions for Agency Climate Change Adaptation Planning
CEQ and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are working in partnership to further Federal sustainability targets and other management goals. This includes ensuring that Federal agencies are planning so they can address the impacts of climate change on their operations and assets.
On March 4, 2011, CEQ issued a set of implementing instructions for Federal Agency Adaptation Planning. The Instructions informed agencies on how to integrate climate change adaptation into their planning, operations, policies, and programs, as recommended by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force in its October 2010 Progress Report to the President.
The Companion Support Document to the Implementing Instructions is available here.
