Climate Summit Establishes Projections for Sea Level Rise in Southeast Florida

The Third Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit was held in Key Largo, Florida on December 8-9, 2011, representing the culmination of 3-4 years of meetings and consultations between administrators, scientists, and engineers from the four southeast Florida counties (Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach).  The aim of the annual summit meetings has been to adopt a uniform set of scientific guidelines for future climate change and impacts on the South Florida region and to elaborate an action plan for the counties in the areas of transportation and water management, as well as man-made and natural environments.  

Earlier in 2011, an inter-county task force completed a science report outlining a uniform projection for future sea level rise, which has since been incorporated into the four-county planning document that was debuted at the Key Largo summit meeting.  The scientific consultations have involved numerous meetings in Ft. Lauderdale with researchers from AOML, the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Florida Atlantic University, as well as engineers from organizations such as the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  

The Key Largo summit mainly focused on formally presenting the overall planning document, The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan, to the public.  Drs. David Enfield and Sang-Ki Lee of AOML were in attendance, along with numerous others involved in preparing the uniform projection of future sea level rise, which is the basis for the regional action plan. A draft version of the document can be viewed at www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/. 

This is the first time a climate action plan has been crafted for a region that comprises a larger population than the individual populations of 25 states.  The meeting ended with a commitment to the biggest task that lies ahead—implementation of the plan through partnerships between county and municipal governments, state and national government agencies (including NOAA), and the private sector.  

The scientific basis for regional planning will be reassessed in 2014 following further research and the formal release of the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.  At that time, the consultation process of 2009-2010 will be resumed, with the participation of NOAA, and an amended projection (if necessary) will be released.