climate adaptation- county planning
TRANSCRIPT
Building local resilience to climate change in Salt Lake City
July 2015
Self Sufficiency Roots
1. Ensure we can continue to keep its service commitments and protect people, property and infrastructure
2. Make decisions today that account for tomorrow’s vulnerabilities
3. Plan early to keep costs down
4. Continue our legacy of effective long-range planning
5. Capitalize on co-benefits
What is government’s responsibility?
Warming “average” temperatures
Rising sea Levels
Retreating glaciers and snowpacks
More frequent, more intense weather events including: heat waves, hurricanes, snow and rain storms, droughts
“Weather Weirding”
What’s being observed?
Photo: Salt Lake Tribune, Aug 2010
“Storm shatters rainfall records, floods homes across Utah”
Photo: Salt Lake Tribune, Aug 2010
Photo: KSL.com, Dec 2011
“Sustained winds over 100 MPH, one gust reaches 146 MPH.”
Park City Mountain ResortJan 31, 2015
Photo: Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 2015
Canyons Resort Dec 6, 2012 (SL Tribune)
Photo: Salt Lake Tribune, Aug 2013
Assess the risk from climate change and extreme events
Prioritize local impact areas
Integrate adaptability and resiliency into existing and future City plans and operations
How do we build local resilience?
PHASE 1 : Conduct an Internal Vulnerability Assessment
PHASE 2 : Determine resiliency needs PHASE 3 : Imbed resiliency planning in other plans
PHASE 4 : Expand/collaborate with other agencies
Approach
SLC Vulnerability Assessment
Medium Risk Impacts
High-Risk Impacts
City Budgets
•Air quality degradation•Housing Shortages•Food scarcity•Waste management pressures•Transportation pressures
•Water Supply & Treatment•Ecosystem Degradation•Infrastructure losses•Community Health/Safety
•Increased emergency services and response costs•Increased infrastructure repair costs
Convene regional practitioners
Inventory current efforts
Create a local repository of information
Develop mitigation and adaptation strategies
Establish a robust Regional Climate Network
Utah Climate Network
Utah Climate Network
Catalyze research, action and engagement to ensure a coordinated response to climate change and its impacts on the people, economies and general prosperity of Utah.• No advocacy• No politics• Just collaboration
This is an Opportunity
Dr. Gregory Johnson, NOAA