Transcript The Campaign: Resilient Communities for America Agreement

Moving Beyond Talk:
Resilient Communities for
America Agreement
Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies
A Capital Area Symposium
Austin, Texas
Patrice Parsons
Director of External Relations
[email protected]
ICLEI: The Leading Global
Network
• Who are we? ICLEI is a network of more than 400 local
governments in the US leading on sustainability and
resilience. ICLEI builds the capacity of local governments to tackle
tough challenges like extreme weather and climate change, with
tools, training, technical assistance, networking opportunities,
leadership recognition, and other resources
Resilience initiatives work well at a regional scale
because the challenges are often shared
regionally and the solutions often need to be
coordinated regionally.
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Collaborative regional approaches can also be more
attractive to funders and can better leverage
resources that are available
*ICLEI facilitated San Diego Bay Sea Level
Rise Adaptation Strategy
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Critical Components for Success
Steering Committee
– Public agencies with jurisdiction over area
planning that are interested in developing
actionable recommendations.
Stakeholders Working Group
– Entities with an interest in regional planning
that will be critical to reaching desired
outcomes.
Technical Advisory Committee
– Entities willing to volunteer their expertise in
topic areas central to the planning process.
Regional Adaptation Initiatives
- Changing Climate, Changing Communities:
For Municipal Climate Adaptation
- Guide & Workbook
- Adaptation Initiative
- Adapting Urban Water
Systems to Climate Change
- SWITCH – Managing Water
for the City of the Future
- Guide & Toolkit for Asian Cities
(ACCCRN)
- AsianCitiesAdapt
- AsianCitiesAdapt
- AdaptCap
- Climate Resilient Communities
Program
- Preparing for Climate Change
Guidebook
- Sub Regional Node of APAN
- ADAPT online management
tool
- ACCCRN (upcoming)
- AsianCitiesAdapt
- Participatory Vulnerability
Assessment Survey Tool
The Municipal Climate Action
Plan (PACMUN) Program
Sub-Saharan African Cities:
5 City Network for
Adaptation Solutions
- Local Government Climate
Adaptation Toolkit
- PAKLIM Program
- Guide & Toolkit for Asian
Cities (ACCCRN)
Rallying the leadership and commitment of mayors
and county officials to overcome our nation’s
climate and energy challenges
Partners & Leaders
Campaign Chair:
Mayor Kevin Johnson
Sacramento, CA
Advisory Committee: city & county staff, academics, business leaders
Endorsing Partners: Mayors Innovation Project; The San Diego Foundation,
Department of Energy
Resilient Communities for
America Overview
Championing the leadership of hundreds of local
elected officials who commit to creating stronger,
more prepared communities that can bounce back
from extreme weather, energy, and economic
challenges
Paths to Resilience
“ the ability to bounce back from disruptions in a sustainable way
and maintain a good quality of life for all ”
Climate
• Prepare for extreme
weather and climate
impacts
• Reduce carbon
pollution
Energy
• Expand local renewable
energy
• Increase energy efficiency
Infrastructure
• Upgrade and protect
critical infrastructure
• Create new financing
models
• Harness innovations in
information technology
and green infrastructure
Economy
• Protect businesses,
infrastructure and assets
from climate impacts
• Ensure reliable access to
water and energy
Goals & Outcomes
• 1,000 + elected official signatories by 2015 who pledge to
create more resilient communities by signing the
Resilient Communities for America Agreement.
• More local governments taking measureable action on
climate and energy issues, empowered through campaign
tools, resources, collaboration
• Create greater federal and state awareness and support
of community resilience and local climate action
• Cities and counties leading a new resilience movement
Commitments in the
Agreement
1. We urge state and federal leaders to support our local
resilience initiatives and to take meaningful steps to build
resilience and security throughout the nation.
2. We commit to building community resilience through our
own local actions.
3. We commit to sharing our
solutions, success stories, and
annual progress with other
local governments through the
Resilient Communities for
America online platform.
Agreement Letter
• Resilient Communities for
America Agreement:
• Sign-on letter for elected
officials to formalize
commitment, showcase
leadership
Signatories
80 top local elected officials (partial list)
Mayor Kevin Johnson
Mayor Vincent Gray
Mayor Mark Mallory
Mayor Michael Hancock
Mayor Tom Barrett
Mayor Sly James
Mayor Paul Fraim
Mayor Frank Cownie
Mayor Kristin Jacobs
Mayor John P. "Jack" Seiler
Mayor Jean Quan
Mayor George Heartwell
Mayor Dawn Zimmer
Mayor Ralph Becker
Supervisor Salud Carbajal
Sacramento, CA
Washington, DC
Cincinnati, OH
Denver, CO
Milwaukee, WI
Kansas City, MO
Norfolk, VA
Des Moines, IA
Broward County, FL
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Oakland, CA
Grand Rapids, MI
Hoboken, NJ
Salt Lake City, UT
Santa Barbara County, CA
Success Stories
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Campaign Launch – June 2013
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US Conference of Mayors Resolution
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Launch even at National Press Club with +100 attendees
Press coverage in 120 new outlets, including AP, Reuters, and LA Times
Introduced by Mayor Johnson of Sacramento and Mayor Cownie of Des Moines
Adopted unanimously
White House Conference Call
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Discussion with senior White House officials for campaign signatories and ICLEI
members
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Website live with e-signature capability – www.resilientamerica.org
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82 signatories as of September 27th.
Next Steps
• Resilience Leadership Breakfast
– Exclusive event for Signatories at the NLC Annual Congress
• Tools and Partnerships
– ICLEI to release Extreme Events Communication Guidebook
and begin work on next-gen software tools
– Expanding group of partners providing tools and resources
through the campaign
• Recruitment
– Outreach leading to 350 Signatories by Spring, 2014
Why
– Cost-effective
TheAdapt?
5 Milestone
AdaptationPreparedness
Planning Process
-The climate is already changing, and climate change impacts are projected to get
worse in the coming years.
-Significant time is required to motivate and develop adaptive capacity, and to
implement changes.
-Today’s choices will shape tomorrow’s vulnerabilities.
-Proactive planning is often more effective and less costly than reactive planning,
and can provide immediate benefits.
-Connect climate change back to local impacts – especially extreme weather
events
-“Those who report experience of flooding express more concern over climate
change, see it as less uncertain and feel more confident that their actions will
have an effect on climate change. Importantly, these perceptual differences
also translate into a greater willingness to save energy to mitigate climate
change” - A. Spence et. al., Nature, March 2011
The 5 Milestone Adaptation Planning Process
Why Adapt? - Why Not?
Local action: the real driver of climate progress.
• Picture of the globe – iconic… or other iconic
global picture
• (from bottom? Sunlight peering out?)
Patrice “Pete” Parsons
Director of External Relations
ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA
[email protected]
210-722-7270
www.icleiusa.org
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