Download or read book Planning for Climate Change in the West written by Rebecca H. Carter and published by Lincoln Inst of Land Policy. This book was released on 2010 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Planning for Climate Change in the West offers regional planners techniques for addressing climate change concerns while they focus on issues affecting regional growth. A warmer and dryer climate in the mountain states along with federal policies to reduce green house gas emissions affects regional planning. The report provides examples how local action does reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption when planners modify building codes, land use policies covering open spaces and forests, water use and transportation routes. Planning for climate change in the mountain West requires an understanding of barriers created by local political, demographic and cultural conditions. Since there are climate skeptics among politicians and government staff in the intermountain west, the report identifies strategies to use when developing land and designing buildings that lessen the impact on climate change. This Policy Focus Report acknowledges the critical role of local planners in confronting challenges posed by climate change. Local officials engaged in planning for climate change must focus on the economic savings of mitigating and adapting to climate change as they tailor federal and state efforts to suit local and regional needs. Managing regional growth by focusing on effective water management, energy generation and transportation management leads to sustainable communities. Buildings which conserve energy, reduce water needs and are located near regional transportation help local governments and consumers save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the mountain west. The report includes a survey of government staff and elected officials in the Intermountain West indicating skepticism about climate change. Accordingly, Western planners are emphasizing sustainability or economic efficiency, rather than climate change, in their decisions to manage water supplies, reduce energy consumption, increase transportation efficiency, and protect open space. Planning for Climate Change in the West was a product of the joint venture partnership of the Lincoln Institute and the Sonoran Institute, now called Western Lands and Communities.

Download or read book Climate Action Planning written by Michael R. Boswell and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change continues to impact our health and safety, the economy, and natural systems. With climate-related protections and programs under attack at the federal level, it is critical for cities to address climate impacts locally. Every day there are new examples of cities approaching the challenge of climate change in creative and innovative ways—from rethinking transportation, to greening city buildings, to protecting against sea-level rise. Climate Action Planning is designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop and implement plans to mitigate a community's greenhouse gas emissions and increase the resilience of communities against climate change impacts. This fully revised and expanded edition goes well beyond climate action plans to examine the mix of policy and planning instruments available to every community. Boswell, Greve, and Seale also look at process and communication: How does a community bring diverse voices to the table? What do recent examples and research tell us about successful communication strategies? Climate Action Planning brings in new examples of implemented projects to highlight what has worked and the challenges that remain. A completely new chapter on vulnerability assessment will help each community to identify their greatest risks and opportunities. Sections on land use and transportation have been expanded to reflect their growing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The guidance in the book is put in context of international, national, and state mandates and goals. Climate Action Planning is the most comprehensive book on the state of the art, science, and practice of local climate action planning. It should be a first stop for any local government interested in addressing climate change.

Download or read book Implementing Climate Change Adaptation in Cities and Communities written by Walter Leal Filho and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes how climate change adaptation can be implemented at the community, regional and national level. Featuring a variety of case studies, it illustrates strategies, initiatives and projects currently being implemented across the world. In addition to the challenges faced by communities, cities and regions seeking to cope with climate change phenomena like floods, droughts and other extreme events, the respective chapters cover topics such as the adaptive capacities of water management organizations, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous and climate change adaptation strategies. The book will appeal to a broad readership, from scholars to policymakers, interested in developing strategies for effectively addressing the impacts of climate change.

Download or read book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster written by Bill Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Download or read book Climate Change and Food Security in West Asia and North Africa written by Mannava V.K. Sivakumar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The countries of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) have long had the challenge of providing sustainable livelihoods for their populations in the fragile ecosystems of semi-arid and arid areas. Climate change is already a reality in WANA and it places additional constraints on the already fragile ecosystems of dry areas and limited natural resources in WANA. A comprehensive and integrated approach to planning and implementing the climate change adaptation strategies across the wide range of agro-ecosystems in different countries in WANA could help both the planners and the local communities to deal effectively with the projected impacts and also contribute to overall sustainability of agricultural production systems. This book addresses the important issue of climate change and food security in West Asia and North Africa and presents the appropriate strategies which could help in the development of new policies to better adapt agriculture production systems and enhance food security in WANA.

Download or read book Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate written by Kathleen A. Miller and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-12-19 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate addresses the current challenges facing western water planners and policy makers in the United States and considers strategies for managing water resources and related risks in the future. Written by highly-regarded experts in the industry, the book offers a wealth of experience, and explains the physical, socioeconomic, and institutional context for western water resource management. The authors discuss the complexities of water policy, describe the framework for water policy and planning, and identify many of the issues surrounding the subject. A provocative examination of policy issues surrounding western water resources, this book: Considers the implications of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change for the region’s water resources, and explains limitations on the predictability of local-scale changes Stresses linkages between climate patterns and weather events, and related hydrologic impacts Describes the environmental consequences of historical water system development and the challenges that climate change poses for protection of aquatic ecosystems Examines coordination of drought management by local, state and national government agencies Includes insights on planning for climate change adaptation from case studies across the western United States Discusses the challenges and opportunities in water/energy/land system management, and its prospects for developing climate change response strategies Presents evidence of changes in water scarcity and flooding potential in the region and identifies a set of adaptation strategies to support the long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture and urban communities Draws upon Colorado’s experience in defining rights for surface and tributary groundwater use to explain potential conflicts and challenges in establishing fair and effective coordination of water rights for these resources Assesses the role of policy in driving flood losses Explores policy approaches for achieving equitable and environmentally responsible planning outcomes despite multiple sources of uncertainty Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate describes patterns of water availability, existing policy problems and the potential impacts of climate change in the western United States, and functions as a practical reference for the student or professional invested in water policy and management.

Download or read book Planning for Climate Change written by Simin Davoudi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-09-02 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is changing the context of spatial planning and shaping its priorities. It has strengthened its environmental dimension and has become a new rationale for coordinating actions and integrating different policy priorities. This book sets out the economic, social and environmental challenges that climate change raises for urban and regional planners and explores current and potential responses. These are set within the context of recent research and scholarly works on the role of spatial planning in combating climate change. Addressing both mitigation measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the effects of climate change, the book provides an overview of emerging practice, with analysis of the drivers of policy change and practical implementation of measures. It scopes planning issues and opportunities at different spatial scales, drawing on both the UK and international experiences and highlighting the need to link global and local responses to shared risks and opportunities.

Download or read book Greenhouse Planning for Climate Change written by GI Pearman and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is important for the reader to understand clearly the objectives of these papers. They are not an attempt to provide accurate predictions of what is going to happen in Australia over the next few decades. Rather they represent sensitivity studies, designed to illustrate to what extent we as a nation are dependent on the climate and likely to be affected by climatic change, and attempts to develop the techniques for such sensitivity analyses. For this, the climate scenario (reproduced in the Appendix to this volume), was a key.

Download or read book A Next Big Step for the West written by Michelle Bryan and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an emerging recognition that water law and land use law are inextricably entwined. While the legal fields of water and land use have been historically separated, we are now witnessing early, important efforts to join water supply and land use planning through assured supply laws that more strongly demand adequate water availability before development is approved. Although these early efforts began taking shape before climate change became the prevailing conversation, the reality of climate change makes the convergence of water-land use planning all the more critical. Climate change poses profound impacts on local water supply and land use, and land use, in turn, remains one of the primary human drivers of climate change. This reality calls for a third planning connection that links water supply-land use planning with climate planning. While this need is broadly applicable throughout the United States, it holds particularly true in the West, where population pressures continue to strain already over-claimed water supplies that are further imperiled by climate changes. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that western states will experience a nearly 46% population increase between 2000 and 2030, the largest in the nation. Unlike in the past, the West can no longer rely on massive federal water projects to back-stop increasing water demands. The West also grapples with the unchecked use of exempt wells that fuel housing development without undergoing water rights review -- “water management's Achilles' heel.” And aside from the sheer practical necessity of providing people with adequate water, there are other legal drivers for linking water-land use-climate: Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for aquatic species in climate-stressed waters, federal mandates to address climate change during water project planning, and tribes exerting more control over shared waters through their aboriginal and reserved water rights. Early efforts in assured supply regulation, while important, are not designed to address the full ambit of these issues. They are often limited to specific large development proposals, specific water supply sources, or specific urbanized areas. Standing alone, these laws will not “ensure the broader and deeper coordination between water and land use planning needed today.” For this reason, commentators have noted the need to “merge assured supply laws into larger legislative and planning proposals” to better achieve sustainability for communities. Local comprehensive planning presents itself as an existing and indispensable tool for unifying these important planning efforts. Local governments are not only the primary regulators of land use, they are also at the front line of regulating a myriad of environmental concerns that federal and state laws do not reach. And while not the principal regulators of water, local governments are integral partners in planning and implementing water-related initiatives alongside tribal, state, federal, and private partners. Comprised of approximately 4,700 local government units and 2,700 natural resource special districts, the West's potential for broad-based action is greatly increased if water and climate become an essential, required element of local comprehensive planning. Unfortunately, current comprehensive planning statutes do not reflect today's water and climate realities. These enabling statutes typically lump water under broader elements such as infrastructure or natural resources and generally do not require climate planning at all. This article thus calls for a new, freestanding “water-climate element” in comprehensive planning that better prepares our communities for the important task of managing water in wise, resilient, and collaborative ways. Model enabling legislation can facilitate the use of this new element by providing states with a uniform template for adoption. In a second, related article, the Land Use Clinic at the University of Montana School of Law will provide the actual text for such model legislation, including annotated comments and guidance for legislative bodies. Part I of this article summarizes the first legal steps taken in the area of water-land use planning, predominantly through assured supply laws. This first level of integration alone is no small task since it requires a realignment of historically separated legal spheres in which water law is the domain of the state and land use is the domain of the local government. Yet there is still more to be done. Part II then argues for a further, expanded linkage to climate planning, and discusses the innovate work that King County, Washington has generated in this area. Part III, the centerpiece of the article, maintains that model legislation for a “water-climate” element in comprehensive planning is a next, important step in advancing the West's response to the climate change. It then describes the key provisions of such model legislation. These key provisions are informed by best practices in the fields of water, land use, and climate planning, along with recent, on-the-ground examples such as those in Washington's Yakima River Basin, Walla Walla River Basin, and Tri-Cities region. The article concludes that if states require local water-climate planning, there will be improved community preparedness and more robust inter-jurisdictional cooperation regarding shared water resources. Model legislation can also foster a level of uniformity among local responses to water-climate issues while also affording flexibility to tailor planning to the unique water needs of each region. Thus, a water-climate element is a practical and critical next step to integrating water, land use, and climate planning in the West.

Download or read book Climate Change and Cities written by Cynthia Rosenzweig and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.

Download or read book Enhancing the Climate Resilience of Africa s Infrastructure written by Raffaello Cervigni and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To sustain Africa’s growth, and accelerate the eradication of extreme poverty, investment in infrastructure is fundamental. In 2010, the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic found that to enable Africa to fill its infrastructure gap, some US$ 93 billion per year for the next decade will need to be invested. The Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), endorsed in 2012 by the continent’s Heads of State and Government, lays out an ambitious long-term plan for closing Africa’s infrastructure including trough step increases in hydroelectric power generation and water storage capacity. Much of this investment will support the construction of long-lived infrastructure (e.g. dams, power stations, irrigation canals), which may be vulnerable to changes in climatic patterns, the direction and magnitude of which remain significantly uncertain. Enhancing the Climate Resilience of Africa 's Infrastructure evaluates -using for the first time a single consistent methodology and the state-of-the-arte climate scenarios-, the impacts of climate change on hydro-power and irrigation expansion plans in Africa’s main rivers basins (Niger, Senegal, Volta, Congo, Nile, Zambezi, Orange); and outlines an approach to reduce climate risks through suitable adjustments to the planning and design process. The book finds that failure to integrate climate change in the planning and design of power and water infrastructure could entail, in scenarios of drying climate conditions, losses of hydropower revenues between 5% and 60% (depending on the basin); and increases in consumer expenditure for energy up to 3 times the corresponding baseline values. In in wet climate scenarios, business-as-usual infrastructure development could lead to foregone revenues in the range of 15% to 130% of the baseline, to the extent that the larger volume of precipitation is not used to expand the production of hydropower. Despite the large uncertainty on whether drier or wetter conditions will prevail in the future in Africa, the book finds that by modifying existing investment plans to explicitly handle the risk of large climate swings, can cut in half or more the cost that would accrue by building infrastructure on the basis of the climate of the past.

Download or read book Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics Under Climate Change in Urbanizing Intermountain West written by Enjie Li and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is tightly linked with urbanization. Urban development with increasing greenhouse gas emission worsens climate change, while climate change in turn influence hydroclimate and ecosystem functions, and indirectly affect urban systems. The Intermountain West is experiencing rapid urban growth, climate change interacting with urbanization poses new challenges to the Intermountain West. Urban planning needs to adapt to these new changes and constrains, and to develop new tools and plans to effectively respond to climate changes. An urban growth model SLEUTH is applied to predict the future urban growth and land use dynamics in the Intermountain west, using Cache County as a case study. Through the creation of scenarios, model outputs provide best estimates of future land use dynamics and urban growth under different policy and management conditions related to climate change scenarios. The success of integrating climate change into urban planning model opened up the opportunities for planners and decisions makers to foresee the potential consequences brought by individual policy or management, and to better address climate change issues in the 0́−transitional0́+ urban environment.

Download or read book Climate Change Adaptation written by Lisa Dale and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change policy has typically emphasized mitigation, calling for reducing emissions and shifting away from fossil fuels. Yet while these efforts have floundered, floods, wildfires, droughts, and other disasters are becoming more frequent and potent. As the risks escalate, we must ask how to adapt to a changing climate. How might farmers modify their practices to maximize food security? Can coastal cities protect their infrastructure from rising seas? Are there strategic ways for developing countries to combine climate resilience with economic growth and poverty reduction? For people and societies around the world, these questions are not theoretical: adaptation is already underway. This book offers a concise overview of climate adaptation governance. In clear, accessible language, Lisa Dale describes key strategies that governments, communities, and the private sector are now deploying. She presents the theory and practice that underlie climate adaptation efforts at local and global scales, providing illuminating case studies that foreground the problems facing developing countries. Dale analyzes the effectiveness of a range of policy interventions, drawing out principles of good governance and discussing how practitioners can navigate complex tradeoffs. She emphasizes equity and inclusion, considering how climate adaptation policy can account for the needs of historically disadvantaged groups. Written for a wide audience, this book is an invaluable introduction for all readers interested in how societies can meet the challenges of an altered climate.

Download or read book Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States written by U.S. Global Change Research Program and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.

Download or read book Spatial Planning and Climate Change written by Elizabeth Wilson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-09-13 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of climate change on spatial planning are discussed thoroughly in this comprehensive book, which includes information on recent legislation, case studies from the UK and Netherlands, general information on climate change progress and what can be done to reduce the risks from the changing natural environmental.

Download or read book Local Governments and Climate Change written by Maryke van Staden and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-04-05 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global warming is changing the world as we know it. Climate change can have catastrophic impacts in numerous cities across the world. It is time for us to react – quickly and effectively. The European Community (EC) has been leading the fight against climate change, making it one of its top priorities. We have introduced the most ambitious targets of their kind, known as the “20/20/20 by 2020” initiative within the “Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package.” As a result, European Member States have taken on a commitment to curb their CO emissions by at least 20% by 2020. 2 These targets are indeed commendable; however, they are only the start if we are to avoid the consequences of global warming. Whilst top level coordination from the European Institutions and Member State governments is vital, the role of mitigating and adapting to climate change at local level must not be forgotten. In fact, here cities, regions and their citizens play a significant a role. It is therefore vital they become directly involved in the climate change challenge. The European Commission therefore launched in 2008 a new initiative, the Covenant of Mayors, which brings together a network of European mayors in a voluntary effort to go beyond the European Union’s already ambitious targets. Half of our greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are created in and by cities.

Download or read book Geospatial Applications for Climate Adaptation Planning written by Diana Mitsova and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate adaptation is a timely yet complex topic that does not fit squarely into any one disciplinary realm. Geospatial Applications for Climate Adaptation Planning presents an overview of the range of strategies, tools, and techniques that must be used to assess myriad overlapping vulnerabilities and to formulate appropriate climate-relevant solutions at multiple scales and in varying contexts. Organized into four sections, the book includes 15 chapters. Each chapter is grounded in the literature and presents case studies designed by the authors, as well as many examples from a diverse international group of scholars and entities in the public and private sectors. Areas covered include: Climate Change and Climate Adaptation Planning: Context and Concepts Geospatial Technologies: Fundamentals and Terminology GIS and Climate Vulnerability Assessments Technical Approaches to Formulating Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies Geospatial Applications for Climate Adaptation Planning is aimed at advanced students, researchers, and entities in the public and private sectors. It also provides supplementary reading for courses in planning, public administration, policy studies, and disaster management.