Beyond Hazard and Vulnerability Planning: Weighing the Costs, Benefits and Challenges of Climate Adaptation
In the face of rising sea levels and increasingly extreme, unpredictable weather patterns, government agencies are confronted with the daunting challenge of planning for climate adaptation, which involves difficult choices with vast social, economic, and environmental repercussions. While hazards, vulnerabilities, and the urgency to adapt are well documented in many areas, what is needed are solutions and implementation.
Climate adaptation requires a rigorous, replicable, and defensible decision-making framework for identifying and vetting different solutions for vulnerable areas. The adaptation pathways approach is being utilized worldwide, enabling agencies to evaluate climate adaptation options based on feasibility, costs and benefits, community acceptance, and other factors over different timescales and levels of climate impact. Ultimately, this phased approach identifies “pathways” of short, mid, and long-term solutions and trigger points at which increasing impacts and/or costs make it necessary to move to the next phase, providing a sound basis to guide investment and secure funding for implementation.
This webinar discusses current initiatives, needs, and challenges around climate adaptation in Hawaii and shares technical solutions and processes for developing and implementing climate adaptation pathways to help inform planning and implementation of solutions.
Our esteemed panelists include leaders at the forefront of climate adaptation planning and economic analysis in Hawaii and nationally who shared information about their approaches and tools while highlighting examples that draw from their experience:
- Melissa May, AICP, Resilience Practice Leader, SSFM International (Moderator)
- Sarah Chang, Project Analyst, State of Hawaii Office of Planning, Coastal Zone Management Program
- Paul Chinowsky, PhD, Director and Founder, Resilient Analytics
- David Revell, PhD, Principal of Coastal Resilience, Integral Consulting
- Dave Anning, PhD, Environmental Economist, Integral Consulting