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Third U.S. National Climate Assessment and What it Means for Critical Infrastructure

Third U.S. National Climate Assessment and What it Means for Critical Infrastructure

Created: Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 10:46
Categories:

May 13, 2014

TO:  Sector Coordinating Councils Chairs and Vice Chairs
Government Coordinating Councils Chairs and Vice Chairs
Regional Consortium Coordinating Council Chair and Vice Chair
State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council Chair and Vice Chair
Critical Infrastructure Cross Sector Council Chair and Vice Chair

FROM: [U.S.Department of Homeland Security] Office of Infrastructure Protection

SUBJECT:  Third U.S. National Climate Assessment and What it Means for Critical Infrastructure

DISTRIBUTION: Intended for widest distribution to critical infrastructure partners

Critical Infrastructure Stakeholders,

In case you missed it, the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment: Climate Change Impacts in the United States, was released on May 6, 2014 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and we wanted to provide a glimpse as to what it means for our Nation’s infrastructure. The 830-page report resulted from a 3 year analytical study conducted by a team of over 300 experts and was overseen by a 60 member National Climate Assessment and Development Federal Advisory Committee. 

Climate Change Impacts on Infrastructure and Communities:

The report goes into detail about several critical infrastructure lifeline functions and sectors, including “Water,” “Energy,” “Transportation,” “Agriculture,” and the interdependencies across “Energy, Water and Land.”[1] The report highlights many case studies that illustrate the impacts to infrastructure that have already taken place:

  • Extreme heat and drought throughout the Southwest and Great Plains (particularly Texas and Oklahoma) have already depleted groundwater resources, caused over $5 billion in lost revenue for farmers and ranchers, severely affected the electricity generation for the region and fueled devastating wildfires.
  • Sea level rise, storm surge, and an increase in the severity and/or frequency of coastal storms threaten coastal communities, energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, and transportation networks across the U.S. As of 2013, nearly 5 million Americans and hundreds of billions of dollars of property and infrastructure are located in areas that are less than four feet above the local high-tide level.
  • Coastal communities and infrastructure face an increased risk of flooding from storm surge in areas where natural buffers along the coast have been degraded or destroyed (such as salt marshes, reefs, mangrove forests, and barrier islands).
  • Urban residents are particularly vulnerable to disruptions in essential infrastructure services, in part because many of these infrastructure systems are reliant on each other.

Response Strategies:

In general, the report recognizes that Mitigation[2], Adaptation[3], and Decision Support solutions are being developed across the U.S., mainly at the local and regional levels, but current implementation efforts are insufficient to avoid increasingly negative social, environmental and economic consequences.

The Adaptation chapter is most relevant to DHS/NPPD’s work preparing the U.S. for the impacts of climate change. Adaptation recommendations include:

  • Implementing adaptation as soon as possible;
  • Overcoming barriers to adaptation – including limited funding, policy and legal impediments, and difficulty in anticipating climate-related changes at local scales;
  • Identifying similar approaches that can be deployed across regions and sectors;
  • Incorporating climate change adaptation into existing decision-making processes;
  • Accurately assessing composite threats as well as tradeoffs amongst costs, benefits, and risks of available options;
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of climate change adaptation by developing comprehensive metrics. 

In order to promote adaptation, the report recommends that the federal government should use its capabilities and resources to share information, data and best practices; promote public awareness about the effects of climate change; and provide strategic policy guidance on how to help the nation undertake and implement adaptation efforts.

In addition, the report also recommends decision makers adopt an iterative, adaptive risk management process that 1) clearly defines the issue 2) establishes decision criteria 3) identifies and incorporates relevant information 4) evaluates options and 5) monitors and revisits effectiveness.

We hope you find the report as informative.  We’ve provided links below to the full report, as well as specific highlights and sector section.

Helpful Links:

Footnotes:
[1] Additionally, the report highlights “Forests,” “Ecosystems,” “Human Health,” “Urban,” “Indigenous Peoples,” “Land Use and Land Cover Change,” “Rural Communities,” and “Biogeochemical Cycles.”
[2] Mitigation: Reducing the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gasses or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
[3] Adaptation: Taking action to prepare for and adjust to new conditions, thereby reducing harm or taking advantage of new opportunities