Maricopa Coalition on Climate Change and Public Health: Extreme Heat
Background Maricopa County, Arizona is at the forefront of addressing extreme heat with, on average, 26 days each year with maximum temperatures greater than 43°C (110 °F). A total of 1,292 people have died due to extreme heat since 2006; 182 perished in 2018. Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) has been tracking heat-related […]
Natural Infrastructure Restoration to Enhance Climate Resilience in Puerto Rico
Background The Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) is a federally protected estuary located in the municipalities of Salinas and Guayama in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The 2817-acre reserve contains five distinct habitat types and provides sanctuary to endangered species, including the brown pelican, peregrine falcon, hawksbill sea turtle, green sea turtle, […]
Community Solar Hub Drive
Background The 2017 hurricane season in the Caribbean was so destructive that entire communities spent months in the dark. Along with the incredible suffering brought by Hurricanes Irma and María to Puerto Rico in September 2017, the disaster revealed a quiet reality as brutal as the disaster itself. Hurricane María left Puerto Rico without power. […]
Developing a local strategy to encourage school and community level adaptation and management of disaster risk and vulnerabilities
Background The state of Oaxaca’s Southern Sierra is a Zapotec Indigenous region with irregular topography where the majority of the population inhabits hillside communities in either rural areas or towns. These communities are characterized by their vulnerability to risks arising from their geographic location, the precarious occupation of hillsides (for both residential uses and farming) […]
Actions to mitigate drought effects in agriculture and reduce disaster risk in the state of Puebla
Background As in other parts of the world, farmers throughout Mexico constantly face scarce or erratic patterns of precipitation, as well as increasingly severe and prolonged periods of drought, which affect optimal crop yields. That translates into lost harvests and thus has economic impacts. Furthermore, heavy rains may provoke landslides in hilly areas, as well […]
Capacity building to reduce Climate Change vulnerability in the Usumacinta River basin (Tabasco, Mexico)
Background The Usumacinta River Basin has nearly a thousand square kilometers of river plain and the greatest biodiversity of any region in Mexico, as well as the least polluted hydrological system. However, according to the results generated by modeling the expected effects of climate change, this region is predicted to suffer high social and environmental […]
Community-level integrated landscape management networks for climate resilience
Background Located in protected natural areas of two ecological corridors of great importance for conserving biodiversity in tropical regions of southeastern Mexico, many rural and Indigenous communities exist in conditions of high social and environmental vulnerability, given the increased intensity and frequency of extreme climate events, such as forest fires, intense precipitation and winds, floods […]
Building Community Climate Change Knowledge and Resilience in Older Adults and Immigrants
Background Climate change is affecting all populations, though impacts vary widely. We will create an interactive, web-based platform for stakeholders to identify vulnerable communities (e.g., older adults, immigrant) and co-develop climate change toolkits aimed at vulnerable populations. Collectively, this work aims to pave the way for building local climate change resilience and adaptation opportunities by […]
Working with the community to reduce vulnerability to flooding in the Richelieu River basin
Background In recent decades, anthropogenic behavior has greatly modified watercourses in Quebec, with grave repercussions on the environment that have increased certain communities’ vulnerability to flooding. As recent observations have shown, it is essential to support these communities by building their capacities for adapting to extreme climate events. Scientists foresee an increase in the scope […]
Planning for Resilient Smart Energy Communities in Alberta
Background Communities in Alberta, Canada, are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change with more frequent and intense floods, wildfires, droughts, and storms that are damaging energy infrastructure and disrupting energy supply. At the same time new energy technologies (distributed generation, smart grid, storage, etc.) open new possibilities for resilient energy systems. The objective of […]
Mi’kmaw Wildfire Resilience Initiative
Background Climate change is affecting many aspects of our communities, from increases in temperatures, changes in weather patterns, altered or perturbed species migration, and increased extreme weather events. There has been a notable rise in wildfires in Western Canada in recent years: a primary concern for Mi’kmaw communities in the Atlantic Region of Canada who […]
Facilitating Action to Address Climate Change Adaptation Needs in Indigenous North America
Background Climate change will have adverse impacts on all communities. Indigenous communities are particularly vulnerable to these changes, given their relationships with lands/waters and dependence on natural resources. To address this, indigenous, aboriginal, and tribal groups will require strong efforts to plan for and adapt to projected changes, yet adaptation planning has largely not occured. […]