In honor of Earth Day, yesterday, FEMA published a new guide the “Climate Adaptation Planning: Guidance for Emergency Managers.” The guidebook helps emergency managers incorporate climate adaptation into planning efforts and the structure is designed to walk state, local, tribal, and territorial partners through the Six Step Planning Process, as identified in FEMA’s “Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans.”
According to FEMA, climate change is already affecting emergency management response and recovery actions. The frequency and severity of disasters, as well as disaster losses, are expected to increase over the coming decades. Accordingly, addressing and adapting to climate change does not happen in a silo. Emergency managers are in a key position to help bring different parts of the community together to complement long-term strategies that address climate adaptation, as well as day-to-day planning challenges, in a comprehensive way. FEMA emphases having a unified approach from which to engage various stakeholders will help produce better, more actionable plans.
The guide identifies emergency manager responsibilities and resources in climate adaptation planning, by highlighting climate impacts by community lifeline and recovery support function, existing climate mapping tools, potential funding resources, and various climate trainings. Throughout the guide there are links to a variety of other relevant resources which emergency managers may be interested in. Access the full guide at FEMA.
FEMA will host a series of 60-minute webinar sessions to provide an overview of the guide and associated resources. The webinars will also provide information on the Emergency Management Institute’s “Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Certificate Program.”
Advance registration is required and on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, click on your preferred session below:
