ADAPTATION PLANNING
José Lara, Division Chief, Hazard Mitigation Planning in the Recovery Directorate The apocalyptic wildfires of 2020 burned 4.2 million acres in California, an area nearly the size of the state of Connecticut, and prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to tweet “climate change is real.” Wildfire season has ended, only to be succeeded by flood season in California. The state’s flood hazard, too, is exacerbated by climate change. Rising sea levels are projected to turn waterfronts into waterways. Increasingly severe weather means long periods of drought relieved by massive atmospheric rivers. Coming full circle, the heavy rainfall from California’s winter storms causes flooding and debris flow in the burn scars left by wildfires. As the earth warms, floodplain managers are anticipating increased, unwanted water from the sea, sky, and mountains. Fortunately, we have the tool to help our local jurisdictions incorporate flooding hazards exacerbated by climate change into their planning efforts: the Adaptation Planning Guide (APG). We are proud to announce the publication of the 2020 Adaptation Planning Guide. The APG is a state-produced resource for climate adaptation planning by local governments and regional planning agencies. Climate adaptation planning identifies ways that communities might be harmed by the effects of a changing climate and finds strategies to reduce that harm. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is designated as the lead agency for updating the APG and is mandated by SB 246 to do so one year following an update to the Safeguarding California Plan.
FMA NEWS
This resource, updated in close collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) and the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), builds upon the first APG that was developed in 2012 (also by Cal OES and CNRA). It contains processes and technical guidance on climate adaptation planning in various sectors. It includes resources on how to integrate climate change adaptation into plans like Local Hazard Mitigation Plans and General Plan Safety Elements. Finally, it provides example strategies and detailed case studies of successful climate change planning in California.
The update process for the APG involved many external stakeholders. In addition to working closely with OPR and CNRA, the update team convened an interagency workgroup. The workgroup, consisting of representatives from state agencies, local jurisdictions, and communitybased organizations across California, gathered input at all stages of the process. This work, in combination with a robust public engagement process, ensured that the APG is reflective of best practices in the field and the needs and priorities of our stakeholders, audiences, and primary users. Last year, Miles Gordon, Cal OES State Mitigation Planning Unit CivicSpark Climate Fellow, took this work further and helped to pilot this new guidance
