USA: Department of Defense climate change adaptation roadmap

This roadmap details the Department’s plan for managing the effects of climate change on its operations and infrastructure in both the short and long term, for the Department to be better prepared to effectively respond and to ensure continued mission success. It outlines four broad goals: (i) define a coordinating body to address climate change; (ii) utilize a robust decision making approach based on the best available science; (iii) integrate climate change considerations into existing processes; and (iv) collaborate with Federal agencies and other key partners on challenges of climate change. The roadmap also provides an analysis of climate change risks and opportunities, outlining climate change phenomena and the resultant potential mission vulnerabilities, and identifies ongoing work throughout the Department to better understand and address climate change risks and opportunities.

The roadmap references ongoing research to anticipate the effects of sea-level rise and storm surge on coastal installations; improve observation, mapping, and prediction capabilities and identify science and technology needs in the Arctic; investigate influences of permafrost melting in Alaska on the Department operations; determine the impacts of ecosystem changes to natural resources in the southwestern United States; and predict the effects of sea-level rise, precipitation, and storm patterns on island infrastructure in the Pacific. These efforts are intended to help the Department improve its understanding of the potential impacts of climate change and develop effective adaptation and mitigation strategies.