By Jennifer Allen
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Researchers, nonprofit environmental groups, state agencies and others are set to meet for two days next month to discuss coastal climate risks and management strategies to better prepare for storms like Florence.
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The summit is being held in response to Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80 signed last fall and directing his cabinet agencies to prepare a state Climate Risk Assessment and Resiliency Plan by March 1, 2020.
“A strong clean energy economy combats climate change while creating good jobs and a healthy environment. With historic storms lashing our state, we must combat climate change, make our state more resilient and lessen the impact of future natural disasters,” Cooper said in a news release about the executive order.
According to the Coastal Federation, the summit will provide information on developing the North Carolina Coastal Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, “so as to propel the coastal region’s preparedness for the effects of climate changes including rising sea levels, increased frequency and severity of coastal and riverine flooding, increasing extreme weather, changing groundwater conditions and other shifting natural conditions. The summit will also showcase a gamut of existing solutions to address the identified challenges.”
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During the summit, attendees will discuss prioritizing current and anticipated climate risks to the coast that will need to be addressed in the resiliency plan; Lessons from recent extreme weather; evaluating existing and potential policies and management measures that address climate risks to coastal communities and the environment; identifying the cost-effectiveness of potential mitigation and adaptation strategies and practices that the plan might include; and determining research and policy gaps that need review and analysis, according to the federation.
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