Panel: Perspectives From Federal, State, and Local Adaptation Programs

Efforts are underway at multiple levels of government to begin integrating (“mainstreaming”) climate adaptation planning into investment decisions to ensure their intended outcomes are attained and sustained even as the climate changes. (These include decisions about major investments in infrastructure.) In February 2013, the White House released Climate Change Adaptation Plans produced by the departments and agencies of the federal government. The intended goal is to ensure that each federal agency can continue to fulfill its mission even as the climate changes. State and local governments have also been developing climate change adaptation plans to build societal, economic, and ecological resilience within their communities. This panel of experts will discuss plans developed at multiple levels of government, provide insights into the implications of the plans for the engineering community, and the role engineers can play to help build a prosperous and healthy nation that is resilient to climate change.