Session by Time

Cost: $95

• Is your public process effective in reaching those who are hardest hit by climate change?
• How can agency staff maneuver the difficult terrain of community engagement with minimal conflict while addressing social equity?

Climate change is a daunting topic, especially for agencies tasked with protecting public welfare. Due to socioeconomic vulnerabilities, some communities are harder hit by its impacts. These same communities often have rich histories of resilience. With this experience, grassroots leaders from frontline communities offer key expertise in local resilience planning. In a climate emergency, having long-term positive partnerships with community groups to work with you to respond to neighborhood needs may be one of your most valuable assets.

The Resilient Communities Initiative (RCI) presents Engaging Communities in Effective Problem Solving, a special training for government staff who work on climate resilience. Participants will explore pitfalls of community engagement and learn proven strategies to working with grassroots groups to develop a good agenda, balance discussion, resolve conflict, achieve consensus, and build partnerships. The RCI is a coalition of eleven Bay Area social equity groups with funding from the Kresge Foundation.

Our RCI trainers are from Bay Area community groups with hands-on experience collaborating with federal, state, regional, and local agencies. We have developed partnerships with regulators and field-tested successful collaborative problem solving methods. Join us for a fast-paced day of dialog and practice that is guaranteed to improve both your outlook and your outcomes in community engagement meetings. Morning and afternoon coffee and lunch will be served.

Cost: $35
Long Beach aspires to be among the best bike cities in the nation and is moving confidently on that agenda. Bikeshare is working, bike lanes are painted, protected bike lanes are installed, bike boulevards are built and more are in design. And being a beach town, Long Beach is deploying creative adaptation strategies and innovations with an eye toward sea level increases. So dress casually and join us in the saddle for a look at all of the city’s climate adaptation efforts and an explanation of how this is getting done from key community leaders and advocates. We will ride slowly and stop frequently to tell stories and answer questions, this will be the slowest and most interesting bike tour of your life.

We will meet at the Renaissance Hotel and walk to the Bikestation, where we will set you up with a bike. Please bring a reusable water bottle and wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Lunch will be provided.

Registration: Anyone interested in joining the Network and/or participating in the workshop is invited to contact Kelly Leo, Coastal Project Director at The Nature Conservancy (kleo@tnc.org) for more information.
Cost: Free

The California Coastal Resilience Network works to promote knowledge exchange and policies that support adaptation solutions that strategically and comprehensively prepare California’s coastal habitats and communities for climate induced impacts. The Network is comprised of California-based coastal managers working for local, state, regional, and even federal agencies, non-profits, academic institutions, interest groups, and even consulting firms. Network Action Members are collaborating on the development of the Network’s Adaptation Policy Platform, which is aimed at improving California’s coastal adaptation policies to better facilitate the implementation of nature-based, multi-benefit adaptation solutions.

Network members will meet in person, on Tuesday 9/6/16 from 1 – 4:30 prior to the California Adaptation Forum, to further develop and refine our proposed policy platform, to develop work and implementation plans for the coming year, and to brainstorm new ways to collaborate across the coast. Current members are encouraged to attend. Anyone interested in joining the Network and/or participating in the workshop is invited to contact Kelly Leo, Coastal Project Director at The Nature Conservancy (kleo@tnc.org) for more information. Membership and workshop participation are free; for more information about the Network and how to become a member, visit the California Coastal Resilience Network website.

Cost: Free
Communities across the U.S. are already facing the devastating consequences of increased temperatures, changes in precipitation, and extreme weather. The impacts are far reaching, affecting social cohesion, economic stability, and public health. As a result, it’s imperative that stakeholders across Federal, State, and local governments, private-sector, academia, non-profit and citizen communities come together to collaborate in understanding the impacts of climate change on their communities and work together to develop sustainability and resilience solutions.

On September 6th, 2016, several security, adaptation, and resilience experts from The Cadmus Group, Inc. will host a 4-hour tabletop exercise where participants will take on roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in a fictitious urban community facing a variety of threats and hazards, climate change being one, and experience the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating mitigation and adaptation solutions through stakeholder collaboration.

Join us for an active and thought provoking workshop where you’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how cities can advance their overall sustainability goals and enhance resilience. Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

Cost: Free
Get an up-close view of one of the busiest and greenest seaports in North America. The Port of Long Beach welcomes you to an all-access pass on a boat to enjoy a rare view of massive ships and construction projects while learning about cargo operations and environmental initiatives. Full narration will be provided by a Port of Long Beach representative, who will speak to the Port’s efforts to reduce harmful air emissions from port-related operations, improve water quality in the harbor, protect marine wildlife, and implement environmentally sustainable practice.

We will meet at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel and take a 15-20 minute walk to Dock 9 at Shoreline Village next to Parkers’ Lighthouse. Complimentary soft drinks will be provided.

Aquarium of the Pacific – 100 Aquarium Way (10 – 15 minute walk from the hotel)

Cost: Free
Join us after dinner on Tuesday, September 6th for a special after hours event at Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific between 7:30pm – 9:00pm. Watch the nighttime activities of the animals, touch a shark, and enjoy the beautiful evening lighting of the Aquarium’s architecture. Staff will be on-hand for educational programming as well. The aquarium is located a short 10 minute walk away from the Renaissance Hotel. The event is FREE for registered Forum participants and will feature a no-host bar.

Focusing on the people, assets, and resources that reflect a community’s core values and concerns provides an opportunity to build climate resilience.

Are you struggling to turn great ideas into action? Do you have approaches that have worked to encourage implementation?

Come share your experiences, learn from your peers, and use this time to connect your ideas with on-the-ground action. The session will start with a quick overview of three projects that are building community climate resilience: The California King Tides Project; threshold-based extreme weather planning in Texas; and the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative.

Building on this foundation, the presenters will facilitate small group discussions to explore implementation challenges and solutions based on 1) social media and engagement, 2) weather thresholds and planning, 3) multi-sectoral engagement for action. Participants will discuss strategies for engaging with disproportionately impacted communities to help diverse leaders make informed decisions about local climate solutions.

ASAP helps build essential climate resilience for communities across the country by focusing on connecting and supporting the individuals. Come grab your coffee and breakfast and learn about how we provide a platform for climate adaptation leaders to interact, share what’s working, and collaborate with their colleagues. A great way to start the day!

Bay Area-Resilient-By-Design will bring together world class, multi-disciplinary design teams with government, civic leaders, equity and climate justice advocates, local officials, and technical experts from the SF Bay Area and beyond, to co-design innovative solutions for the Bay and its neighborhoods. It will excite the public’s imagination around shoreline planning, and change the way communities, businesses, agencies and institutions understand the interconnectedness of land, water, infrastructure, and quality of life. It may reveal limitations of current governance, and highlight how multi-stakeholder and inter-jurisdictional approach may better address emerging problems. It will develop implementable designs that have the requisite local buy-in to support their transition into actual projects. BIG QUESTION: Can a whole region come together in a vision that works and can be funded?

The California Landscape Conservation Cooperative Tribal Team welcomes all tribal leaders, tribal staff, and those interested in partnering with native communities for the protection of cultural and natural resources in light of climate change. This informal gathering will be an excellent opportunity to engage and connect with other tribal professionals prior to the start of the Forum. There will also be an opportunity to continue tribal networking during the lunch hour.

California’s farms and ranches support one of the most productive food systems in the world. However, the industry faces numerous and profound climate change impacts. For California agriculture to thrive in the 21st century, we must mobilize a combination of smart land use planning, innovative resource management, cutting-edge research, and field-level adaptation assistance. We must also ensure that critical climate justice issues, including food security and farmworker well-being, are addressed through long-term, strategic actions. This interactive session explores ways to translate state adaptation objectives into locally-relevant activities and policies to ensure a vibrant future for California’s agricultural regions.

How do we make sure that everyday asset managers, planners, designers understand the climate vulnerabilities of their current or future assets and projects and ensure that timely (and cost effective) adaptation strategies are considered? This panel will discuss some of the points of intervention in the planning and development cycle that can be leveraged, including how the City and County of San Francisco developed guidance for incorporating sea level rise into capital planning. The Port of Long Beach will discuss their draft requirement for a sea level rise vulnerability review as part of the Harbor Development Permit applications to make sure that adaptation strategies are developed for at-risk assets. Finally opportunities for incorporating resilience into buildings operations and maintenance will be explored through the USGBC Resilience Building-LA project, including how to engage with the community, improve building performance and develop social capital.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

Landscape restoration and carbon sequestration projects are clear win-win solutions to the double challenge of mitigating climate change while preparing for its impacts. Our natural and working lands are critical to climate resilience, supporting healthy soils, flood protection, biodiversity, economic benefits, and – especially important as California becomes drier – water recharge and storage. Carbon sequestration projects, which can often access existing mitigation funding, can strengthen these natural safeguards. A full understanding of their adaptation co-benefits can help prioritize, design, and site projects to maximize climate resilience. Our panel will follow the flow of water in California, passing from the Sierra Nevada foothills to working rangelands to the coastal wetlands to explore how forest restoration, soil amendment, and blue carbon projects can build critical ecosystem and community resilience. Speakers will discuss quantifying adaptation benefits, funding and incentives, effective partnerships, policy and implementation challenges, and local economic benefits.

California is leading the nation in climate change policy at both the state and local levels. Despite this leadership, much of the climate adaptation activity falls on local governments to implement. Unfortunately, many local governments—particularly smaller and more rural communities—lack technical or staff capacity to act. At the same time, we have yet to define what it means to be an adaptation practitioner, further hindering response because of a gap in workforce pathway development.

This session will highlight case studies with replicable models for adaptation workforce development as well as an emerging vision for what a robust adaptation workforce can look like. Participants will learn about CivicSpark, a Governor’s Initiative AmeriCorps program that is cost-effectively addressing local government capacity needs while also growing a workforce of young leaders in climate adaptation and sustainability. Participants will hear how Federal Agencies are working to accelerate communities’ climate action and resilience goals, connect cities with Federal resources, and create replicability for communities nationwide. Finally, the American Society of Adaptation Professionals will share insights on career opportunities in the adaptation field and how professionalizing the field through accreditation and other strategies can support a more robust practitioner community.

Climate change is a vast, complex and shifting story that defies easy media representation. It lacks clear heroes or villains, it lacks a beginning or end, and it lacks a silver bullet solution. Many people working to address climate change struggle with how to engage the media on their stories – on the other side, the media struggles with how to effectively tell these stories to help the broader audience understand the issues and inspire to action.

This session brings together climate professionals and media perspectives to bridge the communication gap. A panel of environmental journalists will provide examples, strategies, and resources on how to effectively engage with media outlets (radio, news, online). They will talk about their understanding of the current issues, ask for feedback on what stories should be covered, and provide input on how to build longer term relationships with media practitioners so that stories from your communities can be conveyed more effectively.

As Native Tribes begin developing Adaptation Plans and contribute to State and Federal Adaptation efforts; interest in Indigenous Traditional Knowledges (TKs) are increasing. This panel session will draw on the document Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives. http://climatetkw.wordpress.com/. The Guidelines provide foundational information on; the role of traditional knowledges (TKs) in federal climate change initiatives, the principles of engaging with tribes on issues related to TKs, and actions for agencies and tribes to consider in order to establish processes and protocols that govern the sharing and protection of TKs. It’s meant to inspire dialogue and questions, and to foster opportunities for Tribal peoples and non-Tribal partners to braid TKs and western science in culturally-appropriate and tribally-led initiatives that respect Tribal sovereignty and intellectual property. This session will provide an overview of key elements and concepts presented in the document, and also case studies from two California Tribes.

This session will be an international crash course in implementing citywide adaptation interventions with a focus on the common opportunities and challenges in the Mediterranean regions of the world: California, central Chile, the Western Cape of South Africa, southern and southwestern Australia, and the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The Mediterranean City Climate Change Consortium (MC-4), a global network of practitioners, business leaders, policymakers and academics from cities in the five Mediterranean regions working together on climate change solutions, will host this session. At its core, the network aims to advance its vision of healthy, safe and resilient communities through community-based and inclusive civic engagement.

The MC-4 members on the panel in this session will present their on-the-ground work demonstrating how climate change adaptation requires both social and technical solutions.

Disadvantaged people across the state in both rural and urban settings are dealing with the impacts – often shouldering the burden – of climate change. And yet, not all disadvantaged people in the state are recognized by CalEnviroScreen, the state’s primary screening methodology used to identify California communities disproportionately burdened by pollution, while multiple metrics for identifying ‘disadvantage’ exist. Increased technical assistance and capacity building should not be limited just to those recognized by CalEnviroScreen. Instead, we must ensure that assistance is provided to low-income communities throughout the state, especially in regions that contribute substantially to GHG emission reductions, carbon sequestration and other benefits. This session aims to identify opportunities to reform CalEnviroScreen and better incorporate all disadvantaged people. Speakers will compare definitions from varying disadvantaged communities measurements, explore the efficacy of CalEnviroScreen and its impact on state funding, and review standards for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds (GGRF) relative to equity.

There is a wide range of methods that help us understand populations and areas most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change-related hazards. These methods are increasingly asked for in guidance documents and by interested planners or affected groups. Although injustice is often visible without formal analysis, detailed assessments can point to unnoticed vulnerability. But then what? This session focuses on two big questions: How are social vulnerability identification methods actually used in local and state climate adaptation planning? And, how could these approaches be used more effectively to engage communities, decrease vulnerability, and address local equity issues? This session will look to session panelists with state agency, local government, consulting, and community organizing experience, as well as to attendees who use these methods to provide suggestions on how we can utilize them most effectively to facilitate public dialogues, equitable policy development and actual on-the-ground planning decisions.

The Second California Adaptation Forum will kick off with a distinguished and diverse group of climate leaders who will share their perspectives on the growing importance of climate-adaptation issues surrounding our state’s natural resources – from the Sierra forests to our ocean and rivers and all of the agriculture in between. They will share their experiences and insights on how these dynamics are relevant to both urban and rural communities, and are essential to meeting our shared climate-adaptation goals.

Climate change affects all of us, wherever we live, work and raise our families. Our afternoon sessions begin with a keynote address and a plenary panel of community leaders from around the state who work every day for equity and environmental justice for California’s most vulnerable. Our speakers will offer their perspectives on the particular burdens faced by California’s at-risk communities, and the critical importance of bringing everyone to the table in this movement.

Americans are inherently tribal in nature, and look to community leaders, such as pastors, politicians, and others, for cues on what behaviors and attitudes to adopt. To empower community leadership on climate change, and to help leaders build support for climate solutions throughout society, ecoAmerica has created Let’s Talk Communities & Climate, a comprehensive climate communications guide for community leaders. This guide includes four parts: 1) the current state of Americans’ climate change attitudes and beliefs; 2) tested words, phrases, and messages that build motivation for climate solutions within communities; 3) talking points for leaders to make solutions personally relevant for their citizens and community leaders, and; 4) a step by step process for crafting a successful personalized message, including an effective sample message. This session provides community leaders with knowledge and resources to enhance the efficacy of their climate communications, especially in a local government and community context.

Through the 2016 California Coastal Adaptation Needs Assessment, 15 statewide partners surveyed coastal professionals to understand their climate adaptation planning technical and capacity-building needs. This survey builds on two similar surveys conducted in 2011 and 2005.

Upon entering the workshop, attendees will respond to a subset of survey questions. We will then present initial findings from the 2016 survey and compare responses to those captured in the room. Representatives from the Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego Regional Collaboratives will discuss their lessons and challenges in providing on-the-ground adaptation planning assistance in their respective communities.

We will convene small group discussions focusing on the barriers identified in the survey. These may include discussions on: meaningful climate justice-focused adaptation planning; engagement of underrepresented communities and the private sector; effective science communication and translation; financing climate adaptation. The session will close with a report of highlights from the small group discussions.

This session will provide an overview of natural infrastructure and its applicability in California. The importance of Natural Infrastructure as a strategy to enhance resilience and tackle climate change comprehensively is now well enshrined in state and federal policy. In California, Executive Order B-30-15 and recent legislation all require the prioritization of these solutions in planning, actions and investments. There are a number of co-benefits that can be achieved from natural infrastructure, including GHG reduction and ongoing sequestration, which make these especially attractive to practitioners. However, it is a relatively new concept and many stakeholders require a better understanding of what “natural infrastructure” means and how they might use it to help meet their climate and other sustainability goals. Panelists will describe how they have successfully implemented these strategies in a variety of sectors, such as urban greening, water, and the coast.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

Climate is changing in unpredictable ways and climate science is ever-evolving. Communities cannot wait for “perfect” information to begin planning. RAND and USC Sea Grant have used the Decisions for the Decade game, designed for the World Bank, to help communities incorporate adaptive management in adaptation planning. Participants will play the game, with the goal of sensitizing them to the challenges of planning under conditions of non-stationarity and deep uncertainty. Questions and discussion throughout the game will spur dialogue about how the game is impacting the players and the lessons they are learning. Gameplay will be followed by short presentations that will describe recent gaming experiences and lessons learned for adaptation planning. Dr. Lempert will discuss how the game has been played with disadvantaged populations globally; he will discuss what lessons could be transferred to climate equity and justice efforts in California.

Regardless of intentions, engagements between institutions and community residents often result in conflict. That conflict often derails the goals of transparent planning and implementation. This workshop will offer participants real-world examples of conflict resolution and partnering for collaborative problem-solving from the perspective of a community based environmental justice organization working successfully with multiple government agencies. In the course of developing a formal working agreement with the USEPA in 2005, the WOEIP designed a collaborative model that supported the West Oakland Toxics Reduction Collaborative and has since been successfully applied to the Port of Oakland’s Maritime Air Quality Improvement Plan development. We will explore the basis of conflict between agencies and communities and present a model to overcome the distrust inherent in these relationships. We will discuss why sharing decision-making power with impacted community members is so critical to reaching consensus on solutions and how that consensus can eventually lead to greater trust between stakeholders.

Communities striving to adapt to a changing climate can often be inundated by an abundance of policy guidance and scientific information. Within this field of adaptation planning, “boundary organizations” help bridge the gap between various stakeholders by catalyzing rapid exchange of distilled, salient information. These boundary organizations can include members of academia, governmental and non-governmental organizations, all working in partnership to co-develop adaptation solutions. In this workshop, participants will engage with members of California-based boundary organizations and discuss mechanisms to best address some of the most challenging questions communities face in adaptation planning. Discussion will be focused through the lens of: identifying impacts to underserved or disadvantaged communities, distilling ecosystem services science for local or regional policy, and utilizing regional advisory groups and universities as hubs to compile and disseminate local knowledge. Be a part of the solution to bridge the gap between climate science and adaptation policy.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

Place-based organizations that manage environmental resources will face a lot of risks from climate change. This poses the question - How do you decide what to do when you don't have the resources to do everything you need to do? Conducting a risk-based vulnerability assessment can help find the answers to that question by identifying an organization's highest risks. The purpose of this hands-on session is to demonstrate how to work through the first five steps of EPA’s Being Prepared for Climate Change workbook to conduct a risk-based vulnerability assessment. Participants will work together in small groups to produce risk-based climate change vulnerability assessments for an imaginary watershed organization. The instructor will provide basic information about each step and participants will work together to accomplish each step’s goals. By the end, participants will have learned how risk management can be applied to place-based organizations to help with climate change adaptation.

The economy in the San Joaquin Valley is led by three industries – agriculture, oil, and land development – that contribute to both environmental, political and economic disparities and constitute significant drivers of climate change. Low income communities of color across the region and nation are disproportionately burdened by and feeling the impacts of climate change first. Despite these challenges community leaders are building power to guide the region towards a just transition through organizing and advocacy on land use planning and public investment practices at local, regional and state levels. Community leaders are transforming challenges into opportunities to lead the region – and nation – in confronting the impacts of climate change all while leading with principles of equity and justice. San Joaquin Valley leaders will share best practices and interdisciplinary tools to ensure climate resiliency.

We know that climate change threatens our community assets and our economy, but what does this mean for our cities, our state and our business community? How can this information inform effective adaptation solutions, and what are the risks of not understanding these impacts? Panelists will discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in assessing the economic impacts of climate change and the need to communicate these risks at different scales to diverse audiences in the private sector and at the city and state levels to catalyze adaptation action. The panel will include time for an interactive discussion with participants about how this information can advance cross-sector collaboration by identifying common risks and mobilizing stakeholders around adaptation goals that enhance climate and economic resilience.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

Cost: Free

Role-playing time! ­– Join us after you grab dinner for a California Adaptation Forum Game Night. We will play the “Game of Floods” – a community engagement activity on flood resiliency. Participants will gather around tabletop game boards and act as planning commissioners to solve for sea level rise with strategy game pieces. Master the game, so you can bring it to YOUR community!

Planning for climate hazards is often impaired by public and stakeholder apathy during the inevitable periods when the climate relaxes to more normal “non-crisis” conditions. One example, the Hydro-Illogical Cycle, refers to society’s typical reactive rather than proactive cycle of drought management. California’s current severe drought shows signs of propelling long-term drought planning and adaptation efforts. However, California’s Hydro-Illogical Cycle is intricate. Non-uniformity in the drought’s impacts and multiple years of symptoms and messaging may generate stakeholder burnout. And while the crisis may be perceived as over, it may not be abated fully in a community/region. Has the Hydro-Illogical Cycle been broken in California? How can we further reduce apathy to achieve proactive drought planning? We’ll have an open dialogue about drought perceptions, and brainstorm creative communication and engagement strategies to create a roadmap of actions. This timely discussion is needed among those in climate science to policy and implementation.

Working on coastal climate adaptation? No need to start from scratch! In the California Coastal Resilience Network, we share and learn from each other about cutting-edge adaptation efforts. Join us to meet colleagues working on coastal adaptation throughout California and find new opportunities for collaboration.

Movement Strategy Center (MSC) will host a breakfast conversation on the framework for Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning Framework​ they developed with a core team of partners from community based organizations (from California and beyond) who have served as contributors and reviewers. Current and projected climate disruptions are calling on us to take bold leaps together towards ecological approaches to decision-making and resource management. The framework offers a set of fundamental principles and practices linking mitigation and adaptation for comprehensive resilience planning, and outlines the essential elements that shape inclusive processes for community driven climate solutions. If you can, please review the framework here and come prepared to have an engaging dialogue around questions such as: What does it look like for communities to define resiliency for themselves? How can community-driven climate resilience planning influence public planning processes at the City, County and State levels in California? How can we work together across sectors to cultivate the kind of deep democracy, social cohesion, and equity-based solutions necessary for long-term climate resilience?

Kick-start your morning with new connections and rich conversations! The Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA) welcomes you to join our members, partners and leading adaptation professionals from across the state to discuss opportunities for collaboration to advance adaptation. You will have the opportunity to learn about statewide initiatives and engage in regional table discussions to share ideas, strategies and resources, as well as specific challenges and opportunities unique to your region. What better way to start the day than to dive into the issues you care most about? We hope you can join us!

This session will focus on peer-to- peer learning about how the adaptation community can engage those who will be most impacted by climate change – young people. Educating young people about the world they will inherit and integrating youth voices into planning is critical to a thriving future and an empowered citizenry. Brief presentations from 3 successful projects (YESS – Youth Exploring Sea Level Rise Science, Climate Kids, and the Urban Tides Initiative) will serve as the springboard for a facilitated large-group discussion to identify emerging best practices and identify session participants’ needs regarding implementing similar education and engagement programs In their own communities. Then, participants will then move to one of three small groups (Equity and Climate Justice, Connection to Place, or Intergenerational Exchanges) for the remainder of the session for highly-focused discussions to move the field forward.

Existing state water policy, systems, and financing are not up to the task of meeting the state’s water needs, especially in light of the additional challenges posed by climate change. A new, whole-system approach to water can improve the water system’s resilience by managing natural infrastructure more effectively. These natural infrastructure projects have numerous co-benefits ranging from supporting climate change adaption and improving wildlife habitat to sustaining jobs in underemployed communities. However, financing policies typically do not recognize natural infrastructure solutions to our water crisis. New financial mechanisms, such as Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts and applying traditional infrastructure financing to natural infrastructure, can fund solutions to water issues. Each speaker will present a practical financial case study and discuss its relative merits and limitations, with significant time for Q&A. This session will offer participants tangible examples of successful financing mechanisms for nature-based solutions to climate adaptation issues.

California’s MPOs coordinate a variety of land use, infrastructure, transportation, funding and other major regional issues among multiple cities, counties and agencies at the regional scale. MPOs are also responsible for creating Sustainable Community Strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for each region. This panel will focus on the coordination and collaboration role that MPOs bring to the adaptation table. Many of the state’s MPOs have completed adaptation frameworks, studies, and vulnerability assessments that include broad community outreach. Each panelist will represent his or her respective MPO to discuss the adaptation planning efforts and the challenges associated with moving forward into regional implementation and measuring regional progress.

Low-income communities and communities of color are being hit first and worst by climate change, but community- based organizations are working with residents to develop innovative solutions. Our three diverse panelists work with community-based organizations in some of the most climate vulnerable regions of the state: Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education in South LA; Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in Riverside/San Bernardino; and Communities for a Better Environment in Wilmington and Richmond. Each will describe how they work directly with residents to create strategies to build healthier, more prosperous communities that increase climate resiliency, and how they are “scaling up” these solutions to a regional and statewide level. We will offer a Q/A session to discuss building place-based strategies that accomplish multiple benefits: address local environmental health and justice issues, build community leadership and capacity, increase integrated public investments, and help neighborhoods adapt to climate change.

Improving energy systems is a core component of California’s adaptation strategy and has tremendous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a strong foundation for community resilience. However, if investments are not made at the required pace, energy supply, reliability, and infrastructure will be threatened, posing serious local community impacts. The bright side is that local agencies, community organizations and utilities are already beginning to take actions to build community energy resilience. This session will present insights from a diverse set of speakers including community leadership groups and both public and private utilities. This will allow the exploration of efforts being undertaken in California that leverage strategic partnerships, utilize advanced technology, and engage community members to create robust, resilient, and sustainable energy systems for the benefit of all Californians in the face of a changing climate.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

Smart monitoring is a key component of coastal intelligence; i.e. timely, actionable information developed from reliable and authoritative science. It provides insight into present and future conditions that in turn improves coastal zone decision-making. This session will explore:

• A complex urban coastal shoreline system prone to flooding (Encinitas-Cardiff beach);
• Recent predictions of tidal wetland loss due to increased rates of sea-level rise and reduced sediment supply around the San Francisco Estuary;
• Timely assessments of tidal marsh vulnerability and their relationship to living shoreline projects;
• The communities that depend on this information to make decisions in vulnerable, at-risk areas.

Ample time will be set aside for a full discussion of the need for scientists and resource managers to engage vulnerable communities in meaningful partnerships to identify social indicators that complement scientific understanding of local cultural and landscape dynamics.

The cost of climate change impacts and the investments needed to adapt and respond to these impacts are immense – from a global scale down to local communities. More and more leaders across all sectors are recognizing the importance of developing adaptation plans and policies. However, existing approaches to financing responses are still operating on a retail – or localized and individualized – model, when we really need to embrace a much more wholesale scale and pace of funding. Regardless of any other actions we take, funding is and will be the single largest barrier to long-term planning and implementation.

This session will bring together perspectives from philanthropy, the state, and the public and private sectors to discuss financial strategies and approaches that can begin to operate at the scale and pace to meet rigorous climate policies and prioritize adaptation efforts.

Analysis shows that a worldwide goal to increase carbon in soils by less than a half percent a year could cut the existing atmospheric CO2 levels by 50%. In addition to helping meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, “carbon farming” can significantly improve the water holding capacity of soil and increase percolation – important benefits during an extended drought. Our panel will explore how a robust partnership in Santa Barbara County -- including landowners, NGOs, universities, private foundations, and state and federal agencies -- is navigating rapidly-developing research and policy landscapes to recruit ranchers in the fight against climate change. This project includes an NRCS-backed research pilot on one of the largest private ranches in the region, as well as an analysis of how best to capture existing organic waste and convert it to low-cost, high-quality compost. Speakers will address resource gaps, creative funding solutions, regional policy frameworks, and state policies, protocols and regulations that could help or hinder the ability to scale up.

Cutting-edge local sea level rise and coastal hazard modeling has been developed throughout the state to inform local planning efforts, which are now being implemented in on-the-ground adaptation solutions. This session will bring together coastal policy and management professionals from across the state to illustrate how they are facing adaptation challenges head-on and working collaboratively to make the California’s coastline more resilient to climate change and sea level rise. Following the presentations, the audience will engage in a participatory discussion on what coastal adaptation action means for the different sectors represented in the session.

As the climate continues to change, it’s imperative that communities utilize flexible planning approaches to prepare for existing as well as future changes in climate. One area where this work is critically needed is in local hazard mitigation planning. Local hazard mitigation planning presents an opportunity to simultaneously prepare for historic as well as future hazards in a way that encourages smart, resilient, and just practices. Work to achieve these goals by embedding climate considerations into hazard planning is emerging in places such as Baltimore, Santa Cruz, Waveland, and Boston.

Are you frustrated with your attempts to engage the community in adaptation? Do you want to do more than host a public meeting or webinar? If the answer is yes, then you understand truly innovative adaptation only happens when all residents from a community come together and integrate unique perspectives into one common vision for the future. You are motivated to ensure that stakeholders from all walks of life, representing diverse cultural and social perspectives, are engaged in the process. But how? You’re unfamiliar with engaging non-traditional partners that haven’t signed up for your agency’s listserv. Have no fear! This session will help to decode some of the unique challenges and benefits that result from working with diverse partners. Presenters will share their experiences working with a range of partners including Tribal nations, entities in the US-Mexico border region, and partners outside your traditional professional circles, such as artists.

Agencies and organizations across California recognize the importance of climate change adaptation and are already working to define tangible projects to build resilience in their communities. However, from planning to implementation, all projects come with a price tag. Limited funds and competing priorities have created new barriers to implementing adaptation strategies and growing frustration over the urgency to act without the proper resources to effect change. This session will explore existing funding resources and financing mechanisms that local governments can pursue and utilize to advance their resiliency initiatives. Participants will learn about best practices to obtain state and federal funding, the evolution of state programs and investments to integrate adaptation considerations, leveraging catastrophe bonds as a mechanism for resilient infrastructure project finance, and utilizing PACE financing to bridge the mitigation-adaptation gap. The session will focus on the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable communities and provide opportunities for robust table discussions.

Communities across California are increasingly facing environmental and economic risks from extreme heat, drought, sea level rise, wildfires and flooding. In an effort to respond, local leaders are advancing ambitious and transformative solutions that not only reduce the impacts of climate change in our communities but also address the needs of our most impacted and disadvantaged communities and benefit our economies, health and quality of life. Join local elected leaders from throughout California for an engaging and candid conversation about how we can successfully work together to create equitable, post-carbon communities in the face of climate change.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Sustainability plan aims to lower urban temperatures 1.7F by 2025 and 3.0F by 2035. Enhancing streets and other public right of way infrastructure can help us reach those goals and represent an opportunity to enhance climate benefits while making the surrounding areas more livable and equitable. Several nascent efforts will aid LA’s cooling objectives while preparing and responding to extreme heat. LA recently adopted trailblazing regulations requiring cool roofs on new and rehabbed residential construction. A newly developed data based mapping tool allows decision makers to identify urban heat island (UHI) spots which can inform investments such as Green Alleys and stormwater management. LA is currently testing cool coatings and pavements which can dramatically reduce surface temperatures. While working toward cooling our streets and public spaces, we can simultaneously prioritize improved safety and equal access for pedestrians, cyclists, and our growing population.

Climate Change will exacerbate the risks from rising seas and what we now consider “extreme” water weather. Whether drought, flood, fire, or famine, frontline Native Nations and communities around the state are organizing to build resilience to the water-related impacts of Climate Change. We are utilizing the traditional environmental justice organizing and advocacy toolkit, traditional Indigenous knowledges and sustainability practices as well as advancing new strategies. We are engaging tribal, state and local government entities. We are acting as tribal leaders, planners, engineers, developers, and policy-makers in our efforts to prepare for the water-related risks that Climate Change will visit on our communities, in ways both predictable and unpredictable.

What is your community doing to build resilience to the water-related impacts of Climate Change? Join us as we discuss examples of grassroots communities taking charge of our water destiny and pushing for a more just society through its creative re-making. Justice and equity in adaptation are our societal imperative.

Many communities have access to data and have developed adaptation plans that address climate change impacts—but now what? In many cases, without a strong local champion, these stand-alone plans typically collect dust on a shelf. This session provides recent examples of local governments integrating climate science and adaptation concepts into their general plans, local coastal programs, and zoning codes. We will examine the legislative, regulatory, and legal obligations that local jurisdictions must grapple with and discuss how communities have addressed those obligations through long-range planning efforts. Panelists will discuss their respective planning efforts and the related implementation actions, or reasons for inaction. A clear understanding of a local government’s concerns, obligations, and capabilities will help participants to defend equitable, just, and effective long-range climate planning in their own communities. After all, even the best climate science is useless if planning practitioners don’t know how to effectively use it.

Attendees for this session may earn elective credit toward the CCO® and CCP® credentials administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers.

The Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade is a resource-rich region that supplies many benefits to its own communities and to urban residents downstream. It is the state's principal watershed, supplying up to two-thirds of California's developed water supply for urban areas. Its forests and agricultural lands store enough carbon to offset the annual CO2 emissions of 108 coal-fired power plants. These critical ecosystem services are all at risk. The Sierra continues to face drought conditions; this decrease in water supply has significant impacts on downstream users. Frequent and severe wildfires have led to many communities experiencing hazardous air quality conditions and have imposed great costs upon Californians. Record drought conditions have exacerbated bark beetle infestations, killing tens of millions of trees across the Sierra. How can we begin to address a problem on this scale? During this session, speakers will present on promising solutions that benefit the entire state.

Climate adaptation has momentum. It’s up to us to keep it going in California and ensure that we continue our progress in leading the world and making a real difference. We will send you home inspired that your work is moving society toward a more sustainable future, renewed in facing the challenges of the work ahead, and energized by the prospects of forging new and stronger relationships with partners who will help us all meet our goals for healthy, resilient communities and prosperous, equitable economies across California and beyond. Through a partnership with the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, we will present the first ever Regional Adaptation Leadership Award to one exceptional individual nominated from within our community. Following the award presentation, distinguished speakers will share their personal commitment and professional successes in building this movement among diverse stakeholders, highlighting how we can all be empowered to be leaders and change agents, and together build a more resilient, healthy and equitable California.