Adaptation Human and Otherwise: Lessons from Evolving US Climate Change Policy and Programs

1. Adaptation Human and Otherwise: Lessons from Evolving US Climate Change Policy and Programs Nora N. Devoe, PhD. Director, Research and Innovation Northern Territory Government Formerly: National Science Advisor Bureau of Land Management US Department of Interior

2. Definitions • Adaptation: Plants and Animals, Individuals and Societies • US Climate Change response programmes • Australian Points of Departure

3. Climate Change Adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects (IPCC 2001) Climate Change Mitigation: Changes and substitutions that reduce resource inputs and emissions per unit of output…. implementing policies to reduce GHG emissions and enhance sinks (IPCC AR4 2007)

4. Policy: A course of action adopted and pursued by a government (OED 1991)

6. US Federal land is concentrated in the western region. Nationally federal land is 30% of the total area; DOI is 20%

8. Impact of a Century of Climate Change on Small-Mammal Communities in Yosemite National Park, USA Moritz et al. 2008 Science 322: 261-264 …….a century of small-mammal responses to global warming, without confounding effects of land-use change, through repeating Grinnell's early–20th century survey across a 3000-meter-elevational gradient that spans Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Using occupancy modeling to control for variation in detectability, we show substantial (500 meters on average) upward changes in elevational limits for half of 28 species monitored, consistent with the observed 3°C increase in minimum temperatures……..

10. LCC Functions • Convene partners • Coordinate activities across partners • Integrate activities under a regional strategy for adaptation • Pool skills and resources • Prioritise science needs and convey to CSCs • Apply CSC products in adaptive management partnerships.

11. US Climate Science Centres Northcentral Northwest Alaska Northeast Southwest Southeast Southcentral Pacific Islands

12. NEON Design • 20 Geographically distributed domains • Instrumented sites to collect atmospheric, chemical, physical, and biological measurements • Remotely sensed data • Site-based experiments • Bio-collections facilities and archives • Computational, analytical, and modeling capabilities • Networked infrastructure

13. NEON Infrastructure

14. US MITIGATION ACTIONS • Promote renewable energy development • Reduce GHG emissions from government operations and permitted activities • Sequester carbon • Biological • Geological

17. “The Obama administration said Monday it was moving forward with oil-drilling leases off the coast of Alaska issued by the Bush administration in 2008, a victory for oil companies in the battle over Arctic Ocean drilling. The Interior Department's decision is the latest example of the Obama administration siding with energy companies against environmentalists amid a weak economy”. WSJ 5/10/11

18. Take Home Message: Participate in policy formulation Speak up for the environment Reduce personal energy and material consumption