CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION BY LOCAL GROUPS

One of the major challenges in climate change adaptation relates to scaling down the continental dimension global climate change models (GCMs) to regional and local levels. The inability to evaluate climate change impacts at smaller scale—state, cities/towns—has created a situation that impedes the well-intentioned efforts on part of local governments and NGOs toward devising and implementing measures to mitigate adverse impacts of climate change and develop sound adaptation strategies. Despite this limitation, many city governments and local groups have taken the initiative to address the issue and have been moving forward in planning for climate change adaptation measures. To assess the degree of awareness and vulnerability from climate change to various sectors of the economy at local level, we conducted a series of meetings involving stakeholders from the metropolitan Kansas City area, representing agriculture, commerce, energy, health, land use, transportation, and water sectors.

Participants representing the health sector focus group indicated concerns arising out of disruption of the hydrologic cycle causing drought and heat waves; and wetter seasons resulting in floods and potential proliferation of disease-carrying vectors. Mitigating the adverse impact of heat stress on children and elderly people was considered a high priority item for the health care sector. On the other hand, water sector focus group felt that the additional demand, imposed by the ever-increasing urban population—on safe drinking water supply and adequate capacity of the wastewater treatment plants—should be given higher priority than mitigation of potential impacts from climate change. Both sectors emphasized the need for enforcing appropriate measures to reduce CO₂ emissions.

The presentation describes the methodology used to engage the focus groups, their sensitivities to climate variability and associated risks, and required measures for minimizing the impacts from climate change.