Americans depend on our country\u2019s transportation, energy and water supply systems. This infrastructure is under increasing stress as coastal storms, wildfires, drought and sea level rise. And there are countless questions on how to gain the political will, as well as the funds and financing for both infrastructure modernization and new infrastructure in the face of these growing hazards. We\u2019re detecting these trends involving climate adaptation and resilience we expected will emerge or occur in 2019.<\/p>\n
RESILIENCE FINANCE WILL GO MAINSTREAM.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n From the\u00a0Climate Bonds Initiative<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>to the\u00a0Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment WorkGroup<\/a><\/u>, finance sector experts are working to create mechanisms in the financial markets that make it more likely that assets under management will include more climate change resilience projects. That\u2019s important, since the gap in resilience finance, which the Climate Policy Initiative doggedly tracks annually, grows wider. Creating principles for resilience-related green bonds is a high priority in the growing climate bond field.<\/p>\n RESILIENCE FUNDING WILL INCREASE.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Emergency Management Agency received increased mitigation-related appropriations, in part through the “Disaster Recovery Reform Act.” Going forward,\u00a0FEMA can use 6 percent<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>of its Disaster Relief Fund on pre-disaster mitigation and\u00a0HUD allocated $28 billion<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>to support long-term disaster recovery in nine states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with $16 billion earmarked for risk mitigation. Rules and guidelines for accessing these competitive grants are on the agencies\u2019 2019 to-do list.<\/p>\n CLIMATE CHANGE-DRIVEN MIGRATION WILL BE BETTER ORGANIZED.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Even as Louisiana grapples with the ongoing migration of families from their southern parishes because of climate-related issues (e.g., in Plaquemine Parish, 67 percent of the population left between 2000 and 2015), it and other states seek ways to\u00a0create capacity and opportunity<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>in receiving communities. We even have a term for this change:\u201cClimigration<\/strong>.\u201d It was coined by Robin Bronen, executive director of theAlaska Institute for Justice<\/a><\/u>,to replace the commonly used misnomer \u201cclimate refugee.\u201d<\/p>\n RESILIENCE NEWS WILL BECOME MORE UBIQUITOUS.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The resilience-related news cycle will grow, driven by growing tragedies that define the\u00a0resilience gap<\/a><\/u>. Last year\u2019s\u00a0National Climate Assessment<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>spotlighted the costs we already are experiencing:<\/p>\n Experts in many sectors now assert how climate change risk is impacting their goals, resulting, for instance, in a 10-fold increase in my resilience-related Google feed \u2013 the source of many of my\u00a0tweets<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>the past year.<\/p>\n RURAL AMERICA WILL CONTINUE TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF CATASTROPHIC LOSS.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Many Americans still live, work and play in smaller towns and cities where most climate change-related tragedy strikes \u2013 from Paradise, California, to Mexico Beach, Florida. Resources focused on smaller communities, such as\u00a0Flood Forum USA<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>and\u00a0Online Help and Advice for Natural Disasters<\/a><\/u>, are going to be even more in demand.<\/p>\n Are you detecting other resilience-related trends? Please let me know. Contact me on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n