LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES BASIN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
Nelson D, Elmer H, Held R, Forsythe D, Casey S. 2011. LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES BASIN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
The NOAA Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team, Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, and Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve are working with the Great Lakes & Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative to develop specialized training to build the capacity of Great Lakes coastal communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Training could address issues such as climate change research; long-term forecasts for climate change impacts in the Great Lakes region; processes by which community leaders can identify and consider management responses necessary to respond to forecasted changes; and decision tools and science-based resources that are available to make coastal development, resource protection, and infrastructure decisions today that sustain communities for the next 50-100 years. To ensure that training meets priority needs and provides accessible and applicable tools and resources, these organizations are collaborating to conduct a needs assessment: a comprehensive front-end evaluation of the climate change adaptation training and information needs of Great Lakes coastal communities. The goal of this needs assessment is to collect sufficient information about the knowledge, skills, interest, attitudes, and/or abilities of Great Lakes coastal community planners, stormwater managers, and natural resource managers to design effective training that increases the ability of these groups to confront and adapt to the impacts of climate change.This study is being conducted in two phases with funding from the NOAA Sea Grant Climate Engagement Project and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This report contains the results of Phase I, a synthesis of existing knowledge on training and information needs and preliminary data collection, funded by the NOAA Sea Grant Climate Engagement Project. Phase II will include comprehensive data collection and be funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and coordinated by Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve. Phase II results and recommendations will be compiled as a companion document to this report. These organizations will utilize the results of both phases of this needs assessment to design climate change adaptation training for Great Lakes coastal community decision-makers and professionals. Study results and recommendations can also guide future investments in Great Lakes climate change adaptation training. This issue areas reported here include background information, climate impacts, and relevant roles for stakeholder engagement. This is followed by categorizing needs in two sections: research, planning, and policy needs, and then education and training needs. This information is included in each chapter. Some chapters also include more precise information for specific issue areas that have been placed in the overarching chapter theme. However, these specific issue areas are relevant to numerous issues in the complexity of climate change adaptation, and should be considered in the overall context of both mitigation and adaptation planning.