Statewide forum provides practical strategies for dealing with wildfires, drought and the long-term economic, environmental and social impacts of climate change.
As a promotional parter of the 2018 California Adaptation Forum, the Climate Science Alliance is sharing a series of press releases covering key topics to be discussed at the forum next week.
SACRAMENTO — The third biennial California Adaptation Forum, hosted by the Local Government Commission and the State of California, comes to Sacramento next week. More than 750 adaptation policymakers, community leaders and expert practitioners from across California will participate in dozens of multidisciplinary sessions, workshops, tours and networking activities covering a wide range of timely climate-related challenges, strategies and success stories.
The California Adaptation Forum will be held August 27-29 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Downtown Sacramento. Visit the Forum website to explore the full program, which features an interdisciplinary mix of over 250 speakers and more than 50 sessions and plenaries across eight cross-cutting tracks focused on emerging trends, model projects and approaches, financing, tools and implementation strategies. The Forum is an affiliate event of the Global Climate Action Summit, an international convening to raise ambition for climate action.
The Forum program will include a discussion of the latest climate research from California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, which will be released on the first day of the Forum.
With impacts such as increased fire and flooding risk, sea level rise, extreme heat, and water supply issues facing communities across California, bold actions are needed to meet the challenges of climate change and implement practical, equitable adaptation solutions. This year’s California Adaptation Forum will provide opportunities for practitioners to work together, share and learn more about how local, regional, and state leaders are pursuing innovative strategies and responding to the state’s most critical climate-related issues.
Three plenaries with a distinguished group of diverse climate leaders will anchor the three-day event. These sessions will discuss how to ensure equity in our adaptation efforts, strengthen climate resilience while also balancing economic opportunity and environmental stewardship, and implement strategies for securing the massive investments.
On Monday afternoon, the program will include a half-day workshop on the latest research findings and targeted action recommendations of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment about how to catalyze local and regional adaptation to climate change and better incorporate climate justice into those strategies.
In the opening plenary on social justice and equitable adaptation, Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, President of Ward Economic Development Corporation, Orson Aguilar, Executive Director of the Greenlining Institute, and Christina Snider, the Governor’s Tribal Advisor, will deliver keynotes on tackling climate gentrification, social resilience and equitable economic development.
The second plenary will feature the Strategic Growth Council’s Executive Director Louise Bedsworth, Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore and Arvin Mayor Jose Gurrol on governing and governance issues, underscoring the connections between climate resilience and other community challenges such as affordable housing and economic growth.
On Wednesday afternoon, Beneficial State Bank CEO Kat Taylor, re:focus partners CEO Shalini Vajjhala, Teveia Barnes, Executive Director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, and The Lightsmith Group’s Co-Founder Sanjay Wagle will close the forum with a forward-looking discussion about investing more wisely for current and future generations – from the transformation of our financial institutions and the deployment of emerging technologies to re-defining risk and benefits to create livable, equitable, climate-smart communities.
Throughout the event, the forum will also feature the popular Tool Demo, interactive presentations of innovative tools and techniques to tackle climate-change challenges. The forum is made possible through generous contributions from sponsors including the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Edison International, WSP, and dozens of additional organizations leading climate change response efforts.
For questions, contact:
Julia Kim, Senior Project Manager, jkim@lgc.org, 301-675-5748
Local Government Commission A national, nonprofit, membership organization 980 9th St., Suite 1700 | Sacramento, CA 95814 lgc.org | CaliforniaAdaptationForum.org