Science in Action: The Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) utilized new tools and data from the Connecting Wildlands and Communities Team to inform their new Climate Change Action Resolution.
In February 2021, the Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) unanimously adopted a resolution to promote climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience across a six-county region that’s home to more than 19 million people. This includes developing a framework “to help the region plan and prepare for a changing climate as well as potential near- and long-term disruptions to Southern California, such as earthquakes, extreme weather, drought wildfires, pandemics and economic shocks.”
As members of the Connecting Wildlands and Communities Technical Advisory Group, regional planners from the SCAG team have utilized fire-related data produced by Dr. Manny Storey of the Connecting Wildlands and Communities Project’s Fire Research Team to inform this process and document.
Dr. Megan Jennings, project lead for the CWC project, said, “It was exciting to see how our data products can be put to use for science-informed decision making. It's encouraging to not only hear that there's a need for this type of information, but to actually see it put to use so quickly. We hope our data can continue to support project partners and other planners across Southern California as they work to incorporate climate impacts and adaptation into their planning.”
The SCAG Climate Change Action Resolution clears the way for the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization to initiate a regional climate planning network and partnerships that will provide technical assistance and additional support to local jurisdictions for their climate action initiatives.
To read the full resolution, please visit: https://scag.ca.gov/press-release/scag-adopts-resolution-climate-change-action
To learn more about about the
Connecting Wildlands and Communities Project, please visit: www.climatesciencealliance.org/cwc