Instruction Manual

This toolkit was developed for extension, outreach and education professionals around the Gulf of Mexico to help coastal communities understand the risks of sea level rise and develop effective adaptation strategies.


The Science Behind Sea-Level Rise

 

  1. Understanding and Responding to Climate Change. Highlights of National Academies Report 2008

 

Summary: Understanding and Responding to Climate Change is a set of reports from the National Academies providing thoughtful analysis and helpful direction to policymakers and stakeholders to better understand the science and probability behind climate change.

 

  1. Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Second Version: March 2009

 

Summary: Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science presents information that is deemed important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth’s climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation.


Other supplemental resources for the science behind Sea-Level Rise

 

  1. Climate Change Implications for Fisheries and Aquaculture: Overview of current scientific knowledge. Food and Agriculture Organization of the Union Nations. Rome, 2009 (PDF 1.9MB)

 

Summary: A set of technical papers that discuss the impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems, and on fisheries and aquaculture based livelihoods.

 

  1. Climate Change Science Compendium 2009. UNEP 2009 (PDF 7.7MB)

 

Summary: The Climate Change Science Compendium is a review of some 400 major scientific contributions to our understanding of Earth Systems and climate that have been released through peer-reviewed literature or from research institutions over the last three years, since the close of research for consideration by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

 

  1. Climate in Peril: A Popular Guide to the Latest IPCC Reports. UNEP 2008 (PDF 7MB)

 

Summary: Climate in Peril: A Popular Guide to the Latest IPCC Reports presents the substance of the Climate Change 2007 Synthesis Report of the IPCC in simplified language and structure.

 

  1. Ecological Impacts of Climate Change. Highlights of National Academies Report 2008 (PDF 8.3MB)

 

Summary: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change illuminates how climate change has affected species and ecosystems across the United States. This booklet based on the conclusions of an independent, expert committee of the nation’s leading scientists describes some of the ecological impacts of climate change that have already been observed right in our own backyard.

 

  1. Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson,(eds.). Cambridge University Press, 2009. (PDF13.4MB)

 

Summary: This report summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It is largely based on results of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and integrates those results with related research from around the world. This report discusses climate-related impacts for various societal and environmental sectors and regions across the nation. It is an authoritative scientific report written in plain language, with the goal of better informing public and private decision making at all levels.

 

  1. The Real Holes in Climate Science. Nature January 2010 (PDF 1.3MB)

 

Summary: This publication identifies and explains several of the science gaps in understanding and predicting climate change.

 

  1. Understanding Sea Level Change. ACSM Bulletin 2008 (PDF 459KB)

 

Summary: This article looks at climate change and how it influences sea level and tries to answer the question “Will society be impacted by an increased rate in global sea level rise, and to what degree?” The article discusses how NOAA monitors sea level rise through measurements of Local Mean Sea Level.


Local predictions of impacts

 

  1. The Effects of Climate Change on Florida’s Ocean and Coastal Resources. Florida Oceans and Coastal Council, June 2009

 

Summary: The Effects of Climate Change on Florida’s Ocean and Coastal Resources provides important information for legislators, policymakers, governmental agencies, and members of the public who are working to address, or who are interested in, issues related to climate change in Florida. The Council anticipates that the report will be updated periodically, and has recommended a number of research priorities for ocean and coastal research to improve levels of certainty about how climate change will affect Florida.


Other supplemental resources for local predictions of impacts

 

  1. A Weather and Climate Enterprise Strategic Implementation Plan for Generating and Communicating Forecast Uncertainty Information. American Meteorological Society Commission on the Weather and Climate Enterprise Board on Enterprise Communication, Draft January 2010 (PDF 1.6MB)

 

Summary: This draft document presents a strategic plan to address uncertainty for weather and climate. This plan defines a vision, strategic goals, roles and responsibilities, an implementation roadmap, and monitoring strategy to guide the weather and climate enterprise toward routinely providing the nation with comprehensive, skillful, and reliable information about the uncertainty of weather, water and climate forecasts.

 

  1. Use of Science in Gulf of Mexico Decision Making Involving Climate Change. EPA Cooperative Agreement: R-83023601-0, December 2007 (PDF 2.1MB

 

Summary: This research was undertaken to provide information on how Gulf of Mexico stakeholder groups can be more effectively engaged in making decisions to address potential climate change impacts. In addition, the project was designed to engage “relevant stakeholder communities” in the research process.

Social and Economic Impacts

 

  1. The Gulf of Mexico at a Glance. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, developed in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gulf of Mexico Program, for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, June 2008

 

Summary: The Gulf of Mexico at a Glance presents regional aggregations of selected economic activities that are focused in coastal and ocean areas, as well as selected social and environmental attributes of the region.

 

  1. Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing by Doug McKenzie-Mohr

 

Summary: While conventional marketing can help create public awareness, social marketing identifies and overcomes barriers to long-lasting behavior change. Fostering Sustainable Behavior details how to uncover the barriers that prevent people from engaging in sustainable behaviors and provides a set of tools to help foster behavior change.

 

  1. The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides and the Interested Public. Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. October 2009 (PDF 3.7MB)

 

Summary: This guide powerfully details many of the biases and barriers to scientific communication and information processing. It offers a tool—in combination with rigorous science, innovative engineering and effective policy design—to help our societies take the pivotal actions needed to respond with urgency and accuracy to one of the greatest challenges ever faced by humanity: global-scale, human-induced environmental threats, of which the most complex and far reaching is climate change.


Other supplemental resources for social and economic impacts

 

  1. Applications of the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, Cancer Prevention Research Center (PDF 316MB)

 

Summary: This theoretical model of behavior changes has been the basis for developing effective interventions to promote health behavior change. The model describes how people modify a problem behavior or acquire a positive behavior. The central organizing construct of the model is the Stages of Change.

 

  1. Climate Change and the Economy: Expected Impacts and their Implications. Bipartisan Policy Center and The National Commission on Energy Policy (PDF 2.8MB)

 

Summary: The publications evaluated some of the economic costs related to particular climate-sensitive resources - from water in New Mexico, to infrastructure in Alaska, to forests in Idaho and Montana, to coastlines in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina.

 

  1. The Resilient Coast: Policy frameworks for adapting the built environment to climate change and growth in coastal areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Texas Sea Grant, August 2007 (PDF 3.1MB)

 

Summary: The Resilient Coast examined the existing legal and institutional frameworks for adapting to growth and climate change in the Gulf States.It also identifies a set of guidelines that the states can use to adapt to coastal change.

 

  1. Understanding an Audience’s Social Values: Communicating with American with different worldviews on global warming. The Climate Leadership Initiative. February 5, 2010.

 

Summary: This publication segments the American public into ten distinct groups based on how people think of the environment and their role in protecting it.


Adaptation strategies and case studies

 

  1. Best Practice Approaches for Characterizing, Communicating and Incorporating Scientific Uncertainty in Climate Decision Making. U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Draft January 2009

 

Summary: This publication provides a summary of tools and strategies that are available to characterize, analyze, and otherwise deal with uncertainty in characterizing, and doing analysis of, climate change and its impacts.


Other supplemental resources for adaptation strategies and case studies

 

  1. Adapting to Coastal Climate Change: A Guidebook for Development Planners. USAID, May 2009 (PDF 5.4MB)

 

Summary: This guidebook provides a detailed treatment of climate concerns in coastal areas. The guidebook proposes an approach for assessing vulnerability to climate change and climate variability; developing and implementing adaptation options; and integrating options into programs, development plans and projects at the national and local levels.

 

  1. Coastal No Adverse Impact Handbook. NOAA/ASFPM. May 2007 (PDF 2.8MB)

 

Summary: No Adverse Impact (NAI) as outlined by the Association of State Floodplain Managers provides a new and effective coastal management philosophy, and also identifies its legal underpinnings. NAI floodplain management is essentially a “do-no harm” policy based on the concept that everyone benefits when the actions of every community or property owner does not adversely affect others.

 

  1. Coastal Resilience Index: A Community Self-Assessment. MASGP 2008 (PDF 452KB)

 

Summary: The Resilience Index is a self-assessment which provides community leaders with a method of predicting if their community will reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure after a disaster. The goal is for every community to become highly resilient.

 

  1. Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit. Australian Government Department of Climate Change. ICLEI, 2008 (PDF 1.5MB)

 

Summary: The toolkit includes tools and exercises tested by five pilot councils and reviewed by several observer councils. The tools and exercises are designed to help councils navigate through an enhanced risk management process or adaptive management process. This helps them identify aspects of their internal decision-making processes that need to be enhanced to appropriately and routinely plan for the impacts of climate change, as well as to generate and implement a plan to manage the risks.

 

  1. Model Bylaw Effectively Managing Coastal Floodplain Development. Woods Hole Sea Grant Program, Cape Cod Commission, University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, and the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, 2009 (PDF 352KB)

 

Summary: The document contains two sections. The first section relates to the technical information that supports the model coastal floodplain bylaw/ordinance. The second section contains the model coastal floodplain regulation.

 

  1. Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional and State Governments. ICLEI, September 2007 (PDF 5.7MB)

 

Summary: Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional and State Governments is designed to help local, regional and state governments prepare for climate change by recommending a detailed, easy-to-understand process for climate change preparedness based on familiar resources and tools.

 

  1. Resource Management in a Changing and Uncertain Climate. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2010 8:1, 35-43 (417KB)

 

Summary: This article discusses the uncertainty inherent in different types of data on potential climate impacts and explores climate projections and potential management responses at three sites in North America.

 

  1. Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities. EPA, September 2009 (PDF 2.5MB)

 

Summary: The coastal and waterfront elements presented on this website augment the existing smart growth principles to reflect the specific challenges and opportunities characterizing the waterfront - be it on a coast, a river, or a lake. These elements provide guidance for communities to grow in ways that are compatible with their natural assets, creating great places for residents, visitors, and businesses.

 

  1. Urban Planning for Climate Change. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 2007 (PDF 2.7MB)

 

Summary: This paper outlines the risk climate change poses to urban planning such as human settlement, insurance, construction and other risks associated with atmospheric conditions.

 

  1. Working Together with Water: A Living land Builds for its Future. Delta Committie, September 2008. (PDF 856KB)

 

Summary: The government requested the Delta Committee present advice on protecting the coast and the entire low lying part of the Netherlands against the consequences of climate change. The issue is whether arrangements can be made so that over the very long term the Netherlands can be climate proof: safe against flooding, while still remaining an attractive place to live, to reside and work, for recreation and investment.

 

  1. 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy: A Report to the Governor of the State of California in Response to Executive Order S-13-2008. California Natural Resources Agency, 2009 (PDF 4.4MB)

 

Summary: The 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy report summarizes the best known science on climate change impacts in the state to assess vulnerability and outlines possible solutions that can be implemented within and across state agencies to promote resiliency. This is the first step in an ongoing, evolving process to reduce California’s vulnerability to climate impacts.


Other Web Based Resources:

 

  1. Mississippi-Alabama Habitat Tool (http://habitats.disl.org)
  2. National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Climate Training Resources (http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/CTPIndex.aspx?ID=462)
  3. NOAA Climate Services (http://www.noaa.gov/climate.html)
  4. NOAA Coastal Climate Adaptation (http://collaborate.csc.noaa.gov/climateadaptation/)
  5. NOAA Coastal Services Center (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/climate/index.html)
  6. NOAA Digital Coast (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/)
  7. NOAA Coastal Inundation Toolkit (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/inundation/index.html)
  8. NOAA’s iGulf - Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaboration Team (http://igulf.noaa.gov/)
  9. Sea Level Rise Visualization Tool (http://gom.usgs.gov/slr/index.html)
  10. Coastal Resilience Index Critical Facilities Tool (http://csc-s-web-q.csc.noaa.gov/criticalfacilities/)
  11. StormSmart Connect Network (http://stormsmartconnect.org/)