Climate Change Adaptation
Strategic Federal Planning Could Help Officials Make More Informed Decisions Gao ID: GAO-10-175T October 22, 2009This testimony discusses our report to this committee on climate change adaptation and the role strategic federal planning could play in government decision making. Changes in the climate attributable to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases may have significant impacts in the United States and internationally. For example, climate change could threaten coastal areas with rising sea levels. In recent years, climate change adaptation--adjustments to natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change--has begun to receive more attention because the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere are expected to continue altering the climate system into the future, regardless of efforts to control emissions. According to a recent report by the National Research Council (NRC), however, individuals and institutions whose futures will be affected by climate change are unprepared both conceptually and practically for meeting the challenges and opportunities it presents. In this context, adapting to climate change requires making policy and management decisions that cut across traditional economic sectors, jurisdictional boundaries, and levels of government. This testimony is based on our October 2009 report, which is being publicly released today, and addresses three issues: (1) what actions federal, state, local, and international authorities are taking to adapt to a changing climate; (2) the challenges that federal, state, and local officials face in their efforts to adapt; and (3) the actions that Congress and federal agencies could take to help address these challenges. We also provide information about our prior work on similarly complex, interdisciplinary issues.
Although there is no coordinated national approach to adaptation, several federal agencies report that they have begun to take action with current and planned adaptation activities. These activities are largely ad hoc and fall into categories such as information for decision making, federal land and natural resource management, and governmentwide adaptation strategies, among others. The challenges faced by federal, state, and local officials in their efforts to adapt fall into the following three categories: (1) available attention and resources are focused on more immediate needs, making it difficult for adaptation efforts to compete for limited funds; (2) insufficient site-specific data, such as local projections of expected changes, make it hard to predict the impacts of climate change, and thus hard for officials to justify the current costs of adaptation efforts for potentially less certain future benefits; and (3) adaptation efforts are constrained by a lack of clear roles and responsibilities among federal, state, and local agencies. Potential federal actions for addressing challenges to adaptation efforts fall into the following three areas: (1) training and education efforts could increase awareness among government officials and the public about the impacts of climate change and available adaptation strategies; (2) actions to provide and interpret site-specific information could help officials understand the impacts of climate change at a scale that would enable them to respond; and (3) Congress and federal agencies could encourage adaptation by clarifying roles and responsibilities.
GAO-10-175T, Climate Change Adaptation: Strategic Federal Planning Could Help Officials Make More Informed Decisions
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Testimony:
Before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming,
House of Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 9:30 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, October 22, 2009:
Climate Change Adaptation:
Strategic Federal Planning Could Help Officials Make More Informed
Decisions:
Statement of John B. Stephenson, Director:
Natural Resources and Environment:
GAO-10-175T:
October 22, 2009:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to be here today to discuss our report to this committee
on climate change adaptation and the role strategic federal planning
could play in government decision making. Changes in the climate
attributable to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases may have
significant impacts in the United States and internationally.[Footnote
1] For example, climate change could threaten coastal areas with rising
sea levels. In recent years, climate change adaptation--adjustments to
natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate
change--has begun to receive more attention because the greenhouse
gases already in the atmosphere are expected to continue altering the
climate system into the future, regardless of efforts to control
emissions. According to a recent report by the National Research
Council (NRC), however, individuals and institutions whose futures will
be affected by climate change are unprepared both conceptually and
practically for meeting the challenges and opportunities it presents.
In this context, adapting to climate change requires making policy and
management decisions that cut across traditional economic sectors,
jurisdictional boundaries, and levels of government. My testimony is
based on our October 2009 report,[Footnote 2] which is being publicly
released today, and addresses three issues: (1) what actions federal,
state, local, and international authorities are taking to adapt to a
changing climate; (2) the challenges that federal, state, and local
officials face in their efforts to adapt; and (3) the actions that
Congress and federal agencies could take to help address these
challenges. We also provide information about our prior work on
similarly complex, interdisciplinary issues.
We employed a variety of methods to assess these issues. To determine
the actions federal, state, local, and international authorities are
taking to adapt to a changing climate, we obtained summaries of
adaptation-related efforts from a broad range of federal agencies and
visited four sites where government officials are taking actions to
adapt. The four sites were New York City; King County, Washington; the
state of Maryland; and the United Kingdom, focusing on London and
Hampshire County. We gathered information during and after site visits
through observation of adaptation efforts, interviews with officials
and stakeholders, and a review of documents provided by these
officials. To describe challenges that federal, state, and local
officials face in their efforts to adapt and the actions that Congress
and federal agencies could take to help address these challenges, we
developed a Web-based questionnaire, and sent it to 274 federal, state,
and local officials knowledgeable about adaptation.[Footnote 3] Within
the questionnaire, we organized questions about challenges and actions
into groups related to the following: (1) awareness among governmental
officials and the public about climate change impacts and setting
priorities with respect to available adaptation strategies; (2)
sufficiency of information to help officials understand climate change
impacts at a scale that enables them to respond; and (3) the structure
and operation of the federal government including whether roles and
responsibilities were clear across different levels of government.
We conducted our review from September 2008 to October 2009 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. A
more detailed description of our scope and methodology is available in
appendix I of our report.
Mr. Chairman, the following summarizes the findings on each of the
issues discussed in our report:
* Federal, state, local, and international efforts to adapt to climate
change: Although there is no coordinated national approach to
adaptation, several federal agencies report that they have begun to
take action with current and planned adaptation activities. These
activities are largely ad hoc and fall into categories such as
information for decision making, federal land and natural resource
management, and governmentwide adaptation strategies, among others. For
example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA)
Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program supports climate
change research to meet the needs of decision makers and policy
planners at the national, regional, and local levels. In addition,
several federal agencies have reported beginning to consider measures
that would strengthen the resilience of natural resources in the face
of climate change. For example, on September 14, 2009, the Department
of the Interior issued an order designed to address the impacts of
climate change on the nation's water, land, and other natural and
cultural resources.[Footnote 4] While no single entity is coordinating
climate change adaptation efforts across the federal government,
several federal entities are beginning to develop governmentwide
strategies to adapt to climate change. For example, the President's
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is leading a new initiative to
coordinate the federal response to climate change in conjunction with
the Office of Science and Technology Policy, NOAA, and other agencies.
Similarly, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates
and integrates federal research on climate change, has developed a
series of "building blocks" that outline options for future climate
change work, including science to inform adaptation.
While many government authorities have not yet begun to adapt to
climate change, some at the state and local levels are beginning to
plan for and respond to climate change impacts. We visited three U. S.
sites--New York City; King County, Washington; and the state of
Maryland--where government officials are taking such steps. Our
analysis of these sites suggests three major factors have led these
governments to act. First, natural disasters such as floods, heat
waves, droughts, or hurricanes raised public awareness of the costs of
potential climate change impacts. Second, leaders in all three sites
used legislation, executive orders, local ordinances, or action plans
to focus attention and resources on climate change adaptation. Finally,
each of the governments had access to relevant site-specific
information to provide a basis for planning and management efforts.
This site-specific information arose from partnerships that decision
makers at all three sites formed with local universities and other
government and nongovernment entities. Limited adaptation efforts are
also taking root in other countries around the world. As in the case of
the state and local efforts we describe, some of these adaptation
efforts have been triggered by the recognition that current weather
extremes and seasonal changes will become more frequent in the future.
Our review of climate change adaptation efforts in the United Kingdom
describes how different levels of government work together to ensure
that climate change considerations are incorporated into decision
making.
* Government officials face numerous challenges when considering
adaptation efforts: The challenges faced by federal, state, and local
officials in their efforts to adapt fall into the following three
categories, based on our analysis of questionnaire results, site
visits, and available studies:
* First, available attention and resources are focused on more
immediate needs, making it difficult for adaptation efforts to compete
for limited funds. For example, about 71 percent (128 of 180) of the
officials who responded to our questionnaire rated "non-adaptation
activities are higher priorities" as very or extremely challenging when
considering climate change adaptation efforts.
* Second, insufficient site-specific data, such as local projections of
expected changes, make it hard to predict the impacts of climate
change, and thus hard for officials to justify the current costs of
adaptation efforts for potentially less certain future benefits. For
example, King County officials said they are not sure how to translate
climate change information into effects on salmon recovery efforts.
* Third, adaptation efforts are constrained by a lack of clear roles
and responsibilities among federal, state, and local agencies. Of
particular note, about 70 percent (124 of 178) of the respondents rated
the "lack of clear roles and responsibilities for addressing adaptation
across all levels of government" as very or extremely challenging.
Interestingly, local and state respondents rate this as a greater
challenge than did federal respondents. About 80 percent (48 of 60) of
local officials and about 67 percent (31 of 46) of state officials who
responded to the question rated the issue as either very or extremely
challenging, compared with about 61 percent (42 of 69) of the
responding federal officials.[Footnote 5]
* Federal efforts could help government officials make decisions about
adaptation: Potential federal actions for addressing challenges to
adaptation efforts fall into the following three areas, based on our
analysis of questionnaire results, site visits, and available studies:
- First, training and education efforts could increase awareness among
government officials and the public about the impacts of climate change
and available adaptation strategies. A variety of programs are trying
to accomplish this goal, such as the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve (partially funded by NOAA), which provides education
and training on climate change to the public and local officials in
Maryland.
- Second, actions to provide and interpret site-specific information
could help officials understand the impacts of climate change at a
scale that would enable them to respond. About 80 percent (147 of 183)
of the respondents rated the "development of state and local climate
change impact and vulnerability assessments" as very or extremely
useful.
- Third, Congress and federal agencies could encourage adaptation by
clarifying roles and responsibilities. About 71 percent (129 of 181) of
the respondents rated the development of a national adaptation strategy
as very or extremely useful. Furthermore, officials we spoke with at
our site visits and officials who responded to our questionnaire said
that a coordinated federal response would also demonstrate a federal
commitment to adaptation.
Our past work on crosscutting issues suggests that governmentwide
strategic planning can integrate activities that span a wide array of
federal, state, and local entities.[Footnote 6] As our report and
others (such as the National Academy of Sciences and the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) demonstrate, some
communities and federal lands are already seeing the effects of climate
change, and governments are beginning to respond. However, as our
report also illustrates, the federal government's emerging adaptation
activities are carried out in an ad hoc manner and are not well
coordinated across federal agencies, let alone state and local
governments. Multiple federal agencies, as well as state and local
governments, will have to work together to address these challenges and
implement new initiatives. Yet, our past work on collaboration among
federal agencies suggests that they will face a range of barriers in
doing so.[Footnote 7] Top leadership involvement and clear lines of
accountability are critical to overcoming natural resistance to change,
marshalling needed resources, and building and maintaining the
commitment to new ways of doing business. Given the complexity and
potential magnitude of climate change and the lead time needed to
adapt, preparing for these impacts now may reduce the need for far more
costly steps in the decades to come.
Accordingly, our report released today recommends that the appropriate
entities within the Executive Office of the President, such as CEQ and
the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with
relevant federal agencies, state and local governments, and key
congressional committees of jurisdiction, develop a national strategic
plan that will guide the nation's efforts to adapt to a changing
climate. The plan should, among other things, (1) define federal
priorities related to adaptation; (2) clarify roles, responsibilities,
and working relationships among federal, state, and local governments;
(3) identify mechanisms to increase the capacity of federal, state, and
local agencies to incorporate information about current and potential
climate change impacts into government decision making; (4) address how
resources will be made available to implement the plan; and (5) build
on and integrate ongoing federal planning efforts related to
adaptation. CEQ generally agreed with the recommendation, noting that
leadership and coordination is necessary within the federal government
to ensure an effective and appropriate adaptation response and that
such coordination would help to catalyze regional, state, and local
activities.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be pleased to
respond to any questions you or other Members of the Committee may
have.
Contacts and Acknowledgments:
For questions about this statement, please contact John B. Stephenson
at (202) 512-3841 or stephensonj@gao.gov. Individuals who made key
contributions to this testimony include Steve Elstein (Assistant
Director), Charles Bausell, Keya Chateauneuf, Cindy Gilbert, Richard
Johnson, Benjamin Shouse, Jeanette Soares, Ruth Solomon, and Joseph
Thompson. Camille Adebayo, Holly Dye, Mike Jenkins, and Mark Keenan
also made important contributions.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] Major greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4);
nitrous oxide (N2O); and such synthetic gases as hydrofluorocarbons
(HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
[2] GAO, Climate Change Adaptation: Strategic Federal Planning Could
Help Government Officials Make More Informed Decisions, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-113] (Washington, D.C.: Oct.
7, 2009).
[3] For our questionnaire, 187 of 274 officials responded for a
response rate of approximately 68 percent. Not all officials responded
to every question.
[4] Secretarial Order No. 3289 (Sept. 14, 2009).
[5] Differences by level of government (federal, state, and local) that
are reported are for illustrative purposes and may not be statistically
different. We present selected examples where the difference between
federal, state, or local responses is greater than 15 percent and the
difference presents useful context for the overall results. There were
other differences by level of government that are not presented in our
report.
[6] GAO, A Call For Stewardship: Enhancing the Federal Government's
Ability to Address Key Fiscal and Other 21st Century Challenges,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-93SP] (Washington,
D.C.: Dec. 17, 2007).
[7] GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance
and Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-15] (Washington, D.C.: Oct.
21, 2005), and Managing for Results: Barriers to Interagency
Coordination, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/GGD-00-
106] (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 29, 2000).
[End of section]
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