Mayor Bloomberg has formally released the report from City Panel on Climate Change - "Climate Change Adaptation in New York City: Building a Risk Management Response", which outlines the need for early and ongoing adaptation actions in New York City and identifies best practices in climate change adaptation planning.

Convened by the Mayor in 2008, the New York City Panel on Climate Change consists of leading climate and impact scientists, academics, economists, and legal, insurance, and risk management experts. The work of the panel was funded through a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

“Through PlaNYC, we are re-imagining what New York City can be – and must be – in the year 2030 if we are to maintain and improve our quality of life as our population continues to grow,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Addressing the challenges posed by climate change is central to this mission and critical to our City’s future."

“The report presents recommendations on how to develop a risk-based approach to climate change adaptation that is consistent with a flexible and dynamic science-policy connection,” said Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies/Columbia University Earth Institute and co-chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. “Planning for climate change and taking action now will help limit damages and costs in the coming decades and, in many cases, can provide near-term benefits including operational savings and job creation.”

Key recommendations in the report include:
- Adopting a risk-based approach to building climate change resilience;
- Soliciting ongoing advice from a body of experts on climate change issues;
- Monitoring climate change and impacts over time;
- Including multiple layers of government and the private sector in adaptation planning;
- Reviewing standards and codes to determine their ability to withstand changes in the City’s environmental baseline;
- Working with the insurance industry;
- Developing strategies for near- and mid-term impacts, as well as longer-term impacts; and
- Focusing on early strategies that have near-term benefits or meet multiple goals.

Among the key observations and recommendations:New York City should begin to adapt to climate change today; Warmer temperatures are extremely likely and heat waves are very likely to become more frequent, intense, and longer in duration; Brief, intense precipitation events that can cause inland flooding are likely to increase, and droughts are more likely than not to become more severe.

The report was published by the New York Academy of Sciences. Free download at http://www.nyas.org/Publications/Annals/Default.aspx
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122401764/grouphome/home.html...