Browsing by Subject "climate adaptation"
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Item Climate Change Adaptation: A Resilient Communities Project–GreenStep Cities Guide(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota., 2016) Butler, Megan (editor)The impacts of climate change are already being seen throughout Minnesota in the form of warmer average annual temperatures, higher precipitation rates, and stronger storm events. Minnesota has the ability to adapt to the threats posed by climate change and communities throughout the state are already working to address climate change locally by adopting local climate change resilience strategies. One of the first steps in climate change adaptation is addressing the issue of climate change with local residents. This toolkit is designed to help Minnesota communities develop climate change education programs by assessing the current level of resident knowledge, attitudes, and engagement related to climate change issues. The toolkit features a survey that can be used to assess city residents’ knowledge of and attitudes toward climate change, as well as gather information on extreme weather event vulnerability. The toolkit includes additional resources to help guide survey implementation, information on collaborating with local community groups to conduct surveys or climate change education programs, as well as examples of climate change preparedness plans that have been developed by cities in Minnesota. This document has been prepared by the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (RCP) for the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program. This resource was adapted from student work completed in partnership with RCP and the City of Rosemount during the 2014–2015 academic year. Although the original report was developed for a specific community, students’ findings and recommendations have been synthesized and generalized, and additional research has been conducted where necessary, to produce a resource that is relevant to communities throughout Minnesota. The original student report can be found at https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/180454.Item Climate projection data for Minnesota: Opportunities of climate data to accelerate climate resilience efforts across the State(2021) Clark, Suzanna; Roop, Heidi; Meek, Jeffrey; Stephens, Sharon; Blumenfeld, Kenneth; Hoppe, Brenda; Millberg, Laura; Mroz-Risse, Kristin; Tomlinson, Elizabeth; Wojchik, EricIn January 2021, a survey was distributed to assess climate projection information needs among potential users in Minnesota. 218 people from the private sector, academia, NGOs, and government answered questions about the usefulness of downscaled climate projection data, possible applications, and their preference for project leadership, funding, and management. The majority of respondents indicated that temperature and precipitation data would be useful at seasonal, monthly, and annual time scales. More than any other entity, the University of Minnesota was the preferred institution to lead the project and house the data. These survey results will inform the Dynamically Downscaled Climate Projections, a two-year project recently funded by the Minnesota State Legislature.Item Consequences of plant function for species distributions, fitness, and community assembly across latitudinal and altitudinal gradients(2024-05) Rea, LucyUnderstanding which adaptations are beneficial in different climates is a question that has intrigued plant ecologists for centuries. Alexander von Humboldt is one of the first to document how plant communities change with elevation in the Ecuadorian Andes in 1824 (Humboldt, 1805). Such altitudinal or latitudinal gradients are still useful to ecologists today to address a broad swatch of ecological and evolutionary questions, including how environmental conditions shape community assembly and interspecific diversity, by learning how species function in different environments. Understanding how plants function in different environments allows us to predict the distribution and range of a species and identify the filters that lead to plant communities. With climate change ongoing, understanding of the abiotic processes that shape ecological communities and species ranges is especially critical. As the Earth’s climate warms, cooler climates are expected to shift to higher latitudes and elevations. There is evidence that species ranges are already shifting, for example much of the new growth of North American trees is further north than older members of the species, indicating a shift northward in the populations (Woodall et al., 2009). My overall research goal is to understand how plant function varies across environmental gradients and how that affects species distributions and community assembly. To this end, I have conducted field-based research on plants across latitudinal and altitudinal gradients.Item Documenting and Understanding the Link between Climate Change and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Using a Case Study in Buikwe District, Uganda(2023-05-05) Buetow, Kristyn A; Kubrom, Selam Y; Shannon-Tamrat, Sisay E; Walkenhorst, Megan EThe University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, in partnership with Regenerate Africa, collaborated on a study with two main objectives: 1. Conduct an assessment of Uganda´s capacity for integration of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the National Adaptation Plan processes 2. Document and understand the linkage and interconnectedness of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights/Family Planning and climate change. Researchers conducted 12 Key Informant Interviews and eight Focus Group Discussions with various expert stakeholders. The Focus Group Discussions were conducted within two communities of Ssi-Bukunja Sub-County, Buikwe District and shaped the case study model. The case study findings were then extrapolated to the larger Ugandan context by speaking to key informants in the Buikwe District and beyond. This report aims to provide Regenerate Africa and other key stakeholders with evidence on the link between climate change and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights/Family Planning in Uganda, and to apply this link to policy recommendations. The policy recommendations in this report are intended to be used in the comprehensive National Adaptation Plan for Uganda, which currently lacks a focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights/Family Planning. In addition, some recommendations are specific to local government, healthcare, and Civil Society Organizations. The Regenerate Africa team will disseminate this study’s findings and the findings of their larger study to policymakers and leaders of the other organizations mentioned. This report is intended to inspire more research with the inclusion of other communities throughout Uganda who have valuable insights on this topic. This project also marks the first capstone collaboration between the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Regenerate Africa, and encourages the continuation of this relationship.Item From Risk to Resilience: Exploring the potential of ecosystem-based adaptation to deliver social and ecological co-benefits(2021-05) Christianson, AnneFor those most vulnerable to climate change risks, comprehensive climate adaptation interventions that improve well-being are urgently needed. The likely failure of nations to achieve less than 1.5° warming above pre-industrial levels necessitates significant adaptation initiatives. However, these interventions often focus on costly built infrastructure rather than approaching adaptation from a social-ecological systems perspective that takes into account – and takes advantage of – the feedbacks between nature and society. Ecosystem-based adaptation uses ecosystem services to help human communities adapt to climate change, with potential co-benefits including increased well-being and reduced inequality, and increased biodiversity richness. Yet greater understanding is still needed regarding project efficacy. I examine ecosystem-based adaptation at multiple scales; exploring challenges to programming at the institutional level, and using a case study of project implementation in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda to explore potential gender equity and biodiversity conservation co-benefits. The institutional-level results indicate that ecosystem-based adaptation programming is subject to the same challenges omnipresent in the broader conservation and development fields – including siloed programming, constrained funding, and scale mismatches. In terms project co-benefits, programs often recognize the necessity of incorporating women into decision-making processes, however there is also a need to address the social and structural causes of gendered vulnerabilities on the local level in order to increase community resilience. Lastly, by using the ecosystem services framework to examine project outcomes relating to wildlife, I conclude that ecosystem-based adaptation programs have the potential to deliver conservation co-benefits, but project interventions must account for ecosystem disservices relating to wildlife. These case study results show that while ecosystem-based adaptation co-benefits are possible to achieve, they are not guaranteed. Taken together, this research underscores the need to take a social-ecological system-level approach to program implementation and evaluation, address interconnected social issues at the core of individual-level climate vulnerability, and include local needs, voices, and knowledge in ecosystem-based adaptation project interventions.Item Iterative, Inclusive Engagement in Pursuit of Climate Resilience in Ramsey County(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2023) Call, Brian; Boudlali, Jamila; Wu, Yuping; Yudelman, Beth; Thebus, David; Klingbeil, Dwight; Greenberg, Gillian; Bakken, Noelle; Mollberg, Mason; Rowe, Quinn; Stewart, Gustave; Breitheim, Laura; Flannery, Katlyn; Moorthy, Kribashini Narayana; Sharif, Fatha; Menhennet, Johnny; Bano, Azra; DeLee, GraceThis project was completed as part of a partnership between Saint Paul–Ramsey County Public Health and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). Climate change continues to impact the health, well-being, and resilience of Ramsey County residents, with greater severity in racially/ethnically diverse and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. A newly published County strategic priority states that Ramsey County is committed to leading in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, elevating environmental justice, and fighting against the disparate impacts of climate change in Black, American Indian, and other underrepresented communities across the county. Ramsey County project lead Abi Phillips worked with five teams of students in Dr. Fernando Burga's PA 5145: Civic Engagement in Public Affairs course in spring of 2023 to identify target communities for engagement, potential engagement strategies, and evaluation metrics, and offer recommendations and next step for Ramsey County public engagement around issues related to climate change and resilience. The students’ final report, which includes five poster series, is available.Item Resilient Ramsey County: Building Internal Capacity for Climate Adaptation(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2019) Dalton, Max; Guerrero-Combs, Maia; Peterson, Kai; Rank, HannahThis project was completed as part of the 2018-2019 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with Ramsey County. In 2011, Ramsey County set goals to reduce energy use and incorporate renewable energy into its operations. In its most recent Strategic Energy Plan, Ramsey County formally established goals to reduce carbon emissions across county operations by 30 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels. However, the County lacked a strategic approach to achieve these goals. Ramsey County project lead Mary T'Kach worked with a team of students in Fred Rose's PA 8081: Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Capstone Workshop to explore potential strategies and policies County departments could use to incorporate climate resilience and adaptation strategies into their programming, operations, and budgeting. The students' final report, presentation, and a handout and poster summarizing the project are available.