Outreach and Education/Resources

We have consistently found a significant demand among local officials, planners, resource managers and community leaders for basic and practical information on adapting to climate change. Helping Local Energy Committees and community leaders understand how climate change will directly impact them is essential, as well as assisting them in both incorporating measures into their existing mitigation plans and communicating to taxpayers the value and benefit of such planning. This is especially true in communities of fewer than 30,000 residents, where there are sparse staff and resources to deal with adaptation issues.

With that need in mind, we are working to expand CA-CP's online Community Toolkit to incorporate material on adaptation, and in 2012 will publish and disseminate a Northeast Handbook on Adaptation for local communities, municipalities and planning commissions.

In the meantime, we are pleased to offer the following resources:

• The New Hampshire Climate Preparedness Data Directory was designed to guide planners in identifying and securing the information needed to undertake community vulnerability assessments.
• "The NOAA Roadmap Tool in Context: Climate Preparedness in Coastal New Hampshire" is an analysis of the NOAA Roadmap climate vulnerability assessment tool and how it might be used by communities. It can be browsed online via a table of contents or downloaded as a printable PDF.