Abstract
Equity and inclusion considerations are important prerequisites of effective climate adaptation planning, especially at a local scale. This study examines how climate adaptation plans of small American cities and counties consider equity in their climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning goals and how consideration of equity in existing adaptation plans relates to the inclusion of diverse categories of stakeholders. Data analysis is based on the content of 23 local climate adaptation plans of small urban and rural municipalities across the United States with populations of less than 300 thousand people. Correlations between conceptualization of vulnerability dimensions, inclusion of 9 categories of stakeholders, and consideration of equity in 12 different domains of climate adaptation planning are examined. The study concludes that municipalities that engage more diverse groups of stakeholders and examine the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of their populations appear to be more attentive to social equity and more likely to offer specific climate adaptation measures focusing on vulnerable groups.
Highlights
Climate change adaptation planning seeks to adjust human-environmental systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli to minimize their harms or exploit beneficial opportunities [1]
We examine nine (9) categories of stakeholders involved in the design of local climate adaptation plans: residents and neighborhood associations, environmental and climate advocacy groups, social justice advocacy groups, elected members of local governments, planning departments and public utilities staff, representatives of state or federal agencies, academics, local businesses, and external environmental engineering firms hired by cities to assist with vulnerability assessment and plan writing
Climate adaptation planning is still an emerging planning field, and its importance is likely to increase in future years as our society is experiencing an increasing number of effects of climate change
Summary
Climate change adaptation planning seeks to adjust human-environmental systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli to minimize their harms or exploit beneficial opportunities [1]. Due to the absence of uniform planning guidelines and vast variety of priorities, the majority of climate adaptation plans have no clearly defined social and environmental equity standards. As a consequence, it is unclear whether the existing plans reflect the needs of all residents or only more influential groups, possibly not reducing or even disproportionally increasing the vulnerability of others [6]. It is unclear whether the existing plans reflect the needs of all residents or only more influential groups, possibly not reducing or even disproportionally increasing the vulnerability of others [6] It is not known whether community members and organizations representing the interests of marginalized groups have anything to contribute to the public understanding of human vulnerability and appropriate adaptation planning targets and strategies [7]
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