CAF14-200

Plenary – Promising Responses: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Speakers: Salud Carbajal, Supervisor, County of Santa Barbara; Rick Cole, Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation, City of Los Angeles; Nicola Hedge, Director of Climate Initiative, San Diego Foundation and Vice Chair of the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation; Alice Hill, Senior Advisor for Preparedness and Resilience to the President’s Assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, White House National Security Council; John Laird, Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency

California’s position as a global leader on climate change is built on the actions of proactive policymakers and agents of change at all levels of government. Future solutions to increase resiliency and achieve the deeper emission reductions needed to meet our 2050 climate goals will come from integrated actions that cross sector and jurisdictional boundaries. This panel features leaders taking action now and forging new partnerships to achieve comprehensive solutions to this era’s most challenging problem. Each of these leaders shares their own stories of the benefits of collective action to achieve maximum results from resiliency efforts.

MP3

$10.00

$10.00

CAF14-213

The Role of California Rangelands I Adapting to Climate Change

Speakers: Pelayo Alvarez, Conservation Program Director, Defenders of Wildlife/California Rangeland Conservation Coalition; Wendell Gilgert, Rangeland Watershed Program Director, Point Blue Conservation Science; Wendy Millet, Education Foundation Director, TomKat Ranch; Leslie Roche, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis; MODERATOR: Geoff Geupel, Emerging Programs and Partnerships Group Director, Point Blue Conservation Science

California rangelands cover approximately 40% of the state and provide multiple ecosystem services including food, forage, clean water, climate regulation and healthy wildlife populations. Rangeland science, policy and management have historically focused on optimizing livestock and forage production; however, society is placing growing importance on conservation goals. Balancing both agricultural production and conservation goals on these lands will be a central challenge in the face of climate change and uncertain economic and social conditions. Climate-change models project warming temperatures, more drought, more extreme rainfall with less snow accumulation, extreme changes in hydrographs and drier soils, all of which will impact the provision of ecosystem services from rangelands. In this session, we present recent efforts to increase the ecosystem services provided by California’s rangelands with an emphasis on climate change adaptation and some of the most urgent obstacles and win-win solutions for collaborative adaptive management.

MP3

$10.00

$10.00

CAF14-128

Forest & Flood Management as an Adaptation Strategy: Lessons from Local Officials

Speakers: Demetra McBride, Director, Santa Clara County’s Office of Sustainability; Jim Read, Executive Director, Public Services, El Paso County, CO; Lucinda Andreani, Deputy Director, Public Works, Coconino County, AZ; MODERATOR: Rob Pressly, Program Manager, Green Government Initiative, National Association of Counties

Recent years have seen increased frequency and severity of wildfires, exacerbated by drought conditions and often coupled with flooding and mudslides. Loss of forest land and construction on steep slopes due to increased development pressures further aggravates the risks of short-term disasters and impacts local economies that are dependent upon working landscape, while reducing the availability of carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. This session explores how some communities are developing strategies to address forest and flood management within climate change adaptation strategies, and helps participants take the next steps to further the ability of local leaders to address forest and flood management.

MP3

$10.00

$10.00

CAF14-216

Philanthropy as an Essential Partner in Tackling Climate Adaptation

Speakers: Francesca Vietor, Program Director, Environment, Public Policy and Civic Engagement, The San Francisco Foundation; Nicola Hedge, Director, Climate Initiative, The San Diego Foundation; John Nordgren, Senior Program Officer, Kresge Foundation; Nadine Peterson, Deputy Executive Officer, California State Coastal Conservancy; MODERATOR: Allison Brooks, Director, Bay Area Joint Policy Committee

Learn how foundations are working with partners to foster innovation, identify best practices and help bring promising interventions to the appropriate scale of impact, and convening diverse stakeholders to address gaps in knowledge and action, particularly as they relate to disadvantaged communities. The panel’s five foundation representatives will describe their respective foundation’s programmatic approach to climate adaptation, how they define the problem, who they invest in and work with, how they measure success, the timeline they are working under, and where they see the biggest leverage points to bring efforts to the needed scale.

MP3

$10.00

$10.00

Subtotal

$40.00