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Climate change adaptation professionals from every corner of the Bay Area convened on July 11 to affirm the goal of collaboration, offer ideas for future activities, hear internationally renowned speakers discuss decision making approaches under deep uncertainty, and receive a report from organizers about how the Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network (BayCAN) can sustain the kind of long term effort needed to respond to the wide ranging impacts of climate change.
We also held a networking exercise in which attendees reported on their own activities and identified goals for the network based their experiences. The BayCAN governance and organizational structure, as recommended by an organizing committee that met for upwards of a year in advance of the launch, was presented. The goal of achieving organizational sustainability as a membership organization, as recommended by the Organizing Committee, was also presented.
Our keynote speakers were internationally renowned experts Rob Lempert of RAND Corporation in Santa Monica and Marjolijn Haasnoot and Kathryn Roscoe of the Dutch research institute Deltares, based in Delft, The Netherlands. Lempert provided an overview of the growing awareness that specialized techniques to decision making under deep uncertainty are often needed. Haasnoot and Roscoe provided an overview of one of these techniques gaining increased traction in the adaptation community globally, called “adaptation pathways,” and some case studies of its use.
BayCAN Organizing Committee
Sarah Church Alameda County
Jack Liebster/Chris Choo Marin County
Michael Barber/Hilary Papendick/Jasneet Sharma San Mateo County
Liam Garland City of Alameda
Billi Romain/Katie Van Dyke City of Berkeley
David Behar City and County of San Francisco
Warner Chabot SF Estuary Institute
Alex Leumer The Nature Conservancy
Yoon Kim Four Twenty Seven
Facilitators: Bruce Riordan, Climate Readiness Institute; Kif Scheuer, Julia Kim and Bree Swenson, Local Government Commission
Advisors: Jonathan Parfrey, Climate Resolve/ARCCA Chair; Michael McCormick, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Additional links:
BayCAN Business and Organizing Presentation
BayCAN Launch Meeting Agenda
Deltares Slides