A new online portal launched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers information for residents of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest on increasing resilience to climate change.
The Adaptation Resource Center, or ARC-X, provides information on particular issues of concern, including air quality, water management, waste management and emergency response, public health and adaptation planning.
Check it out at https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/tailor-your-climate-adaptation-search.
Climate change impacts run the gamut from changes in the timing of streamflow that could reduce water supplies for competing demands to sea level rise. Erosion, inundation, risk to infrastructure and increasing ocean acidity pose major threats, the EPA noted. Increasing wildfire, insect outbreaks and tree diseases are already causing widespread tree die-off. More information in climate impacts in the Northwest is at http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/northwest.
Statistics compiled by the federal Office of Management and Budget show that the government has incurred over $357 billion in direct costs due to extreme weather and fire along over the past decade. Climate change is also expected to pose significant financial and infrastructure challenges to communities in coming decades.
ARC-X was designed by the EPA to help local governments address these challenges. To learn how Northwest communities are adapting log on to https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-07/documents/northwest_fact_sheet.pdf.
ARC-X also may be used to guide users through all steps of an adaptation process, providing information on implications of climate change for particular regions and issues of concern, and adaptation strategies that can be implemented to address risks posed by climate change.
