Adapt VA logo

CCRFR, the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), the Virginia Coastal Policy Center (VCPC), the Thomas Jefferson Public Policy Program at William & Mary and Wetlands Watch recently launched the Adapt Virginia portal. The portal provides a one-stop shop of evidence-based planning tools and resources to respond to changing climate conditions.

Adapt Virginia is designed to facilitate more robust decision-making about climate change adaptation. Portal users across the Commonwealth of Virginia now have easy access to integrated information based on the best available science, legal guidance, and planning strategies to address both short- and long-term climate change issues like sea-level rise and recurrent flooding. Adapt Virginia’s tools, information, and analyses are presented in a variety of ways to effectively communicate complex topics. The current portal design and content is only the first step to building and maintaining a dynamic gateway for information and resources.

Adapt Virginia currently provides forecasts, adaptation case studies, risk assessment and guidance tools, maps and data, and access to comprehensive planning information. The portal’s Planning and Policy section will be a much-welcomed repository of information for local planners, elected officials, and researchers as it provides detailed information on social vulnerability rankings for communities, recommendations from the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS), ready access to state and local policy, and information on existing legislation.

New information and developer toolsets are planned for the site, as project partners receives feedback from local government officials and citizen users. There are plans for continued and expanded collaboration to add client-driven products, new data, new topic areas, and additional technical analyses. Future subject areas to be added and expanded include storms, precipitation and temperature, plus analyses on how these events affect local economies, natural resources, and opportunities to integrate multiple benefits into adaptation strategies.

Adapt Virginia’s tools are significant, as they represent a new step forward, since prior to now, Virginia did not have a comprehensive resource portal for climate change information.
Citations for Source Content

Center for Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science. (2017) Adapt Virginia: A New Web Portal about Climate Change Adaptations. Rivers & Coast, Summer 2017, Volume 12. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary. http://publish.wm.edu/reports/700

Contact
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux