One Water LA 2040 Plan

City of Los Angeles | April 30th, 2018

The purpose of the One Water LA 2040 Plan (Plan) is to increase sustainable water management for the City of Los Angeles (City). The City launched One Water LA with two p

The purpose of the One Water LA 2040 Plan (Plan) is to increase sustainable water management for the City of Los Angeles (City). The City launched One Water LA with two primary goals: 1. Develop a vision and implementation strategy to more sustainably and cost-effectively manage water. 2. Identify ways for City departments and regional agencies to integrate their water management strategies. Los Angeles Sanitation (LASAN) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) led the Plan's development, partnering with other City departments, regional agencies, academia, the business community, and other stakeholders. The Plan provides a comprehensive strategy for managing water in a more integrated, collaborative, and sustainable way through new project, program, and policy opportunities. The Implementation Strategy provides a roadmap to make the One Water LA Vision a reality. Additional water projects, programs, or policies that are the sole responsibility of one agency, including LADWP's aqueduct or groundwater remediation project, are contained in each agency's appropriate plans. This plan is divided into an Executive Summary and ten sections. Executive Summary Volume One: Summary Report Volume Two: Wastewater Facilities Plan Volume Three: Stormwater and Urban Runoff Facilities Plan Volume Four: Los Angeles River Flow Study Volume Five: Integration Opportunities Analysis Volume Six: Climate Risk and Resilience Assessment for Wastewater and Stormwater Infrastructure Volume Seven: Implementation Strategy Supporting Documents Volume Eight: Technical Support Materials Volume Nine: Stakeholder Engagement Materials, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Volume Ten: Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (in progress)

One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 8th, 2025

Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Global Change Research Program for Fiscal Year 2024

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) | April 19th, 2024

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) advances global change science and informs our national response to the climate crisis—from President Biden’s climate

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) advances global change science and informs our national response to the climate crisis—from President Biden’s climate, environmental justice, and nature priorities to decisions at all levels of government and society. Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Global Change Research Program for Fiscal Year 2024 presents highlights of USGCRP’s recent accomplishments, outlines federal investments in global change research, and sets future priorities for federal global change research as USGCRP implements its 2022-2031 Strategic Plan.

Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Global Change Research Program for Fiscal Year 2025

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) | January 3rd, 2025

This Fiscal Year 2025 edition of USGCRP’s annual report to Congress highlights advancements in science and information delivery that show how the Program is meeting nat

This Fiscal Year 2025 edition of USGCRP’s annual report to Congress highlights advancements in science and information delivery that show how the Program is meeting national needs. The Five-Year Progress section provides a longer-term look at USGCRP work on three selected topics: understanding the changing water cycle; responding to needs for climate information; and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility across global change research efforts. We also highlight more recent activities in the 2023 Accomplishments section and look ahead to upcoming work in the Current and Future Priorities section.

Overcoming Organizational Barriers to Implementing Local Government Adaptation Strategies

California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) | August 27th, 2018

Local governments across California have taken immense strides to combat climate change. However, many local governments still face organizational barriers to comprehensi

Local governments across California have taken immense strides to combat climate change. However, many local governments still face organizational barriers to comprehensively implement climate change adaptation measures. Organizational barriers can delay and even prevent local governments from moving from adaptation planning to implementation due to the wide-reaching scope of climate change impacts. This study aims to further the understanding of the diversity of organizational barriers that California local governments experience and to develop a resource to assist local governments in their efforts to overcome these barriers to more effectively implement climate change adaptation strategies.  The research team conducted a broad literature review, an online survey, multiple regional stakeholder workshops, and focus groups to deepen the understanding of organizational barriers to adaptation in California local governments. These research inputs produced findings on organizational barriers experienced by California local government adaptation practitioners, and enabled the development and testing of the Adaptation Capability Advancement Toolkit. The Toolkit aims to help local governments rapidly assess their current capabilities to overcome organizational barriers and identify key actions and resources for increasing their organizational capability for undertaking climate change adaptation. The Toolkit is based on the Capability Maturity Model process improvement framework, and focuses on developing capabilities within four key process areas which were identified as common sources of organizational barriers: leadership and organizational culture, staffing and technical capacity, stakeholder engagement and partnerships, and operations and institutional processes. The Toolkit was tested by California local government adaptation practitioners in order to ground-truth recommendations and assess the utility of suggested actions and resources. Participants indicated that they view the resource as valuable, particularly if continuously supported. 

Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | November 11th, 2024

Paying it Forward: The Path Toward Climate-Safe Infrastructure in California

Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group | September 1st, 2018

Perceptions and responses to climate policy risks among California farmers

Global Environmental Change (Elsevier) | December 3rd, 2013

This paper considers how farmers perceive and respond to climate change policy risks, and suggests that understanding these risk responses is as important as understandin

This paper considers how farmers perceive and respond to climate change policy risks, and suggests that understanding these risk responses is as important as understanding responses to biophysical climate change impacts. Based on a survey of 162 farmers in California, we test three hypotheses regarding climate policy risk: (1) that perceived climate change risks will have a direct impact on farmer's responses to climate policy risks, (2) that previous climate change experiences will influence farmer's climate change perceptions and climate policy risk responses, and (3) that past experiences with environmental policies will more strongly affect a farmer's climate change beliefs, risks, and climate policy risk responses. Using a structural equation model we find support for all three hypotheses and furthermore show that farmers’ negative past policy experiences do not make them less likely to respond to climate policy risks through participation in a government incentive program. We discuss how future research and climate policies can be structured to garner greater agricultural participation. This work highlights that understanding climate policy risk responses and other social, economic and policy perspectives is a vital component of understanding climate change beliefs, risks and behaviors and should be more thoroughly considered in future work.

Persistent spatial structuring of coastal ocean acidification in the California Current System

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 31st, 2017

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate future impacts. Through a novel coastal OA observing network, we have uncovered a remarkably persistent spatial mosaic in the penetration of acidified waters into ecologically-important nearshore habitats across 1,000 km of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In the most severe exposure hotspots, suboptimal conditions for calcifying organisms encompassed up to 56% of the summer season, and were accompanied by some of the lowest and most variable pH environments known for the surface ocean. Persistent refuge areas were also found, highlighting new opportunities for local adaptation to address the global challenge of OA in productive coastal systems.

Persistent spatial structuring of coastal ocean acidification in the California Current System

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 31st, 2017

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA e

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early-impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate future impacts. Through a novel coastal OA observing network, we have uncovered a remarkably persistent spatial mosaic in the penetration of acidified waters into ecologically-important nearshore habitats across 1,000 km of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In the most severe exposure hotspots, suboptimal conditions for calcifying organisms encompassed up to 56% of the summer season, and were accompanied by some of the lowest and most variable pH environments known for the surface ocean. Persistent refuge areas were also found, highlighting new opportunities for local adaptation to address the global challenge of OA in productive coastal systems.