As the United Nations Sounds a Warning Bell: CEC Releases First-Ever Action Plan for Climate Resilience on California’s Central Coast
Scientists Agree – Climate Hazards are Compounding
Extreme heat, extended droughts, catastrophic fires and floods, and rising seas are disrupting every corner of the globe. The latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues a dire warning about the escalating toll of climate change, and stresses adaptation as a key role in reducing risks and vulnerability from these climate hazards.
Bold and transformative actions are immediately required if we are going to reverse and repair the damage caused by climate change to Earth’s life support systems and avert the worst-case scenarios. These actions must work to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of human communities and the natural world from the changes already underway in order to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.
CEC has a Climate Resilience Action Plan
After spending much of the last year gathering input from CEC’s Climate Resilience Roundtables and other community engagement efforts related to climate planning and equity, I am encouraged by the release of CEC’s new action plan: Achieving Climate Resilience on the California Central Coast. This unprecedented plan addresses the most pressing climate threats to our region – offering solutions that are needed now and can be immediately activated to build resilience across our community.
We Listened to our Community
The plan outlines five key priorities: increasing our resilience to wildfire, protecting public health from heat and wildfire smoke, supporting local agriculture and food systems, elevating climate justice and equity, and building capacity and collaboration. These five priorities reflect what we heard from the community are critical factors for building resilience and align with state and local climate adaptation and funding priorities.
Together, We Can Learn From Indigenous Cultures and Help Protect Front-Line Workers
One key strategy outlined in the plan is centered on the cultural burning practices used by local Chumash communities. Indigenous people regularly used low-intensity fire to promote the regeneration of native plants important for food and fiber. The practice also provides ecological and cultural benefits, while also adding different perspectives and voices to the climate planning process. Indigenous cultural burning is being revitalized in different ecosystems around California to effectively reduce catastrophic fire risk. An effort being led by the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office is currently underway to incorporate these practices into local fire and land management protocols.
Another critical piece of building community resilience is protecting outdoor workers and other vulnerable populations from unhealthy wildfire smoke even from distant fires. CEC’s action plan highlights the need for more communities to invest in multilingual air quality warning systems that alert workers when air quality becomes too dangerous without personal protection equipment. During the 2017 Thomas Fire, agricultural workers continued to labor in the fields for weeks as heavy smoke filled the air. Local social justice organization volunteers distributed over 15,000 N95 masks to the fieldworkers and elevated the need for better worker protections and multilingual warnings. The plan highlights the need to expand this program.
Establishing Community-Based Solutions: Climate Resilience Centers
Other resilience actions highlighted include establishing neighborhood climate resilience centers to support residents before, during, and after disasters, and creating equity action plans and training opportunities for underserved communities living in high fire risk areas. The plan also emphasizes the need for culturally appropriate, on-the-ground outreach for non-English speakers to ensure language access and true integration of community needs when creating emergency plans. Inclusive and equitable planning is essential to building resilience.
This Is Not Just A Call To Action
Achieving Climate Resilience on the California Central Coast is not just a call to action, it is a snapshot of priorities and activities already underway or planned in the near term. Some of these actions are being led by CEC and some by other community partners–from grassroots climate justice organizations to local government partners. We’ve elevated solutions that are community-led, intersectional with a broad range of community needs, and ready to activate with momentum behind them. Common to all these projects is their collaborative nature and capacity-building elements.
Projects are Already Underway And Collaboration is Key
As our region becomes increasingly vulnerable to devastating wildfires due to extreme drought and heat conditions exacerbated by climate change, we must work collaboratively to be most effective. There are recurring challenges that need attention–who’s getting left out, who is having more difficulty recovering, what community wisdom or knowledge can be brought to bear? Achieving resilience requires every voice, and many partners, leading the charge.
Our sincere hope is that this plan moves our region to action in this moment when we are collectively experiencing the pain and loss from climate change and disasters. According to the IPCC report, humanity’s window for a livable future is rapidly closing. We must support each other as we build just and equitable community resilience that provides a wider social safety net so that we all adapt and are better prepared for the next climate threat.
Sharyn Main is the Climate Resilience Program Director at CEC and has more than 35 years of experience in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. Sharyn returned to CEC in 2020 to continue working on critical issues related to climate change and community resilience. You can reach her at smain@cecmail.org.