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Adaptation planning: what U.S. states and localities are doing

This paper focuses on adaptation planning efforts by both state and local governments. Many of these efforts are in their earliest stages. Some states are including adaptation within the scope of their state Climate Action Plans addressing GHG emissions. A few others have recognized the need for separate and comprehensive adaptation commissions to parallel their mitigation efforts. Many are simply responding to climate impacts as they occur, without necessarily attributing the impacts to climate change. Regardless of the basis for the response, states can learn a great deal from each other, and from localities where adaptation planning and implementation are already occurring. While comprehensive and proactive adaptation planning is still in its early stages, as states and localities complete their GHG mitigation plans, adaptation planning is gaining greater attention and resources.

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