Page 11 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

White House Portal Helps Communities Assess Exposure to Climate Hazards Finding common ground on our most complex issues—including how to collectively act on our changing climate to safeguard our common home—starts with a foundation of shared knowledge, expertise, and information. As the US advances on its climate action goals with the passage of a massive legislative package, the White House is debuting a new tool—developed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Department of the Interior, and the US Global Change Research Program—that offers scientific data to help us better understand, at a local level, what's happening with our changing climate. Esri is proud to collaborate with the Biden administration on the new Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, or CMRA, Portal, which can help cities, counties, states, and tribes make better decisions about where and how they need to act. Central to the portal, colloquially being called "camera" by its creators, is the CMRA Assessment Tool to assess current and projected climate conditions. With the historic investment to overhaul infrastructure in the United States under way, we urgently need to make sure the roads, bridges, railroads, power grids, water systems, transit routes, airports, and ports that we build and renovate achieve climate resilience for all people in all communities. To do so, we need to understand before we act. Much of this information isn't new. The new portal builds on years of scientific knowledge and investments in geospatial platforms, but in the past, these resources have been difficult to find and understand, particularly since they were not integrated to provide a more complete picture. That's where GIS technology plays a key role— integrating information to help us understand our complex problems in the crucial context of location. This portal brings the data together, for everyone to see, into one place—on maps, in charts, and in reports. Environmental data, as well as the social and economic factors that shape how well we can bounce back from climate-related hazards, can be explored by anyone, including city planners, resilience officers, transportation planners, tribal leaders, and residents. 10 White House Portal