Page 7 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

Foreword GIS Users Focus Climate Action Where it Matters Most We all need to make changes individually and collectively to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. These changes require lifestyle updates and rethinking how we manage our world if we're going to continue to thrive on our planet. Thankfully, momentum is growing for new approaches—backed by enormous government funding—and individuals and organizations are waking up to the threats and the economic opportunities this transformation holds. Bill McKibben, the noted climate activist, recently related a new era for the environmental movement that focuses more on proactively building a sustainable world and less on merely preventing harmful acts. He sees the need to reduce the time to approve new projects because we must build renewable energy and construct resilience and mitigation measures quickly and at scale. This era of building has been set in motion by hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding in a series of climate action bills. And in California, my home state, the state legislature has pledged added billions to combat impacts that are accelerating. At this moment, federal, state, and local governments are using geographic information system (GIS) technology to plan and design projects to use these funds. Leading the effort has been the Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) portal, which cities, counties, states, and tribes are using to make better decisions about where and how to act. Central to the portal is the CMRA Assessment Tool that anyone can use to explore current and projected climate conditions across the US. Conservation practices also play a key role with climate, and the State of California and the Biden administration have made pledges to conserve, connect, and restore 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030. The CA Nature map-based sites reveal the protected areas in the state and who has access. A similar national effort is now underway with the America the Beautiful initiative to help communities advance conservation and restoration efforts in a meaningful way. These initiatives address the climate-related crisis of biodiversity loss, and the accelerating sixth mass extinction. I'm grateful for the White House's leadership, alongside California and other states, to show how GIS and open data portals focus attention where it matters most. Everyone plays a role in this transformation, but increasingly, GIS users and the leaders who wield geospatial technology are in the driver's seat. They show how the geographic approach reveals where communities are most vulnerable, infrastructure needs hardening, and ecosystems need safeguarding. With the historic investment to overhaul US infrastructure underway, we must 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. And we must shift to nature-based solutions to preserve wildlife and ecosystems from the harms of accelerating global warming. To do so, we need to understand before we act. As the effects of climate change intensify, it is more important than ever for leaders to take a geographic approach to this fundamentally global issue. Mapping and analytics are crucial for understanding the risks that these threats pose, and GIS provides the means to focus on the actions that every community must take. Within this book are stories that align with the hazards the CMRA portal addresses. You'll learn how communities use GIS to act against extreme heat, drought, wildfire, and inland and coastal flooding, and biodiversity loss. Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action continues a long pattern of acknowledging our users by showcasing their work in books on mapping. These stories illustrate how geography and geographic information are guiding decisions to take climate action, which is so important now because the window to adapt is rapidly closing. We're continuously amazed by the depth of GIS activity and how its use measurably improves organizations and communities. The work and ideas of GIS professionals are helping to advance science, design with nature in mind, make communities more livable and efficient, improve public safety, secure national defense, protect natural spaces, ensure human health, and mitigate social conflicts. Each of these pursuits pales though in the face of the climate crisis. Now is the time to act to strengthen our world and draw on geographic knowledge so we can move decisively with great intensity. At EsriTM, we're dedicated to supporting the widespread transformation that's needed to avoid climate disasters and create the future we all want to see. Warm regards, Jack Dangermond 6