Measuring Progress on Climate Adaptation in the Columbia Basin

Extreme weather events are happening with greater frequency and many communities are recognizing the need to prepare for a more variable and less predictable climate. For communities in the Columbia Basin Trust region (the Basin), projected changes to weather and climate are expected to result in a wide range of impacts to the natural environment. A new State of Climate Adaptation and Resilience in the Basin (SoCARB) indicator suite has been developed to provide communities in the Basin with data to support their climate adaptation efforts. SoCARB builds on the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute’s (RDI) existing State of the Basin indicator initiative, demonstrating how common indicators of well-being can also be used to measure climate change, impacts, adaptation and resilience. SoCARB measures progress on adaptation priorities that address critical community assets and climate risks for the Columbia Basin. It incorporates a community resilience index (CRI) to help track performance on socio-economic factors that support climate resilience. This document summarizes the SoCARB indicator suite development process and the degree to which existing indicators of well-being can provide a snapshot of the state of climate adaptation and resilience in Basin communities. The complete SoCARB report — Indicators of Climate Adaptation in the Columbia Basin — can be downloaded at cbt.org/climatechange or cbrdi.ca.

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