State Launches New Climate Adaptation Portal

A new state website under the Department of Land and Natural Resources has launched.

The Hawai’i Climate Adaptation Portal, or Poli Na Mea a Pau, which translates to “all things are related,” will provide the public with information on climate change and its impacts not only to Hawai’i, but to other coastal states and locations worldwide.

Information from the Interagency Climate Adaptation Committee will also be provided on the website.

“The impacts of climate change are far reaching and will have dramatic effects on Hawai’i’s economy, health, environment and way of life,” said Sam Lemmo, the administrator of the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands and co-chair of the ICAC. “These impacts are all related and it’s important that we consider them all as we prepare adaptation strategies.”

In 2014, Act 83, the Hawai’i Climate Adaptation Initiative was passed by the Hawai’i State Legislature. The Act led to the establishment of the ICAC, administered by DLNR and co-chaired by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Lemmon was designated by BLNR Chair Suzanne Case to co-chair the ICAC, along with the director of the Hawai’i Office of Planning. The committee includes representatives from every county in the state, in addition to state agencies.

ICAC committee members have been tasked with the development of a statewide Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report that will be completed by the end of 2017.

Two meetings have been held by the ICAC, with a third scheduled for early 2016.

In addition to the ICAC, DLNR, and OP, the University of Hawai’i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and the University of Hawai’i Sea Grant College Program is in the process of planning a sea level rise vulnerability and adaptation workshop for February 2016.

The Hawai’i Climate Change Adaptation Portal presents a top-story rotator, which features the latest climate change news from around the country and the world.  Other resources found on the website are climate science in formation, adaptation, and mitigation, Hawai’i initiatives, key documents, events, and the ICAC Handbook.

“As we continue work toward the development of the SLR Report over the next two years, the website will be continuously updated with the latest information and updates on the ICAC’s work.  We encourage everyone in Hawai’i to use the resources on the site, as climate change and especially sea level rise will impact us all in multiple ways in the coming years and decades,” Lemmo said.