2016 Forum Highlights

Over 500 climate change adaptation leaders from across California, joined by leaders from throughout the nation and other countries, came together for the 2^nd California Adaptation Forum held on September 7-8, 2016, in Long Beach, CA. The Forum was organized by the Local Government Commission to serve as a gathering for leaders across the state to share information, discuss local activities and needs, identify new resources, and develop a statewide network of adaptation practitioners.

The Forum featured 3 plenaries, almost 40 breakout sessions, 15 networking and art activities, and 7 pre-forum workshops and tours. Highlights from the 2016 Forum include:

The space was great and the coordination was EXCELLENT. Thank you for all that you did to put together a GREAT conference.

Pre-Forum Events

Several tours and workshops were held on Tuesday, September 6^th in conjunction with the Forum. The two tours, “The Famous Long Beach Bike Tour” and “The Exclusive Tour of the Port of Long Beach,” took participants out into Long Beach by bike and by boat to explore climate adaptation efforts undertaken by the City and the Port.

In addition to the tours, three interactive workshops engaged participants around social equity in climate adaptation, overcoming financial barriers to adaptation, and bringing research and practice closer together.

Lastly, the Aquarium of the Pacific opened up for forum attendees on Tuesday evening for early-arriving attendees to enjoy the nighttime activities of the animals, relax and network before the official kick-off of the Forum on Wednesday.

Kickoff Plenaries and Keynote

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Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and Reverend Adelia Sandoval from the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians welcomed Forum attendees before kicking off the first plenary, “Working the California Dream: Our Natural Resources in a New Era of Climate Change.” Moderator Louis Blumberg (The Nature Conservancy) and panelists Ellie Cohen (Point Blue Conservation Science), Steve Frisch (Sierra Business Council), Joseph Hostler (Yurok Tribe), and Jonathan Parfrey (Climate Resolve) shared the importance of connecting resources consumed in urban areas to their source in rural ones.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis provided a keynote address on the importance of equity and environmental justice for California’s most vulnerable communities, which was followed by the afternoon plenary, “Equitable Adaptation: We’re All in This Together.” Moderator Katie Valenzuela Garcia (Valenzuela Garcia Consulting) and panelists Veronica Garibay (Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability), Diane Takvorian (Environmental Health Coalition), and Miya Yoshitani (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) discussed the disproportionate burdens faced by California’s at-risk communities and the critical importance of bringing everyone to the table in the climate adaptation movement.

Excellent plenary, especially impressed to have majority women of color speakers on the plenary.

Every session I went to felt entirely worth the time and effort to be there. I greatly appreciated the focus on equity and diverse leadership and community-driven solutions. I also appreciated the substantive talks on moving from planning to implementation.

Sessions

The Forum program included almost 40 breakout sessions, including lightning discussions, implementation workshops, and panel presentations. Session summaries and presentations can be found here. The American Society for Adaptation Professionals (ASAP) in collaboration with CivicSpark also provided Daily Digest summaries for each day of the Forum, which can be found here.

Networking

The Forum offered ample opportunities for networking, including the reception Wednesday night, the lunch on Thursday, and various networking activities in the morning and afternoon of both days.

ASAP, the California Coastal Resilience Network, the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative Tribal Team, Breakthrough Communities, and the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation, among others, all hosted intimate meetings to share ideas, discuss current work and needs, and meet with others from similar fields, backgrounds, and interests.

Thursday’s lunch was another chance for attendees to network, either informally or at tables structured around specific topics of interest.

Equity and Climate Justice

This year’s Forum achieved ambitious goals for incorporating equity and climate justice into the program content. Aside from Supervisor Solis’ keynote and the equity plenary panel, the Forum had seven sessions within the Equity, Climate Justice and Community Leadership track and many more sessions outside that track that addressed important climate justice related issues.

Through the CAF scholarship fund, more than 40 attendees from primarily nonprofits and grassroots/community based organizations were able to participate in the Forum when they may otherwise not have been able to attend.

Special Activities

An all-day Tools Salon was held on Wednesday, where participants were able to learn and see hands-on demonstrations for new toolkits, maps, databases, and other resources available to assist with their climate adaptation work.

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This year’s Art@CAF included a creative reuse station for DIY “zines” and a live painting by local artist Katie Phillips. A Placemaking Walking Tour also took participants around Long Beach to show how various art installations served to create vibrant public spaces.

Wednesday night was game night at the Forum, including the popular Climate Adaptation Pub Trivia and Game of Floods. During Pub Trivia, teams met at the Federal Bar for food, drinks, and some friendly competition. Meanwhile, participants in the Game of Floods role played as planning commissioners to try and solve sea level rise in their communities.

We use these tools to train staff, it was great to have the opportunity to talk to all the developers.

Closing Plenary

At the close of the Forum, participants were inspired to continue on in their work, having made new connections and forged new partnerships across a myriad of fields and professions toward a more resilient future. Leaders shared successes in building resiliency in municipal, health care, and military fronts, leaving participants inspired and empowered to carry forward lessons learned from the second bi-annual California Adaptation Forum. The plenary closed with Larry Greene, Executive Director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, being awarded the Regional Adaptation Leadership Award for his outstanding leadership in climate adaptation efforts.

Closing Thoughts

The 2016 Forum was filled with an energy that could be seen not only within sessions and networking, but also through the engagement we saw on social media. Participants came out of the Forum excited by the opportunities to forge new partnerships, and implement best practices for climate adaptation in their own communities. We look forward to seeing you in 2018!