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New Climate Preparedness and Resilience Community of Practice Established

Published June 19, 2014
Project Engineer Young Kim (right) discusses an item with a contractor May 7, 2014 during sand placement in Keansburg, New Jersey, an area severely eroded by Hurricane Sandy. The initiative is part of a larger effort by the New York District placing nearly one million cubic yards of sand onto three miles of shoreline along Raritan Bay to repair and restore the previously-engineered beach and dune there impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Project Engineer Young Kim (right) discusses an item with a contractor May 7, 2014 during sand placement in Keansburg, New Jersey, an area severely eroded by Hurricane Sandy. The initiative is part of a larger effort by the New York District placing nearly one million cubic yards of sand onto three miles of shoreline along Raritan Bay to repair and restore the previously-engineered beach and dune there impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers USACE has established a new Climate Preparedness and Resiliency Community of Practice (CPR CoP) in the Engineering and Construction CoP.

“Any USACE personnel who regularly interact to learn, solve problems, build skills and competencies, or develop best practices around global and climate change issues should consider joining,” said the Institute for Water Resources scientist and program manager Kathleen White, PhD, PE, and the Climate Preparedness and Resilience CoP’s Lead. “Topics include climate preparedness and resilience, impacts, risks, vulnerabilities, adaptation, and integrating adaptation and mitigation.”

The purpose of the new Climate Preparedness and Resiliency CoP is to increase the individual and organizational abilities and technical competence within USACE to plan, design, engineer and execute work that enhances the climate preparedness and resilience of its partners and stakeholders.
The community of practice also enhances preparedness and resilience in accordance with Executive Order (EO) 13653 (“Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change”) and the President’s 2013 Climate Action Plan.

The CPR CoP areas of expertise include:
• Climate science translation for engineering applications
• Climate preparedness and resilience research and development
• Coastal climate impacts and adaptation
• Climate hydrology impacts and adaptation
• Climate mitigation integrated with adaptation
• Climate preparedness and resilience business approaches
• Climate preparedness and resilience communications

The CPR CoP can be reached through the USACE Technical Excellence Network at: https://ten.usace.army.mil/TechExNet.aspx?p=s&a=CoPs;142. Its subject matter expertise database is currently under development. UASCE climate change preparedness and resilience information can be reached through http://www.corpsclimate.us.

More about Climate Preparedness and Resilience
EO 13653 Section 8 definitions related to climate preparedness and resilience include:

• Preparedness means actions taken to plan, organize, equip, train, and exercise to build, apply, and sustain the capabilities necessary to prevent, protect against, ameliorate the effects of, respond to, and recover from climate change related damages to life, health, property, livelihoods, ecosystems, and national security;
• Adaptation means adjustment in natural or human systems in anticipation of or response to a changing
environment in a way that effectively uses beneficial opportunities or reduces negative effects; and
• Resilience means the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions.

Learn More
For more information, visit  www.iwr.usace.army.mil.