Minimizing Impacts

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By maximizing resilience and adapting to climate change impacts now, we are better prepared for extreme and unexpected events.

Action Areas to Maximize Resilience to Climate Change Impacts

Delaware’s Climate Action Plan outlines seven key action areas for maximizing resilience in the state. Those areas include:

Update or create state regulations that address protection and conservation of vulnerable and impacted resources.
Support for communities and stakeholders in the form of trainings, resources and technical assistance.
Management plans for natural resources, emergency response, state facilities and agency equipment.
Facility design and operation that accounts for future climate conditions.
Research and monitoring that studies the impacts of climate change and methods of adapting.
Outreach and education on climate change impacts and adaptation.
Agency support that provides the resources to implement resilience actions.

These areas build on more than a decade of state programs and policies aimed at maximizing resilience.

Past and Present Actions

Sea Level Rise Planning

A 5-year effort completed in 2014 that resulted in a vulnerability assessment, recommendations for adaptation and planning scenarios for the state.

Delaware Climate Change Impact Assessment

A 2014 report that provided an overview of climate change impacts in Delaware, along with projections for heat and precipitation to the year 2100.

Climate Framework for Delaware

A 2014 report that outlines climate change adaptation actions that state agencies identified for themselves to complete.

Climate Action in Delaware, 2016 Progress Report

An update on state agencies’ actions outlined in the Climate Framework for Delaware.

Coastal Inundation Maps

The Delaware Goelogical Survey, in cooperation with DNREC’s Coastal Programs, developed a series of coastal inundation maps corresponding with water surfaces from the mean higher-high water (MHHW) level to 7 feet above MHHW, in 1-foot increments.

Avoiding and Minimizing Risk of Flood Damage to State Assets

A 2016 guidebook which provides state agencies with step-by-step instructions for considering flood risk when selecting sites and designing projects for new state assets.

Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Planning Report

A 2017 report resulting from a pilot project assessing flood risk and energy efficiency opportunities for three state-owned facilities. The goal of the project was to proactively address the possible consequences of climate change to these facilities to ensure the provision of reliable and uninterrupted services to Delaware residents.

Delaware Climate Ready Workforce Pilot Project

In 2017, DNREC oversaw the creation of the project, which examined the health and safety risks faced by state employees who work outdoors or in environments that are vulnerable to extreme weather. The report summarizes findings and recommendations regarding the climate resilience of worker health and safety policies for five state agencies.

Green Infrastructure Primer

A 2016 guidebook to encourage nature-based solutions to erosion, flooding and air and water pollution. The guidebook provides an introduction to green infrastructure projects and their benefits, as well as information on how to select, build and maintain the projects.