Santa Cruz preparing for sea level rise

The city has authorized a program to study ways to buffer the river levee against ocean intrusion and counter coastal erosion, both likely problems associated with climate change.  The city is also re-mapping flood zones to reflect the encroaching coastline under sea level rise projections.  A planned desalination plant would protect the city against drought and the city is researching appropriate responses to coastal erosion.

The downtown river levees are built for a 100-year flood levee, and the city’s water supply is not dependant on mountain snow pack, an essential part of California’s water supply that some projections suggest will drop 30 to 70 percent by the end of the century.

Most of Santa Cruz will be submerged if Antarctica and Greenland’s ice sheets calve or melt entirely, a scenario that climate scientists say will play out in anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years if current trends continue.

More and more cities are facing the need to mitigate climate change while already adapting to the changes brought about by climate change.  ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection^® (CCP) Campaign is an innovative international campaign that helps local government and their communities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the environment.   And now, the CCP Campaign is launching the Adaptation Initiative, building capacity for climate change impacts at the local level.  For more information, please visit www.iclei.org/ccp.

Santa Cruz is one of 161 local governments in the U.S.A. that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.  For more information on ICLEI and its activities in the U.S.A., please visit www.iclei.org/usa.

Source:  “Santa Cruz ahead of curve in sea-level rise preparations”, The Sentinel, 2 April 2007.