The Adaptation Subcommittee of the Governor’s Steering Committee on Climate Change has four active workgroups assessing the impacts of climate change on Connecticut and developing recommendations for changes to programs and laws that would enable state and local government to adapt to such impacts. View the final climate impacts report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Connecticut Agriculture, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Public Health, 2010.  A draft report on recommendations to address these impacts will be available in summer 2010.

Natural Resources and Ecological Habitats Workgroup

Infrastructure Workgroup

Agriculture Workgroup

Public Health Workgroup

Natural Resources and Ecological Habitats Workgroup

Co-chairs Bill Hyatt (CT Department of Environmental Protection) and Adam Whelchel (The Nature Conservancy)

Infrastructure Workgroup

Co-chairs Paul Stacey (CT Department of Environmental Protection) and Denise Savageau (Town of Greenwich)

• July 13, 2009 meeting – Water subgroup notes, Land subgroup notes
• May 13, 2009 – Meeting Agenda

Agriculture Workgroup

Co-chairs Commissioner Prelli (CT Department of Agriculture) and Steve Reviczky (CT Farm Bureau)

• 2009 Agriculture Workgroup Meeting Minutes (minutes for all 2009 meetings)
• Agriculture Climate Change Risk Assessment Workshop Materials (August 24, 2009, University of Connecticut):
  • Agenda
  • Co-chair powerpoint presentation
  • Agriculture Planning Areas for Workshop
  • ClimateAndFarming.org: Climate Change and Northeast Agriculture – Great fact sheets and presentations
  • Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment (NECIA) – We are using the NECIA projections in our process
    • Full Report: Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast: Science, Impacts, and Solutions, released July 11, 2007 – Chapter on Agriculture starts on page 67
    • Executive Summary
    • Connecticut Impacts Fact Sheet
  • New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) Report on Climate Risk, released February 17, 2009 – We are using the NPCC projections in our process)
  • DRAFT Outline: Connecticut’s Agricultural Impacts from Changing Climate
  • DRAFT Connecticut Agriculture SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
  • Draft Major Categories of Adaptation Response

Public Health Workgroup

Co-chairs Pamela Kilbey-Fox (CT Department of Public Health) and Dr. Dennis McBride (City of Milford)