How do Great Lakes Cities Compare?
Patterns of climate resilience in
regional water policy
Derek Kauneckis
Associate Professor, Environmental Studies
Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
Jacqueline Kloepfer
Research Associate
Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
Water Resilient Cities Conference, 2016, Cleveland, Ohio
Introduction
• Results from a national study of local
government climate policies
• Focus on jurisdictions in the Great Lakes
watershed
• Examines who in the water sector is engaged in
climate planning, scope of effort, sources of
information and learning, and barriers
Resilience
“the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance
and reorganize while undergoing change so as to
still retain essentially the same function,
structure, identity, and feedbacks”
Source: Walker, B., Holling, C. S., Carpenter, S. R., Kinzig, A. (2004). "Resilience,
adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems". Ecology and
Society 9 (2): 5.
The importance of local
• Local jurisdictions are leading in climate
policy
• Nature of climate impacts and effective
responses are highly localized
• Compare climate planning and policy
activities in the water sector among local
jurisdictions within the Great Lakes
watershed
Local Governments and
Climate Policy
• National-level NSF-funded
study to understand local
climate policies
• Organizations identified as
playing an important role in
local climate policy were
surveyed
• Assessed how organizations
viewed the policy challenges
that climate change poses to
their activities
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Survey Methods
• Research focuses interaction with water across
sectors
• Current activities
• Sources of information and organizational learning
• Barriers and gaps
• Subset of survey focusing on Great Lakes watershed
• Surveyed: n= 704
• Respondents: n= 80
• Water managers: n= 20
Graphic
prepared
by J.byKloepfer
Graphic
prepared
J. Kloepfer
Type of organization
24
22
20
18
16
Count
14
Water Managers
12
Non-Water
10
8
6
4
2
0
Local
Government
Agency
State
Government
Agency
Special
Purpose
Government
Regional
Agency
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Primary organizational role
Public Infrastructure
Government
Administration/Internal
Oversight
Public Health
Natural Resources
Management
Water
Managers
Non-Water
Community/Economic
Development
Planning/Growth
Management
Public Education
Elected Official
Public Lands
Management
Other (please specify)
0
1
2
3
4
Count
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
What other issues are water managers associated?
Infrastructure
Energy
Recreation
Office of an Elected Official
Public Health
Cultural Resources
Vegetation/Plant Communities
Fire Control
Other
Biodiversity
Wildlife/Game
Forest/Timber
Grazing/Livestock
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Count
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Planning time frame for your organization
14
12
Water Mangers
10
Non-Water
Frequency
8
6
4
2
0
1 year
2-5 years
6-10 years
11-20 years
21-50 years
No long-term
planning/activities
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Source of information on impacts of climate change
Newspapers
21%
5%
Research by federal agencies
26%
Research by state agencies 16%
University research
In-house research
Research from consultants5%
Very Often
11%
26%
32%
Often
47%
16%
42%
21%
37%
32%
21%
16%
21%
21%
26%
11%
21%
37%
11%
11%
11%
16%
26%
16%
Occasionally
Rarely
Never
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
From who do you learning about climate policy?
Very
Often Often Occasionally
Private Consultants
11% 5%
21%
Professional
Associations
5% 5%
37%
Citizen Groups
16%
37%
Other
11%
42%
Rarely
Never
32%
32%
42%
21%
26%
11%
21%
5%
21%
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Level of concern about potential climate impacts
Decreased snowfall and seasonal water storage
Decreased recharge rates of groundwater
Decreased surface water availability
Building infrastructure needs
Changes to biodiversity
Impacts to human health
Changes to wildlife habitat
Impacts on agricultural production
Changes to the frequency of heat waves
Changes to vegetation communities
Impacts on the economy
5%
3%
11%
5%
14%
14%
24%
24%
5%
16%
16%
11%
14%
16%
5%
14%
5%
24%
19%
11%
5%
14%
8%
16%
11%
14%
14%
3%
5% 3%
14%
24%
8%
5%
5%
5%
Very Concerned
Somewhat Concerned
Increased frequency and severity of extreme storm
events
Increased frequency and severity of wildfires
8%
11%
14%
16%
Changes to flood events
5%
8%
8%
14%
24%
16%
5%
27%
30%
16%
5%
24%
8%
11%
8%
Don't know
A little concerned
8%
Not at all concerned
3%
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Source of policies that constrain your ability to act locally
Water Managers
Non-Water
Regulatory
Budgetary
State level
policies
2
4
Local level policies
7
Federal level policies
4
1
5
2
2
1
1
2
5
Miscellaneous constraints
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
One thing that would improve climate change
decisions in your organization
Funding
Awareness of impacts
and education about
climate change
Incorporating climate
science into decision
making
Leadership
Water Managers
Non-Water
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
What do water managers need to better manage
climate impacts
Local impacts
Impact on specific resource
Capacity to respond to new policies
Community support
Local flexibility to deal with local changes
Private sector support
In-house expertise
Access to new policy ideas
Technical expertise
Access to field-specific
experts
State-level impacts
Regional impacts (multiple states)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Count
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Climate policy activities among water managers
Vegetation
Community
"Resiliency considerations have been
incorporated into the Green Code and the
City's Local Waterfront Revitalization program
policies. Further work is needed on the likely
anticipated impacts of climate change on our
specific locality to further support resiliency."
“Forest Resources: We are
including very broad adaptation
strategies in our Regional State
Forest Management Plans, and
hope to also refine these to a
finer scale over the next 5-10
years.”
Wildlife
“…Hiring an 'adaptation specialist' to work on
multiple adaptation needs, including climate
change; improving data availability through
funding to downscale data; better information
to staff so they can better apply adaptation
strategies in their work; integration of climate
change in to the Wildlife Action Plan; Species
vulnerability assessment.”
Water
"We are working on developing
a plan for our water plant to
address concerns with the
intake of blue algae from the
lake due to climate change."
Built Infrastructure
Vulnerability - focused on identifying risks
"Working with the University of
Michigan on studying parts of the City
that are prone to flooding and
identifying adaptation BMP's that
would be applicable."
Adaptation - activity that reduces risk or
allows for new opportunities
Resilience - activity that increases ability
of system to respond to change
Graphic prepared by J. Kloepfer
Conclusions
• Provides information on how climate science might better
serve the needs of the water sector (localization and
downscaling)
• Climate challenges reflects the human intensive landscape
and urban characteristics of the water sector
• Citizen organizations provide source of organizational
learning on climate policies
• Water sector needs include localization of climate science,
link to management issues, and capacity building in
responsiveness to new policies
Questions?
Derek Kauneckis
Associate Professor
Environmental Studies
Voinovich School of Leadership & Public
Affairs, Ohio University
Email: kaunecki@ohio.edu
Jacqueline Kloepfer
Research Associate
Voinovich School of Leadership & Public
Affairs, Ohio University
Email: kloepfej@ohio.edu
The Voinovich School’s MSES and MPA programs
emphasize problem-solving with engaged
research faculty with expertise in:
 Climate Change Policy 
 Environmental Security 
 Entrepreneurship and 
Innovation

 Rural Development
 Energy & Environment 
Water Remediation
Rural Development
Science and
Technology Policy
Bioenergy
Waste Cycling