Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
Panoramic view of Houston downtown skyline and reflection in Buffalo Bayou in late afternoon sunlight - image credit Shutterstock/Andrew Bower
Shutterstock/Andrew Bower
Project

Resilience Roadmap

The Resilience Roadmap makes recommendations for how to build greater climate resilience in the United States through federal action.

Resilience Roadmap logo

Climate risks are no longer just a concern for future generations—they are here now. Communities across the United States and the world are experiencing the costly and often devastating effects of flooding, drought, storms, wildfires, and extreme heat. Climate resilience is the ability of a system to withstand, adapt to, or bounce back from these types of climate-induced events, and governments are important for creating programs and policies that enable communities to plan for and implement activities that will enhance resilience.

The Resilience Roadmap began as a project to establish a vision for what resilience action should focus on at the federal level and ensure resilience was emphasized alongside climate mitigation efforts. Given the Biden-Harris administration’s level of dedication to climate resilience, the Resilience Roadmap has now evolved to become a resource for tracking and reporting progress on resilience, a hub for discussions on key resilience topics, and an important partner offering technical assistance on resilience policy challenges.

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Principles

The Resilience Roadmap is guided by three overarching principles that frame our recommendations and are important for all resilience efforts:

  1. Central to a comprehensive, climate change strategy, resilience-building can and should deliver tangible, on-the-ground benefits: creating jobs, safeguarding public health and safety, stewarding natural resources, protecting and revitalizing our economy, investing in long-term restorative solutions, and reducing property risks.
  2. Resilience-building efforts must prioritize vulnerable communities, especially those marginalized by structural targeting and historical divestment. These efforts should recognize that impacts from the stresses and shocks of climate change act as a threat multiplier, falling most heavily on marginalized people and communities, often those that already suffer disproportionately from economic, social, racial, and environmental inequities.
  3. Resilience building requires a vertically integrated, “whole-of-government” approach, fostering alignment (including coordination of programs, information, and funding) among federal government agencies, states, local communities, Tribal Peoples, and regional entities, as well as with community groups, civil society, and the private sector.

Questions

For questions about the Resilience Roadmap, email resilienceroadmap@duke.edu.

 

The Resilience Roadmap is a nonpartisan, independent project hosted by the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University. The project is possible because of the generous support of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the Walton Family Foundation. Their support for the project does not constitute or imply endorsement of the Resilience Roadmap.

 

About the banner: Photograph of Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston, Texas. The park endured historic flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Afterwards, Harris County worked to better channel runoff and increase conveyance capacity. More information on the Buffalo Bayou Park cleanup. (Image credit Shutterstock/Andrew Bower.)