Adapt Alaska Whitepaper

The Adapt Alaska Collaborative grew out of a set of initiatives to promote climate resilience and adaptation in Alaska. On May 24 and 25, 2017 a group of participants (including representatives of Alaska regional, state and federal agencies and organizations) gathered at a work session to identify next steps to build on the momentum generated by these initiatives toward a more resilient Alaska. At the work session, three working groups formed around specific areas of effort, including a Planning Working Group with the task of identifying ways to streamline the many planning requirements associated with implementing climate resilience and adaptation strategies.

The Adapt Alaska Planning Working Group looked at a range of options for streamlining planning requirements. Initially, the group sought to inventory existing plans and agency processes, then analyze the inventory to see where there are opportunities to reduce planning requirements by creating a universal plan template that could satisfy multiple agency requirements, or a plan component that could reduce the time and effort needed to prepare the required plans. The group sought to learn how much consolidation is possible, including whether it is practicable to create a more standardized, practical, community-level planning product and process that can serve multiple agency requirements.