NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES  Climate Change  https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696460.pdf  https://www.nap.edu/downloa...

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NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES  Climate Change  https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696460.pdf ; https://www.nap.edu/download/25324 ; Here are two new reports on climate change. They are:  Government Accountability Office (GAO) , Climate Change, Activities of Selected Agencies to Address Potential Impact on Global Migration , Report to Congressional Requesters, GAO-19-166, January 2019.  National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019. Making Climate Assessments Work: Learning from California and Other Subnational ClimateAssessments: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National AcademiesPress. https://doi.org/10.17226/25324.       The effects of climate change, combined with other factors, may alter human migration trends across the globe, according to the International Organization for Migration. For example, climate change can increase the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, causing populations to move from an area. Climate change can also intensify slow-onset disasters, such as drought, crop failure, or sea level rise, potentially altering longer-term migration trends.   GAO was asked to review how U.S. agencies address climate change as a potential driver of global migration. For State, USAID, and DOD, this report (1) describes executive branch actions related to climate change and migration from fiscal years 2014 through 2018; (2) examines the extent to which the agencies discussed the potential effects of climate change on migration in their plans and risk assessments; and (3) describes agency activities on the issue. GAO analyzed documents on administration priorities; reviewed agency plans, risk assessments, and documentation of agency activities; and interviewed agency officials.   The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an ad hoc committeeto develop a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C., focused on the process and results of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment. This workshop described a broad set of climate assessment activities that identified vulnerabilities for the population, infrastructure, and natural resources of California, and some of the mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency strategies and policies that can be taken to address these vulnerabilities.   The workshop provided a discussion of how California’s process for climate assessments may be applicable in other states and explored the degree to which identified strategies might be candidates to help address potential vulnerabilities and improve climate resilience in other locations. The workshop also discussed what other states, regions, cities, and the private sector are doing in climate assessment and how to coordinate multiple local efforts toward regional assessments and actions.  The major topics include:  • History and evolution of California’s climate assessment process and an overview of the Fourth Assessment;• Topical sessions describing some of the results of the Fourth Assessment;• Strategies and policies for implementing the assessment, potentially including: how to use the results of the assessments to facilitate implementation; how to improve the process and sustain the assessments; and how the assessment process might evolve over time, especially to work within ongoing mitigation efforts.• What other states, regions, cities, and the private sector are doing in climate assessment, potentially including: the process of implementing a climate assessment; challenges facing policy makers and local actors; the issues in engaging key stakeholders such as utilities and companies; and the need for coordinating multiple local efforts toward regional and national actions;• What are the key elements of a regional/state/local climate assessment and how to engage local and national resources (including capabilities of state and regional institutions, federal capabilities of USGCRP and other federal groups) to develop such assessments.  These studies will be linked on the 2019 Reports Page 02 of the Sustainable Water Resources Site at Sustainable Water Resources Information    Tim SmithSustainable Water Resources CoordinatorAdvisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI)Sustainable Water Resources Information