The Gulf of Maine is unique and as fragile as any other coastal region when climate change begins to affect its environment. As some of those effects become predictable, scientists and environmental managers are working with municipal officials to help mitigate the existing effects on municipal infrastructure and adapt for future changes.
In this edition of the Gulf of Maine Times, we look at projects and programs that are in the works in Canada and the United States to protect infrastructure to ensure that citizens continue to have needed services such as sewage treatment and transportation following the extreme weather events of the near future, and later, when the sea level rises.
The provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have completed the first steps toward helping their municipalities figure out plans for adaptation to climate change, and their field-tested guide, “Municipal Climate Change Action Plan Guidebook,” is available to any municipalities who would like to use it. In the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Change Program has provided grants to several municipalities to help them with planning to protect their infrastructure.
Various aspects of preparing for climate change in the Gulf of Maine will be the subjects of the next few monthly editions of the Times.
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