Brittany Salmons, graduate student fellow, recently partnered with the Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, Health, and Equity (C3HE), a NOAA CAP/RISA team, to evaluate how climate researchers are beginning to think about equitable climate adaptation and how communities in need are being identified in line with the White House’s Justice40 Initiative.
Justice40 provides investments for climate and environmental justice to make equity in climate research a top priority. NOAA CAP/RISA teams are highlighted in the Justice40 initiative due to their work building adaptive capacities and relationships with climate scientists and communities. These programs often highlight frontline communities defined through socioeconomic status, adaptive capacity, minority status, and lack of investment. Brittany’s project uses Geographic Information System (GIS) visualizations in North and South Carolina to combine various indicators for communities in need including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (CDC/ATSDR) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Risk Index (NRI), the U.S. Census Bureau’s Community Resilience Estimates (CRE), and the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping tool (EJScreen). Identifying communities in need of adaptation research is a large step to ensure all communities have the adaptive capacity to move forward in climate change.
For more information, contact Jessica Garrison.
Image credit: Brittany Salmons
