Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies: A Capital Area Symposium

Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies:
A Capital Area Symposium

October 4, 2013
LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin

Welcome

Welcome to Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies: A Capital Area Symposium. This one-day conference will bring Capital Area stakeholders together to identify and assess the shared challenges we face given the specific impacts of climate change in our region. The symposium provides a forum for learning about climate vulnerability in the region and sharing best practices in the area of resilience planning  here in Texas and throughout the U.S. Most importantly, it provides a space for identifying collaborative solutions for making the Capital Area more resilient. For conference agenda details, see Schedule. We look forward to you joining us.
The symposium is pleased to bring to Austin some of the brightest minds working in climate change research and adaptation planning today, including keynote speakers Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, and Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington, DC.
We also encourage you to come to a special evening forum following the symposium. Hosted by The Texas Observer, this free forum will provide a recap of the symposium and facilitate a much-needed public dialogue about climate change resilience in Central Texas. For more on the forum, stay tuned.
The ‘Capital Area’
The symposium defines the “Capital Area” as the 10-county region adopted by the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG): Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, and Williamson.
Not only do these Central Texas counties share in common similar projections for heat, drought, and other climate change impacts, but they have an established history of collaboration across member governments, agencies, school districts, and other regional organizations due to 43 years of coordinated efforts under the auspices of CAPCOG.
The Conference Organizers
Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies: A Capital Area Symposium is a project organized by LBJ School of Public Affairs MPAff graduate students Stefan Wray and Nora Ankrum, along with Alyssa Burgin of The Texas Drought Project and Sascha Petersen  of Adaptation International and the Institute for Sustainable Communities. For more, see the About page.