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Interstate Water Report
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Current Issue
The Climate Challenge
It is impossible to go through any day, and certainly any week, and not be exposed to discussions in every medium of communication on the subject of global climate change. Two themes permeate these discussions. First, global warming is unequivocal; second, global warming may present the greatest challenge the civilized world has ever faced. In order to meet the challenge, we must change our habits and we must develop new technologies to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The majority of the scientific community has concluded that global climate warming is contributing to a myriad of serious impacts, both direct and indirect, on our natural resources. These include, but are not limited to:
• Increased earth surface temperatures.
• Increases in sea level.
• Decreases in sea and land ice.
• Increases in extreme weather events.
• Increases in flooding and drought.
• Population declines in native species; increases in invasive species.
In 2001 the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers endorsed and adopted a climate change action plan. It was both strong and bold in pledging a regional commitment to address the issue. The plan called for the implementation of programs to substantially reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the region (mitigation), as well as a process to address the consequences of climate change (adaptation). While we in the region have been in many respects “out front” on this issue, and have as states committed significant resources to it over the past six years, much remains to be done.
Most observers agree that damages will increase as warming continues. And many, if not most, of the change-related consequences are tied to water. For all of us who work for and care about our precious water resources, the challenge ahead is daunting. Simply stated, we must make it a top priority to develop mitigated water resource management strategies with a strong adaptive emphasis. To not do so would be to ignore what is increasingly undeniable—climate change is real and unavoidable.
Sincerely,
Ronald Poltak
NEIWPCC Executive Director