Agriculture

The 2010 Report’s goals related to agriculture include researching, developing, and introducing new crops varieties with tolerances for increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and climate-induced stresses like hotter temperatures, drought, and extreme precipitation events; evolving management strategies, like irrigation practices and the dates in which seeds are planted; improving how to prevent and respond to increased weed, disease, and insect threats; and evaluating and constructing mechanisms, like cooling systems, to protect livestock from extreme temperatures and precipitation changes. The 2010 Report also specifically emphasizes that equity should be incorporated into the education and outreach and funding components of the state’s agricultural adaptation programs.

In addition, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act required that climate risks be considered by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets in evaluating applications for state funding for local farmland protection programs. This requirement was implemented through Circular 1500, Article 25AAA — Agricultural and Farmland Protection Programs (on page 7), which provides guidance for grant applicants and staff administering grant funds.

In 2013, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) published a report entitled, Sustainable Urban Agriculture: Confirming Viable Scenarios for Production. The report evaluates the viability of urban food production techniques and presents case studies that examine whether urban food production can be practiced in an economical and resource-efficient manner in a changing climate. NYSERDA continues to support agricultural demonstration projects conducted in a controlled environment; the state is supporting ongoing research to investigate ways to improve the energy efficiency and yield of urban greenhouse crop production.

The Climate Resilient Farming Grant Program and other resources for local governments and communities on agricultural resilience are discussed in more detail on the Supporting Local Action page.

Biodiversity

The 2010 Report’s goals related to biodiversity include continuing to support and maintain the state’s Invasive Species Task Force; supporting efforts to incorporate ecosystem-based management considerations into agency decisionmaking; protecting and enhancing the ability of stream, river, and coastal systems to adapt to changing environmental conditions; maintaining and improving aquatic habitat and hydrological connectivity by removing man-made barriers like culverts, dams, and shoreline armoring; and developing a research and monitoring plan to detect, record, analyze, and address changes in species, habitats, and natural cycles.

On invasive species, in August 2011, the New York State Invasive Species Council and Departments of Agriculture and Markets and Environmental Conservation (DEC) released a New York State Invasive Species Management Strategy to guide and set a vision for the state’s invasive species research, policies, and decisions. Climate change is factored into each part of the strategy from research to management recommendations. On April 18, 2018, those same departments released a draft New York State Invasive Species Comprehensive Management Plan that builds on the strategy and includes eight focal initiatives and recommendations to allow the state to better research, analyze, and take coordinated actions to address all current and future invasive species and affected ecosystems. The management plan’s seventh focal initiative, “Recover ecosystem resilience,” considers how climate change may affect the growth and propagation of invasive species in the state and the ability for native species and ecosystems to accommodate or adapt.

Regarding resource management, on October 22, 2010, DEC’s Commissioner released a policy entitled, CP-49/Climate Change and DEC Action. The policy recognizes climate change as a threat to the state’s “air and water quality, forests, fish and wildlife habitats, and people and communities” and provides guidance on how DEC must incorporate climate change considerations into “all aspects of its activities.” The policy’s objectives related to adaptation include identifying and assessing risks from climate change impacts to state-owned resources; protecting and restoring habitats and hydrologic functions of natural systems; evaluating, through its decisions as an agency, the ability for natural resources to accommodate or adapt to climate impacts, such as through adaptive management; and coordinating with, supporting, and encouraging similar actions at all levels of government. To implement the policy, each DEC division, office, and region is required to designate a climate change coordinator; all climate change coordinators then compose a DEC Climate Action Team to work together and ensure consistency across the agency. Lastly, the policy requires annual reporting on progress and future needs to support implementation.

In response to the policy and the state’s 2010 Report, DEC established the Office of Climate Policy to assist the agency in meeting the state’s climate objectives. The Office of Climate Change’s goal is to “[b]uild a resilient and low carbon future for New York.” The office seeks to achieve resiliency by developing and using vulnerability assessments and integrating adaptation planning, implementation, and reporting into all agency actions.

Regarding wildlife conservation and management, the New York State’s Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation issued a Policy on Fish and Wildlife Management in State Parks and Historic Sites, which incorporates principles of ecosystem-based management into agency decisionmaking, in 2010. Ecosystem-based management will help the state to evaluate the interaction between climate impacts on species and their habitats to promote holistic conservation.

In 2015, DEC also released the ten-year New York State Wildlife Action Plan that guides how the state will protect its threatened and declining wildlife populations and promote biodiversity. The plan includes assessments for nearly 600 wildlife species, and identifies 366 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) for immediate conservation action in the state. Climate change, along with pollution, invasive species, and loss of habitat to development, are considered the greatest threats to SGCN. The plan also includes many strategies to address climate impacts on these species.

To promote open space conservation, EC finalized an Open Space Conservation Plan in 2016, which sets open space conservation goals and actions and catalogs available tools and related federal and state programs supporting conservation. The plan includes recommendations on how open space conservation programs can be improved to make the state better prepared and more resilient in the face of future storms and climate change. The plan was largely written to guide the agency’s award of grants to the Open Space Conservation Program under the state’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), established to conserve and protect important habitats and natural resources. State agencies, municipalities, and nonprofits are eligible to apply for EPF grants. In addition to the Open Space Conservation Program, EPF grants have funded climate preparedness and resiliency projects for the Hudson River Estuary Program and Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation.

Coasts & Oceans

The 2010 Report’s goals related to coasts and the ocean include recommendations to develop statewide sea-level rise and flooding projections; integrate sea-level-rise projections into all relevant state agency programs and decisions; identify and map areas most vulnerable to sea-level rise and coastal hazards to support planning and response efforts; and increase the use of non-structural or natural features to reduce impacts from coastal hazards.

To implement goals in the 2010 Report regarding sea-level rise, in February 2017, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation finalized regulations (as required by 2014’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act) establishing statewide science-based sea-level-rise projections that are to be used in certain permitting and decisionmaking processes for three distinct regions of the state: Mid-Hudson, New York City/Lower Hudson, and Long Island.

In 2010, at the direction of the New York State legislature (Chapter 613 of the Laws of New York, August 2007), the New York State Sea-Level Rise Task Force released a report that evaluated approaches to protect New York’s remaining coastal ecosystems and natural habitats, and to increase coastal community resilience in the face of sea-level rise. The report includes nine findings and 14 strategic recommendations for action, such as developing maps and other tools to assist local decisionmakers, and requiring state agencies to incorporate the consideration of current and projected impacts of sea-level rise into decisionmaking.

The state is also working to promote the use of living shorelines to address sea-level rise and erosion risks. In November 2017, the state released a Tidal Wetlands Guidance Document to promote the use of living shorelines along the coast. Specifically, the document provides guidance on how to issue permits for living shorelines in New York’s Marine and Coastal District Waters of New York by considering different factors, such as sea-level rise.

The state has also been engaging in ocean planning. In 2017, the state released a final Ocean Action Plan, a ten-year action plan focused on improving ocean ecosystem health, and the ocean’s capacity to provide sustainable benefits to the state. One of the plan’s four primary goals is to increase resilience to climate change impacts in the state’s funding, research, management, and outreach and education decisions. In addition, New York Department of State’s Offshore Atlantic Ocean Study and related ongoing implementation measures take an ecosystem-based approach to understanding and planning for future ocean uses, including accounting for the additional “strain” climate change will place on the ocean and its resources.

Forestry

New York’s 2010 Report includes one forestry-related goal that calls for the state to employ adaptive management principles and techniques in forest management policies and programs.

The state is integrating considerations of climate threats to forests in many of its agency plans and guidance documents. For example, the state’s Forest Resource Assessment and Strategy for 2010-2015, prepared by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), evaluates climate change as one of 10 priority issues facing forest management and includes potential adaptation strategies to address these issues, such as understanding climate change trends and effects on wildlife occurrence and potential. In addition, forests are called out in DEC’s 2010 policy guidance CP-49/Climate Change and DEC Action as a specific habitat type that needs to be considered and protected from climate change impacts in all of the agency’s decisions.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure-related goals in New York’s 2010 Report primarily focus on assessing and improving the resilience of the state’s telecommunication and transportation infrastructure. Some of the goals include conducting communication and transportation infrastructure vulnerability assessments; incorporating state-endorsed climate-change projections into plans, designs, and funding for the state’s telecommunication and transportation sectors; directing funding to focus on making communication and transportation systems more resilient during extreme weather events, such as flooding; and providing guidelines and financial support to help local governments implement adaptive measures for communication and transportation infrastructure.

In addition, the 2013 NYS 2100 Commission: Recommendations to Improve the Strength and Resilience of the Empire State's Infrastructure (“NYS 2100 Report”) provides goals for improving interagency coordination; developing more efficient strategies to rebuild and replace infrastructure; creating an infrastructure bank to maximize investment in infrastructure; and promoting the use of green and natural infrastructure within the transportation, energy, land use, insurance, and finance sectors. Overall, the NYS 2100 Report supplements New York’s 2010 Report and also provides recommendations for more and different types of infrastructure (i.e., energy, land use, insurance, and finance).

The state has pursued many actions to enhance the resilience of transportation infrastructure. In 2011, the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) finalized a report on Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation Strategies into New York State Department of Transportation Operations. The report helped the agency identify vulnerabilities of the state’s transportation system as well as opportunities to adapt and mainstream adaptation into the transportation decisionmaking process. In 2014, DOT completed a flood vulnerability assessment of its infrastructure and is considering resilience in its system-wide investment decisions. Impacts considered include accessibility to emergency, economic and cultural resources. And in 2013, New York's Sea-Level Rise Task Force Report to the Legislature included a section on the effects of sea-level rise on transportation infrastructure.

In addition, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA) requires that climate risks from sea-level rise and flooding be considered among the smart growth criteria for siting and designing public infrastructure. CRRA specifically applies to new, expanded, or reconstructed infrastructure projects reviewed by DOT under the state’s Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act (SGPIPA). CRRA amended SGPIPA to require DOT and other state infrastructure agencies to ensure that public projects will mitigate future risks from sea-level rise, storm surges and flooding.

To adapt port infrastructure to climate change, in 2015, the Engineering Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) produced Climate Resilience Design Guidelines to ensure that new port authority infrastructure and buildings are designed to account for projected changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level. The guidelines provide PANYNJ architects and engineers with a framework for evaluating the vulnerability of projects to future climate impacts and addressing those impacts in the design of port authority infrastructure and buildings. These guidelines were updated following Hurricane Sandy to improve infrastructure resilience to climate conditions and severe storms when rebuilding damaged port authority assets.

The state is also working to implement requirements to enhance the resilience of critical buildings, facilities, and other assets. In June 2018, the New York State Environmental Research and Development Authority and University of Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning’s Resilient Buildings Laboratory released three reports on adapting New York’s building infrastructure to climate change and other threats. One of the reports entitled Climate Change Resilience Strategies for Buildings in New York State recommends resilience strategies for state and local owners and operators, policymakers and planners, and architects and engineers across several building components (e.g., windows, green infrastructure, roof coverings and draining, active and passive building systems) and subjects (e.g., emergency management, urban heat island) that impact building infrastructure. As reflected in the NYS 2100 Report, the resilient strategies report supports a more expansive look at different types of state infrastructure beyond the recommendations for telecommunication and transportation infrastructure in the initial 2010 Report.

Public Health & 

Emergency Preparedness

Public Health

On public health, the 2010 Report’s goals include: improving or establishing mechanisms to reduce the potential for heat-related morbidity; assessing the adequacy and expanding the capacity of existing heat-warning systems and cooling centers; coordinating with utilities to address public health needs that can result from power disruptions associated with extreme heat events; improving early warning and evacuation communication systems; considering climate impacts to public health in agency programs and decisions; and researching, assessing, and preparing the state for public health risks caused by climate change hazards like sea-level rise. The goals place an emphasis on local engagement, participation, and education and outreach, particularly to vulnerable communities (e.g., elderly, lower income) regarding extreme heat events.

In June 2015, the Department of Health (DOH) released a report entitled, “Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) in New York State.” The report evaluates how the state’s climate has evolved overtime and the impacts those changes may have on public health. The report was written as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) BRACE program, which helps state public health departments assess the future impacts of climate change on public health in a state, and incorporate those findings into planning and decisionmaking in order to help reduce negative health outcomes. As demonstrated in the report, the state is primarily encountering a warmer and wetter climate that is disproportionately affecting specific vulnerable communities like the elderly, children, low-income residents, tribes, homeless persons, those with chronic diseases and mental illnesses, those who live in areas susceptible to flooding, and outdoor workers.

In 2013, New York's Sea-Level Rise Task Force Report to the Legislature included a section on the public health implications of sea-level rise. The public health section identifies gaps in land-use permitting processes that do not address the public health-related impacts of developing in areas at higher risk of flooding and the loss of shelter and disruption to local economies that can result from flood impacts.

Other public health-sector tools and resources for local governments and communities are discussed in more detail on the Supporting Local Action page.

Emergency Preparedness

On emergency preparedness, the 2010 Report’s goals include recommendations that state and regional emergency response plans use the best available projections for predicting the frequency and intensity of extreme storm events. As part of statewide vulnerability assessment and planning efforts, the 2010 Report also recommends that the state produce maps to better identify what areas and infrastructure are at the greatest risk of damage from storms and floods.

In 2016, NYSERDA released a final Analysis of Future Floodplains in New York State. The analysis includes mapping information for all of New York’s tidally-influenced shorelines about changes in coastal flood hazards in response to different sea-level rise scenarios. The state’s 2014 Hazard Mitigation Plan also factors climate change impacts into its analysis and addresses risks to built environments and natural ones, particularly coastal areas threatened by sea-level rise.

After Hurricane Sandy, Governor Andrew Cuomo established NYS RISE (Resiliency Institute for Storms and Emergencies) as an emergency preparedness research tool to both aid the state as it recovered from Sandy and inform critical decisions — including vulnerability assessments — before, during, and after extreme weather events in the future. In addition, the New York Department of State, in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, created coastal storm risk maps for use in the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program.

Water

The 2010 Report’s goals related to water include: developing a comprehensive statewide water management plan that evaluates climate change impacts to the state’s water supply; making the state’s drinking and wastewater infrastructure more resilient to climate change; preparing asset management strategies and conducting vulnerability assessments of critical water infrastructure; updating permitting and design standards for water infrastructure particularly to address precipitation events; protecting and maintaining natural hydrological features and corridors; and incorporating climate change into relevant state, regional, and local water plans like emergency and watershed management plans.

In July 2015, the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) and Department of Health made $50 million in water infrastructure grants available to local governments for critical water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades. For State Fiscal Year 2015-2016, $30 million of that funding was allocated to clean water (wastewater) projects with priority given to those that increased resiliency to sea-level rise and extreme weather events.

In addition, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act required that climate risks be considered in administering the state’s water pollution and drinking water revolving funds. In the final Intended Use Plan, which governs how the state will administer its Clean Water Revolving Fund (CWRF) for Fiscal Year 2018, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Environmental Facilities Corporation set a short-term goal to incorporate sea-level rise projections and related regulations and guidance into its CWRF financing and other program decisions.

The state also adopted a Stormwater Management Design Manual in 2015, which includes a chapter on the benefits of incorporating green infrastructure practices into stormwater management design to reduce runoff from impervious surfaces and improve water quality.

In 2014, New York State Attorney General released a report on the Current and Future Trends in Extreme Rainfall Across New York State to call on the state to better plan for climate impacts to the state’s water supplies and flooding in the face of increasing precipitation. In light of projections of heavier and more damaging precipitation events in New York, the report calls on the state to reduce carbon emissions and increase local resiliency by, at a minimum, incorporating accurate and up-to-date rainfall trends and projections into design standards and development decisions.