Comparative analysis of the city-scale climate adaptation planning in the US and France based on the experience of the past ten years

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Elena Lioubimtseva and Charlotte Da Cunha

Grand Valley State University, USA
Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines-CEARC/OVSQ, France

: Expert Opin Environ Biol

Abstract

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Cities are the most vulnerable areas to climate change impacts and play increasingly important role in the local and regional climate mitigation and adaptation policies. Our study examines the current progress, approaches, and the best practices in climate adaptation planning in United States and in France during the past ten years (2007-2017). Analysis of the recent climate adaptation plans of 38 small and mid-size cities is based on 25 qualitative indicators and provides insights on the role of characteristics of the planning process, community partnerships, and level of coordination, quality of scientific data and methods, and structural elements of existing plans. Evaluation of municipal climate adaptation plans is based on our assessment of 25 criteria derived from the bibliographic review of multilingual interdisciplinary literature. It is also informed by climate adaptation planning guidelines developed by the national and international agencies, such as the World Bank, the Environmental Protection Agency in the US, the National Observatory on the Effects of Global Warming in France, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and the UN-Habitat. Our findings indicate that despite the radical differences between the US and French national policies, the majority of plans developed to date have many similar strengths and weakness on both sides of the Atlantic. The US municipal climate adaptation plans, however, still remain relatively rare ad-hoc pilot projects, whose success, continuation and integration varies from state to state. Longevity and sustainability of some plans remains problematic. The integrated multi-scale national framework, adopted by France, favours replication of the best practices and effective coordination of the local, regional and national climate adaptation efforts. The key factors contributing the planning success include inclusivity, citizens’ engagement in the planning process, partnerships with local universities and research institutions, and pre-existing public awareness of and interest in climate and environmental issues.

Biography

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Elena Lioubimtseva is a Professor of Environmental Geography and the Chair of Geography and Sustainable Planning Department at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan. Her Research focuses on Human Vulnerability and Adaptations to Climate Change. She holds PhD from Moscow State University and previously conducted Research at the University of Oxford, University of Louvain and the CNRS Laboratory of Quaternary Geology. She was a Guest Professor at the University of Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve in 2007 and University of Versailles in 2016, while maintaining her position at GVSU. She contributed to the EU Vegetation-Spot4 Program, FAO Consultations on Climate change and International Trade and, the Great Lakes Innovative Stewardship through Education Network (GLISTEN), the UNEP-UNECE 2016 assessment for the Pan-European Region, and other national and international projects. She is an author of over 50 publications and presentations on climate and environmental change.

Email: lioubime@gvsu.edu