INTRODUCTION

Local Climate Change Challenges and Opportunities: Understanding NYS Municipal Official Perspectives

Allison Chatrchyan,1 Shorna Allred,2 and Maureen Mullen2

1Cornell University Cooperative Extension (CCE) Dutchess County and CCE Statewide Energy and Climate Change Team 2Cornell University, Human Dimensions Research Unit, Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

RESULTS

IMPLICATIONS

“I’d say I have minimal knowledge of the science of climate change, but it’s pretty clear something’s going on. As the Governor pointed out in the State of the State Address, the 100-year storms are now occurring every 2 years.”

- Mayor of a small city of 15,000 residents

The survey instrument was designed and sent via email and postal mail to municipal officials (e.g., county executives, mayors, town supervisors, Environmental Management Council members, and Conservation Advisory Council members) across New York State during the period from 2010-2011 (N=1,416, total number of respondents=299, response rate=21%). The statewide survey data was supplemented with nine in-depth interviews with municipal officials in the Hudson Valley in order to determine local government officials’ attitudes towards climate change and perceptions of climate change taking place in their communities. The statewide survey and interview data were analyzed for trends and comparisons.

This study is significant because it provides data on local municipal officials’ knowledge and beliefs about climate change, local actions taken in the absence of federal regulation, barriers, and information needs. New York has adopted an 80/50 goal for GHG emission reductions, but as a home rule state, it has a large number of small governments (62 counties, 932 towns, and 62 cities) which control energy use, infrastructure, planning, and land use decisions locally. Currently, only 25% of the municipal officials surveyed have begun addressing climate change in their community. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change in New York will require greater outreach and tools for these officials. Municipal officials require more precise data on how the changing climate will affect their municipality, access to information and funding to increase energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions, and concrete recommendations for how they can prepare their municipalities for extreme weather events and climate change.

CONTACT Cornell University Department of Natural Resources 209 Bruckner Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 Email: amc256@cornell.edu; srb237@cornell.edu; mlm394@cornell.edu Web: www.human-dimensions.org, www.climatechange.cornell.edu

Figure 1 represents a few of the keys findings regarding municipal officials’ attitudes about climate change: the majority of respondents agree that there is sufficient scientific evidence of climate change and that it will affect New York and its natural resources, but a large percentage of respondents do not feel that there is sufficient information available to them about how to address climate impacts at the local level.

The majority of municipal official respondents in a statewide survey (63%) indicate their municipality has not yet taken any action to address climate change (Figure 2):

Municipal officials’ key barriers to action: Lack of resources (financial and human); Inaction of government at all levels; Lack of information and external pressure to act; Intra-organizational issues (lack of authority, conflict between agencies). Municipal officials’ information and resource needs: Climate change in general; Specific data on the likeliness and severity of the predicted climate

change effects in their community; How to prevent and/or respond to these effects; Specific funding sources and incentive programs; Specific adaptation recommendations (e.g., management plans, model

ordinances, hazard mitigation plans).

“We’ve had all of these extreme events. There is never a nice dusting or a spring shower anymore; you know…it is a torrent. I think if we wait for the scientists to definitively say, ‘Oh it is climate change,’ it will be too late. I think we really need to start changing our behavior patterns to do what we can to counteract climate change.” - Supervisor of a town with 29,000 residents

New Yorkers are already observing effects of global climate change in their communities, including documented increases in temperature, and an increase in extreme precipitation events. The literature has focused on explaining why states and cities have taken actions to address climate change in the absence of federal policy, but in New York state, there are a large number of small local municipalities that will have to be involved to achieve the state's 80/50 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal. Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension conducted a survey of elected and appointed municipal officials’ across a random sample of New York’s municipalities (with wide ranging populations and geographic structures) to assess their attitudes about climate change, local actions, and barriers to action. Our research determined local government officials’ views of climate change, local actions being taken, barriers to climate action, vulnerabilities, and needs. Although a majority of municipal officials believe in the science of climate change, few municipalities have taken steps to are taking action to mitigate or adapt to New York’s changing climate.

The majority of municipal official respondents in a statewide survey (54%) rate themselves as moderately well-informed about climate change; 23% rate themselves as knowing a little bit, and 8% indicate they do not know much about the issue. Hudson Valley municipal officials identified the extreme weather events that had most negatively affected their communities in recent years:

Heavy rainfall over short periods of time, leading to flooding; Effects of extreme events on infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and

culverts; Blizzards and ice storms, with heavy wet snow causing downed trees and

power outages; Milder winters overall, with decreased snowfall and road salt costs; Periods of intense heat waves that negatively affect air quality.

Figure 1: Local municipal officials perceptions and attitudes about climate change.

Figure 2: Has your municipality already taken actions to address climate change?

19%

26%

31%

20%

40%

37%

40%

28%

23%

21%

20%

38%

14%

13%

7%

10%

0% 50% 100%

There is sufficient information available on how to address climate impacts at the local level

I already see evidence of how climate change is affecting New York's natural resources

There is sufficient evidence that over the coming decade, climate change will affect the natural

resources with which I work

The science indicates our climate is changing

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Yes 24%

No

67%

I Don'tKnow

9%

METHODS