As the Nation's largest and oldest manager of water resources, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has long been successfully adapting its policies, programs, projects, planning, and operations to impacts from important drivers of global change and variability.
Climate change and variability, both observed and as projected for the future, important drivers of change having significant impacts to the management of US national water resources and infrastructure. These are described in USGS Circular 1331 "Climate Change and Water Resources Management: A Federal Perspective
". These changes will require us to rethink our approach to managing water resources so that we can continue to protect public health and safety and promote economic growth.
It is the policy (pdf, 201 KB) of USACE to integrate climate change adaptation planning and actions into our Agency's missions, operations, programs, and projects. The work to understand and adapt to the impacts of climate change is underway at the USACE. We will continue to further climate change adaptation planning, in consultation with internal and external experts and with our Districts, Divisions, and Centers, and shall implement the results of that planning using the best available - and actionable - climate science and climate change information.
USACE will also continue its efforts with other agencies to develop the science and engineering research on climate change information into the actionable basis for adapting to climate change impacts. Some Climate Change Adaptation activities include:
Tools developed for CESL can also be used to assist with other climate change adaptation issues concerned with sea level change. An example is the interagency effort to consider changing sea levels in the Sandy recovery region.
Newsletter - December 5, 2013 (pdf, 1.06 MB)