February 21, 2023, 12:00 p.m. CT
On September 16, 2022, Governor Tim Walz announced the release of the Minnesota Climate Action Framework which includes strategies to increase the state's resilience to the impacts of climate change through both mitigation and adaptation. The Framework identifies immediate, near-term actions to help achieve the long-term goal of a carbon-neutral, resilient, and equitable future.
During this month's MCAP webinar series, Sharon Stephens will present an overview of the Framework and the Governor's budget which includes support for a variety of the strategies laid out in the Framework. Sharon coordinates Minnesota's Resilience & Adaptation Action Team (R&AT), which was the recipient of this year's Minnesota Collaborative Climate Adaptation Award for their role in integrating climate resilient policies, strategies and actions into Minnesota's Climate Action Framework.
Following Sharon's presentation, Amanda Farris will discuss work the MCAP team is leading to develop resilience metrics designed to measure the success of the strategies laid out in the Resilient Communities chapter of the Framework as they are implemented and evaluated.
Speakers
Sharon Stephens is the Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and serves as the agency's technical expert and principal external liaison in the area of planning and implementation of climate change adaptation activities. She provides policy recommendations to MPCA's Commissioner Office and the Climate Change Subcabinet to support and advance Minnesota's climate adaptation goals. She coordinates Minnesota's Resilience & Adaptation Action Team (R&AT) and helped lead R&AT's work in integrating climate resilient policies, strategies and actions into Minnesota's Climate Action Framework. She helps to provide adaptation and resilience resources to other state agencies, communities, and stakeholders and is engaged with work with Minnesota Tribal nations. Prior to her work with MPCA, she was an environmental attorney with the U.S. Department of Interior. Sharon is Minnesota's representative to the U.S. Climate Alliance Resilience Work Group and the Great Lakes Commission Resiliency Standing Committee on Resilience.
Amanda Farris is the Senior Program Manager for the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership (MCAP). In this role she helps to coordinate the MCAP program and several ongoing grants, collaborates with regional partners, translates climate data and information to support decision-making, and builds networks of climate adaptation practitioners. Amanda's current research projects include development of climate resilience indicators for the State of Minnesota and work to improve climate data visualization and communications of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center's Drought and Week 2. U.S. Hazards Outlooks. Prior to joining the MCAP team, Amanda worked with the Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments (CISA), an applied climate research team based at the University of South Carolina.
