Climate Change Directive Work Plan
This workplan presents actions to accelerate progress toward the objectives in Directive No. 21-1: Collective Action for Climate Change, address critical areas of need and help lay the groundwork for growth in climate readiness and resiliency in the Chesapeake Bay region.
Description
In October 2021, the Chesapeake Executive Council signed Directive No. 21-1: Collective Action for Climate Change. The directive acknowledges the consequences of climate change on Chesapeake Bay ecosystems and communities and commits the Chesapeake Bay Program and its partners to take concerted steps to address the impacts of climate change in all aspects of the partnership’s work to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. In December 2021, the Management Board established a planning team to lead the development of a workplan for implementing the directive’s objectives. This workplan presents a set of partnership-level actions that, if pursued collaboratively with strong engagement from partners and Chesapeake Bay Program programs, would accelerate progress in meeting the directive’s objectives, address critical areas of need and help lay the necessary groundwork for future action and growth in climate readiness and resiliency in the Chesapeake Bay region.
In drafting these actions, the planning committee closely considered current efforts supporting progress on the directive (Appendix A), federal agency commitments (Appendix B), expertise of Chesapeake Bay Program staff and where the Chesapeake Bay Program, as a collaborative body, could complement these efforts and address urgent needs that require cooperative attention. The planning committee recommends that these actions be completed or substantively initiated by the partnership by 2024, when it should reassess progress and establish new targets.