Symposium to Address Sea Level Rise in Southwest Florida

Pretty interesting stuff, more-so in just how its going to effect our watershed in the now and future... the full conference agenda is available at www.mote.org/lsi and it can also be viewed online at www.scgov.net . Quick overview and if you want in depth details go to the Mote Marine site....

If Floridians are going to withstand the rise in sea level that is expected to accompany climate change, planning needs to start now, according to a new policy assessment by the Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory.

According to the report "Policy Tools for Local Adaptation to Sea Level Rise" by Barbara Lausche, Deputy Director of the Marine Policy Institute, scientists project that sea level may rise as much as 14 inches by 2080, and possibly by two feet or more by the end of this century because of greenhouse gas emissions and melting glaciers. While policies are being implemented that are designed to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, Floridians aren't yet making plans to deal with the changes expected to occur and already under way because of past emissions. (Download the full report or a synopsis of the report at www.mote.org/lsi.)

To jumpstart community discussion about climate change and how the expected sea level rise will affect Florida, the Marine Policy Institute is convening a two-day symposium for lawmakers, community planners and residents on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 12-13. The symposium will be streamed live online on Sarasota County's website at www.scgov.net by Access Sarasota, Sarasota County's public access station. Streaming will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run throughout the presentations each day.

The symposium, "Land-Sea Interactions in Southwest Florida," will present an overview of the land-use issues that Southwest Florida is expected to face due to sea-level rise, and economic growth, along with a discussion of the policy tools that local governments can use to address these issues. Most of these policy tools are already in place and do not require major legislative changes before local governments can begin taking action.

"Sea level rise is expected to have significant impacts on places like Southwest Florida, but as a region, we're not yet planning for the impacts," said Dr. Frank Alcock, Director of the Marine Policy Institute at Mote and Associate Professor of Political Science at New College of Florida. "In order for Southwest Florida to be resilient in the face of sea level rise, we really do need to begin addressing the challenges associated with figuring out where to put utilities, houses and businesses. These are all decisions that are made on the local level, so it's very important for us to begin thinking and talking about these things now."

The symposium is sponsored by the Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory, New College of Florida, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, Sarasota County, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, USF-Sarasota/Manatee Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, Collins Center for Public Policy, the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota