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California’s investment in actionable scientific research is a cornerstone of its leadership on climate change. Each year, scientific understanding of climate change and its impacts improves. This evolving scientific understanding must underpin all our efforts to strengthen climate resilience and adaptation and is the basis of this priority.
A science-to-action approach that advances partnership-based research allows us to better understand the location, timing, and extent of climate impacts and will support investments and policies that reduce future climate risk. For example, the Fourth Climate Change Assessment was designed to be actionable by state and local stakeholders and supports adaptation practice across the state. Many local counties and government agencies continue to use the Fourth Assessment projections to plan for sea level rise, extreme heat, and other climate impacts. Now underway, the Fifth Climate Change Assessment is already expanding and building on the advancements made during the Fourth Assessment.
The partnership-based research models California is adopting will improve our understanding of and response to climate impacts by diversifying the perspectives and contributions to this work. For example, western science has overlooked the generations of knowledge held by indigenous communities, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial. Seeking and elevating Traditional Ecological Knowledge can augment conventional research methods to better understand how California’s climate and environment have changed over time. Additionally, establishing partnerships at the outset of research processes to understand communities’ needs will direct more actionable research and outcomes. As a state, we commit to continued support for new and innovative climate research, and application of findings for the purpose of adaptation.