November 4, 2011 —

Georgetown University Law Center is pleased to announce the creation of the Adaptation Clearinghouse, an online database that seeks to help state and local communities adapt to climate change.

“The country may not be able to pass a climate bill at this moment, but states and communities can start planning for the inevitable consequences of climate change,” said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center. “We can help communities prepare for rising sea levels and storm surges, for example, by providing planners with greater access to existing policy tools and information that they can use to meet this challenge.”

Developed by the Georgetown Climate Center, the Adaptation Clearinghouse offers policy proposals, legal analysis, legislative tracking, emergency responses and other resources to state and local communities faced with flooding, drought and other conditions associated with climate change.

In addition to the Adaptation Clearinghouse, the Georgetown Climate Center has issued the Adaptation Tool Kit: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use, a report that explores 18 different tools for responding to the threats posed by rising sea levels to both public and private coastal development and infrastructure. The Climate Center has also released Adaptation Case Studies in the Western United States, two case studies that examine water shortages in the West and the protection of the greater sage grouse, an endangered ground-dwelling bird.