Climate Change Actions
Climate Resilience Actions for Thurston County and South Puget Sound. A report assembled by the Thurston Regional Planning Council.
A few actions related to agriculture and climate change in the region include:
- P-01: Increase funding, education, and incentives for private landowners to manage lands in ways that enhance ecological and economic resilience (e.g., protecting and restoring forests, prairies, and shoreline/riparian areas)
- Incentives can include expanding Thurston County’s Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, conservation easement funding, as well as expanding market-based approaches for ecosystem service payments or credits (e.g., for water quality, carbon sequestration and flood management).
- P-07: Increase organic matter content and water retention in soils within urban and agricultural settings.
- P-08: Increase urban agriculture and biointensive farming methods to maximize crop yields and ecosystem services.
- P-12: Grow woody perennial crops that help conserve water, store carbon, and provide other ecosystem services.
- This action — which includes planting fruit trees and other crops whose woody stems and branches don’t die off each winter — has both climate adaptation and mitigation co-benefits.
State Reports
- Washington State Department of Health: Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture.
- How Will Climate Change Impact Agriculture in Washington?
- Washington Agriculture in a Changing Climate. Puget Consumers Co-op Summary
WSU Soil Carbon Sequestration Research
- Huge carbon sink exists in soil minerals WSU researcher finds
- Researcher says ‘radical farming ideas’ could trap more carbon dioxide in soil
Soil and Agriculture
Organic Farming Research Foundation publication: New Climate Guide Evaluates Best Practices in Curbing Climate Change. Read the full report here.
Recent National and International Reports
- Federal Lands Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sequestration in the United States
- Climate Change Impacts in the United States
- United Nations Emissions Gap Report
- Nations Must Triple Efforts to meet 2 C Target
- International Panel on Climate Change: Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5 C
- Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; Affects in UK
- UK Climate Projections