U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

Disasters caused by natural hazards and other large-scale emergencies are devastating communities in the United States. These events harm individuals, families, communities, and the entire country, including its economy and the federal budget. This report, developed by the National Academies’ Resilient America Program’s Committee on Applied Research Topics for Hazard Mitigation and Resilience, identifies applied research topics, information, and expertise that can inform action and opportunities within the natural hazard mitigation and resilience fields with the goal of reducing the immense human and financial toll of disasters.

Local communities are already experiencing dire effects caused by climate change that are expected to increase in frequency, intensity, duration, and type. Building and sustaining local capacities for climate resilience requires both resilient physical and social infrastructure systems and inclusive, resilient communities. This report, developed by the National Academies’ Resilient America Program’s Committee on Applied Research Topics for Hazard Mitigation and Resilience, provides guidance for active and ongoing efforts to move science and data into action and to enable and empower applied research that will strengthen capacities for hazard mitigation and resilience in communities, across the nation, and around the world.

There have been decades of discriminatory policies, practices, and embedded bias within infrastructure planning processes. It remains unclear which research strategies can ensure that infrastructure investments help increase resilience and improve equitable decision-making—and do not inadvertently impact—vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

This consensus study report, developed by the National Academies’ Resilient America Program’s Committee on Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Applied Research Topics, identifies three applied research topics as being particularly important for natural hazard mitigation and resilience for Equitable and Resilient Infrastructure Investments:

1. partnerships for equitable infrastructure development
2. systemic change toward resilient and equitable infrastructure investment
3. innovations in finance and financial analysis.

Click here to read an executive summary of the report >>

There was a time not long ago when disasters would strike one at a time, and communities would have time to recover and rebuild. Today, however, there is a new normal where disasters most do not occur as isolated events and instead seem to pile on one another. They often unleash new devastation on a community before it has had a chance to recover from the prior disaster. This report, developed by National Academies' Resilient America Program's Committee on Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Applied Research Topics summarizes three applied research approaches in hazard mitigation and resilience field and provides four foundational themes to consider throughout research efforts.

The four foundational themes of future research identified include:

1. compounding and cascading disasters are the new normal
2. legacy conditions need to be assessed, evaluated, and addressed
3. researchers need to practice codesign with communities, starting with pain points and impacts and working backward to solutions
4. relentless resilience, or the ability to function throughout a series of disruptive events, is critical for a future marked by compounding and cascading events.

This is the second of two consensus study reports developed to assist FEMA in reducing the immense human and financial toll of disasters caused by natural hazards and other large-scale emergencies.

Click here to view a summary and key findings from this report >>