This week Lead Organizer for South Florida, Olivia Nedd attended The 10th Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit held in the City of Miami Beach. In January 2009, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties formalized their commitment to working together to address the unique climate issues of Southeast Florida through the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. The Compact seeks to coordinate all climate related activities across the four counties. The annual summit allows for discussions around progress, emerging issues, and ways to mitigate climate change problems.
A running theme throughout the summit was building local climate resilience. One way this can be achieved is through better collaboration among the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Each county since signing the compact in 2009 has made advances in their regional response to natural disasters, sea-level rise, flooding, and economic and social disruptions. Summit attendees learned about each of these advances and heard from experts on ways to better integrate the public health needs into the climate discussion. To learn more about this regional compact click here.