Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696591031833.pdf (United States)
Evaluate Climate Adaptation Actions Worksheet The intention of this worksheet is to help the planning team brainstorm equity implications and unintended consequences for potential resilience solutions/projects on socially vulnerable populations.

Directions: Please answer the following questions for one proposed resilience solution/project and one socially vulnerable population at a time.
It is important to analyze the equity impacts of proposed solutions for one vulnerable population at a time since socially vulnerable populations all have their own distinct needs and face individual challenges.

Considering all socially vulnerable populations together as one group is inappropriate and ill-advised.
It is also recommended that these assessments be conducted with socially vulnerable individuals to ensure a more informed and inclusive evaluation and the most equitable resilience solution proposals.

This worksheet is only intended to be a space to record potential impacts.

Your planning team and/or organization you represent need to decide what your threshold is for “good or bad” projects.
This worksheet is divided into the following sub-sections: • Project/Proposal Context – descriptive information about the resilience proposal and the geographic and social vulnerability contexts • Community Background – qualitative questions to list inequities in the community, the challenges socially vulnerable populations encounter in their community and community’s vision(s) for resilience • Changes and Impacts – 3 tables to document changes that will result from the proposal and the extent to which those changes could positively or negatively impact the socially vulnerable population Guiding Questions: Keep these questions in mind as your team co- develops and evaluates resilience solutions with the community.
These questions are adapted from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s “Whole Community Coastal Climate Resilience Planning” Training.

1. Who will be advantaged/disadvantaged the most by the potential resilience solutions?

2.

What current challenges and inequities exist that will be exacerbated by the potential solutions under consideration?

WHO IS SOCIALLY VULNERABLE?


Due to pre-existing social, economic and physical conditions, some community members are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

You can begin to identify socially vulnerable census tracts using the CDC’s SVI data layers or NJFloodmapper.
Socially vulnerable populations include, but are not limited to, the following: • • • • • Low-income populations People with limited English proficiency Elderly residents and children People of color, women, LGBTQ folks and other people who may experience discrimination Immigrants and undocumented people People with physical and developmental disabilities • People who are homeless • People without cars • Pregnant women • Outdoor workers • • People with pre-existing health conditions Environmental Justice communities or other populations that are exposed to disproportionate levels of environmental pollutants.
• EVALUATE CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIONS WORKSHEET 1 METRICS The following metrics should be considered as you co-develop solutions to mitigate existing challenges and future inequities and address the community’s pre-existing conditions and resilience.
Some metrics include: existing social capital, community knowledge of disaster services and protocols, accessible evacuation routes, community environmental health conditions and level of community cohesion (levels of empowerment, participation, shared knowledge activity and common purpose, networks, collective norms and values, trust, safety, and belonging) For more see the NAACP’s “Our Communities Our Power” toolkit.

3.
3.

How do priorities of socially vulnerable populations differ from other residents regarding the proposed solutions?

4.

How do the proposed solutions under consideration mitigate historic disadvantages to socially vulnerable populations to ensure their ability to “bounce forward”?

5.

Is there the possibility that the resilience solution might be less effective for socially vulnerable populations?
Project/Proposal Context Proposed Resilience Solution/Project: What is your management/research question or issue?

Geography directly affected by proposal: List all socially vulnerable populations that will or COULD be affected by the project or proposal?

For which Socially Vulnerable Population are you completing this assessment?

Is there a geography, or any socially vulnerable populations that could be indirectly affected or experience downstream effects of the proposed solution?
What are the desired future outcomes of the project?

Community Background Table 1.

Social Inequities Please create a list of the social inequities or issues within the community.

These can be racial inequities like residential segregation, health inequities like high asthma rates, education inequities or others.

Ideally these inequities have been identified by socially vulnerable and other community residents.
Some examples include: high unemployment rates, high homeless populations, high crime rates, lack of affordable housing, high uninsured population (for health insurance), high rates of substance abuse, homogenous neighborhood/residential segregation.

Table 2.

Conditions and Challenges for Socially Vulnerable Populations Please create a list of the pre-existing social, economic or physical conditions and challenges that this distinct socially vulnerable population (SVP) faces in their community.
Especially consider challenges that could be exacerbated by climate change impacts.

EVALUATE CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIONS WORKSHEET 2 Some examples include: lack of social cohesion, food insecurity (or “food deserts”), frequent sunny day/high tide flooding, frequent rainy day flooding or aging stormwater infrastructure.

Guiding Question: What is the community’s vision for resilience planning?
Changes and Impacts What are the changes that could or will directly result from implementation of the proposed solution, and how will these changes correspondingly impact the socially vulnerable population and/or their pre-existing conditions?

How might these changes impact service organizations who serve the socially vulnerable population?

What are some appropriate metrics to measure these changes?
Note: Changes could be environmental (biophysical, chemical), infrastructural, institutional/managerial or could occur in other sectors.

Section Directions: List the changes that will or could result from the proposal/project and the positive or negative impacts for the SVP and/or their pre-existing conditions in the tables provided below.
List potential metrics to measure each change • • • Considering Impacts Beyond the Natural Environment Think about how this resilience project or proposal could positively or negatively affect various social aspects of the community that may not seem directly connected to the natural or built environment, but are in fact, inextricable.
Some examples are below: Unemployment rate/job creation could be positively affected by the construction of new housing projects and local hire stipulations for populations at greatest risk of climate impacts Public health could be negatively impacted or remain the same if the proposal does not address existing heat disparities in the community, access to healthy food or mobility and accessibility issues.

Think about the predominant health issues in the community as you craft your resilience solutions.
Look at housing availability and property values (to prevent gentrification and displacement) when beautifying the community with community gardens, tree plantings or green infrastructure Solutions to get community members outside (e.g., building parks and other recreation facilities) could increase public safety, decrease crime rates and foster social connectivity List how the change could impact services for the SVP (when appropriate) Table 3 - First consider the positive impacts or potential opportunities for socially vulnerable populations.
Positive impacts are generally those that will improve the lives of socially vulnerable populations, but they can also include co- benefits for other groups of individuals in the community or different community sectors.

See provided example below.

Change Positive Impact(s) or Opportunities for SVP Metrics to Measure Changes and Impacts Could the change positively impact services for the SVP?

If so, how?

E.g.
If so, how?

E.g.

living shoreline will lead to increase in marsh size and improved function • • • Safer from hazards • Increase in marsh size and decrease in hazard recovery expenditures Cleaner water • Decreased bacteria concentrations ☐ in water No impacts to services.

Cleaner air • Decreased Air Quality Index values EVALUATE CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIONS WORKSHEET 3 Table 4 - Now consider potential negative impacts or unintended consequences for this SVP.
Negative impacts can include new challenges or inequities for the SVP or unintended consequences of a well-intentioned project (e.g., gentrification as a result of increased property values).

See example provided below.

Change Negative Impact(s) or Unintended Consequences for SVP Metrics to Measure Changes and Impacts Could the change negatively impact services for the SVP?

If so, how?
If so, how?

• Inequities in distribution of benefits • Gentrification and displacement due to increased property values • Air temperature in most vulnerable communities • Increased property value averages, neighborhood income averages, demographic shifts, beautification, access to healthy food and physical activity resources, etc.

☐ No impact to services.

E.g.


Planting trees and greening an urban community to address rising temperatures and urban heat island effect Guiding Questions: What strategies could be included alongside the resilience solutions to mitigate unintended consequences or negative impacts?

E.g., Include provisions “Prioritize neighborhoods with greatest need for green trees and green spaces” and “advocate for rent control strategies to maintain housing affordability” to prevent gentrification.
Table 5 - List the community-identified pre-existing conditions and challenges (from Table 2), and the specific provisions in the proposal/action/project that will mitigate the condition and/or challenge.

See example provided below.

Conditions/Challenges for SVP Provisions to Address Condition or Challenge • Project will improve early warning systems for extreme heat and flooding events with warnings in multiple languages e.g.
limited knowledge of and access to disaster services • Project will develop a training program to train school administrators in area of disaster protocols • Project will produce and distribute emergency educational materials to community organizations in area EVALUATE CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIONS WORKSHEET 4