This project aimed to survey, catalog, and assess (where possible) climate adaptation activities in the Southeast United States, focusing on water resources. We examined11 states in the Southeast - Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, and Florida - as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In the course of past surveys of adaptation activities in coastal and marine North America, the Great Lakes, and the western United States and Canada, we have noticed a significant gap in capacity and reported activity in the southeast, especially around water resources management. Climate-induced effects on the water cycle will alter hydrologic systems, which will have implications for ecosystems and human communities. In turn, these changes will affect how managers and planners approach water resources management. Many strategies exist to support climate-informed water resources management, including:

• Increasing water supplies,
• Protecting ecosystems,
• Increasing water resource use efficiency,
• Improving flood protection, and
• Incorporating climate change into Integrated Water Resources Management.

Sponsored by The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation, and CAKE.

• To build on past survey work in order to uncover adaptation activities around water resources management in the southeastern United States
• To facilitate the use of case studies in learning and application
• To support efforts to create regional adaptation networks, especially around water resources management

• American Water Resources Association Conference November 2013, Portland, OR; “Climate-Smart Water Resources: Managing Natural and Built Systems in a Changing World" - Rachel M. Gregg (Session 22: Climate Change and Land-Use Impacts)
• Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, April 28-29th, 2014: "The State of Adaptation: Assessing Climate Adaptation Activities Through a Sustained Research Initiative" - Rachel M. Gregg, Alex Score, Whitney Reynier, and Jessica Hitt
• American Water Resources Association Special Session June 2015, New Orleans, LA; "Climate-Informed Water Resources in the Southeast U.S." - Rachel M. Gregg (Session 3: Climate Change Adaptation)
• Final report

• Climate of the Southeast United States: Variability, Change, Impacts, and Vulnerability
• Southeast Climate Science Center

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