Extreme weather events are occurring with greater frequency. Severe weather, such as thunderstorms with damaging winds, heat waves, tornadoes, large hail, flooding, and winter storms, is devastating communities across the country and resulting in casualties, homelessness, and infrastructure destruction. Between 2010 and 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded 59 climate and weather disasters that caused at least one billion dollars in damage in the United States, compared with only 39 the previous five years. Communities around the country need additional support to prepare.
A growing number of communities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations are looking to assess climate vulnerability and to develop resilience plans. By collecting, maintaining, and sharing weather- and climate-relevant data, the federal government and its partners can help communities prepare for these extreme events. However, efforts to turn data into actionable plans are constrained by several challenges, as robust, actionable data is difficult to find, access, and use.
To overcome these challenges, in September 2016 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, World Resources Institute, U.S. Global Change Research Program, and a network of partners launched the Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness (PREP), part of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. PREP strives to strengthen climate resilience efforts around the world by promoting collaboration among producers and users of information, fostering standards to make data more accessible and interoperable, and developing platforms that improve data accessibility and knowledge sharing.
PREP offers the opportunity to make data-driven resilience efforts more visible and share lessons learned. The PREP platform requests that communities upload and share their own data and information, recognizing that local action requires local data and knowledge. For example, the city of Sonoma, California created a dashboard on PREP to share their climate resilience projects, their most valuable climate data, and helpful tools.
In addition to continuing to support and promote PREP, the White House should instruct other agencies to work with PREP on areas relevant to their work. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in particular, should work with PREP to support its resilience programs. In 2016, HUD and the Rockefeller Foundation awarded $1 billion across 13 states and communities through the National Disaster Resilience Competition. The funding helps grantees prepare for future natural disasters such as floods and tornados. Sharing those stories through PREP would allow communities to learn from each other and create a collective community of practice.
Finally, the White House and its partners in PREP should actively seek opportunities to work with stakeholders outside of government. Insurance companies, state and local governments, and individuals can use PREP as a valuable tool to leverage the most current climate data. With greater access to sophisticated climate models and open data, the insurance sector can improve its delivery of insurance coverage and buyers will have a better understanding of their own risks. Data-driven solutions can advance climate resilience in an effort to save lives, protect infrastructure, and withstand record-setting weather systems.