Climate Choices for a Sustainable Southwest assesses the challenges of implementing mitigation and adaptation plans in the region within the context and complexities of state and local governance; highlights examples of current climate-change mitigation and adaptation initiatives and successes; and characterizes the practical opportunities, or co-benefits, of mitigation and adaptation.
Citation:
Liverman, D., S. C. Moser, P. S. Weiland, L. Dilling, M. T. Boykoff, H. E. Brown, E. S. Gordon, C. Greene, E. Holthaus, D. A. Niemeier, S. Pincetl, W. J. Steenburgh, and V. C. Tidwell. 2013. “Climate Choices for a Sustainable Southwest.” In Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States: A Report Prepared for the National Climate Assessment, edited by G. Garfin, A. Jardine, R. Merideth, M. Black, and S. LeRoy, 405–435. A report by the Southwest Climate Alliance. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Diana Liverman (University of Arizona)
Susanne C. Moser (Susanne Moser Research and Consulting, Stanford University)
Paul S. Weiland (Nossaman Inc.)
Lisa Dilling (University of Colorado)
Maxwell T. Boykoff (University of Colorado)
Heidi Brown (University of Arizona)
Eric S. Gordon (University of Colorado)
Christina Greene (University of Arizona)
Eric Holthaus (University of Arizona)
Deb A. Niemeier (University of California, Davis)
Stephanie Pincetl (University of California, Los Angeles)
W. James Steenburgh (University of Utah)
Vincent C. Tidwell (Sandia National Laboratories)
Key Findings
There are low-cost or revenue-generating opportunities for emission reductions, especially in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Climate mitigation can provide co-benefits such as prescribed fire that reduces future greenhouse gas emissions and increases forest resiliency.
Many different types of organizations and individuals in the Southwest have already taken a variety of steps to respond to climate change.
Huge expanses of public lands across the Southwest may offer a significant insurance policy against impacts to ecosystems and biodiversity.
Many cities are emerging as the leaders in setting policies, preparing risk assessments, and setting targets for the reduction of GHG emissions.
Figure Gallery
Figure 18.1: Water resource development in the Southwest: 2005 surface-water withdrawals for irrigation and dams. The massive development of water resources stands as one of the grand stories of settling the Southwest. Although this has created its share of environmental and social problems, and there are legitimate questions as to the long-term sustainability of water supply interventions, the systems of dams (shown here), diversions, and management institutions is a testament to the region’s ability to invest in managing its environment for economic and social well-being. In light of these incredible efforts to make the Southwest habitable, meeting the new climate challenges of the twenty-first century seems less daunting. Map from The National Atlas of the United State of America (http://www.nationalatlas.gov; see also http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mapmaker?AppCmd=CUSTOM& LayerList=wu2005%3B5&visCats=CAT-hydro,CAT-hydro; accessed October 8, 2012).
Figure 18.2: Extensive federal lands in the Southwest: A legacy for the future. This map illustrates the legacy of federal land ownership in the Southwest, covering nearly 30 percent of the entire United States. Protected habitat and ecosystem services ensure sustainable management of resources and may be the greatest insurance policy against losses in the future, because natural resource use and biological species can more easily adapt to rapidly changing climatic conditions. Modified from The National Atlas of the United States of America (http://www.nationalatlas.gov; see also http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedlands/fedlands3.pdf; accessed October 8, 2012).
Figure 18.3: McKinsey Mitigation Cost Curve. Governments, for-profit and non-profit organizations, and individuals are already taking steps to reduce the causes of climate change in the Southwest. Many low-cost or negative-cost opportunities for emission reductions (particularly energy efficiency and renewable energy) are available. This well-known graphic shows a wide range of actions that incur cost savings (with “negative costs” shown on the left side of the graphic with bars extending below the horizontal line). Actions to the right of the graphic incur increasingly higher costs. The width of each bar associated with a particular action indicates how much carbon could be abated in 2030 throughout the United States if it were implemented fully (in gigatons of carbon per year). Graph based on McKinsey (2007).