Resilience

Resilience is "the capacity or ability for a system to avoid, adapt to, or recover from shock or change." In a new report for the US Forest Service Urban and Community Forest Program, the Center for Resilient Cities argues that urban forestry is "simple climate protection technology," but that the USFS, like other federal agencies, is at just the earliest stages of planning for and adapting to threats posed by climate disruption.

The report suggests that urban forests may be central to designing and managing resilient cities in the 21st Century (though the report also notes the potential for conflict between urban forestry projects designed to cool a city and solar projects seeking to put solar power arrays on urban rooftops). At the same time, implicit in its critique of the Urban and Community Forestry Program and its lack of a clear message or plan for climate change is the indication that the Program itself may lack resilience.

This raises a crucial question as we enter a new chapter of US government leadership on global climate change: What can we do to ensure that we are building resilient government agencies that prize adaptaion, experimentation and concrete outcomes? In other words. how to create resilient agencies that are part of the solution? The President-elect makes clear that it is not about throwing money at the problem, but about clarity of purpose and leadership at every level.