Resilience to a changing climate in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: Progress, challenges, information gaps, and opportunities

This report presents a summary of stakeholder views on activities related to resilience and adaptation to climate variability and change in the U.S. Chesapeake Bay watershed, supplemented with references to published information gathered by the research team at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (MARISA) program. These stakeholder conversations focused on decisions and investments under consideration today that would most benefit from the inclusion of climate information, adaptation initiatives that have been accomplished and proposed future adaptation options, key knowledge and data gaps in climate resilience and adaptation initiatives, opportunities to advance climate resilience efforts, and challenges or threats to advancing those efforts.

This report is intended for a general audience of stakeholders, practitioners, and policymakers interested in climate resiliency. The goals are to (1) provide a concise account of the initial stakeholder feedback that is helping to shape MARISA's analytical priorities and efforts to assist the region on these issues and (2) increase awareness of stakeholder perceptions about how a changing climate is currently affecting or will soon affect a variety of services, investments, and decisions in the region.