The Challenge
The State Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plan, now referred to as the ResilientMass Plan, is a federally mandated plan and planning process which allows the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to maintain eligibility for FEMA pre-and post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant programs, which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in resilience project funds over the last 20-25 years. It also allows the Commonwealth a planning framework to identify risks and vulnerabilities that are mitigated through ResilientMass Plan as well as the ability to engage a large number of internal and external public and private stakeholders.
Project Scope
The proposed project was a 5-year update of the 2018 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plan in compliance with implementing regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 44 CFR Part 201. The ResilientMass Plan / 2023 SHMCAP identifies strategies and specific, measurable actions to address risks to the human health and safety, communities, critical assets and infrastructure, natural resources, and economy of the Commonwealth. Specifically, the following tasks were performed:
- State Capability and Adaptive Capacity Analysis - The purpose of the state capability and adaptive capacity analysis is to identify the areas in which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and individual state agencies can take action to reduce risks and increase resilience from the hazard and climate vulnerabilities and consequences identified in the risk assessment. The capability and adaptive capacity analysis includes two components: (1) a capability assessment that evaluates the Commonwealth’s existing capabilities to enable and implement hazard mitigation and climate adaptation actions across agencies on a statewide level, and (2) an adaptive capacity analysis that includes an analysis of individual state agencies, as well as identifying trends and themes across agencies.
- Risk Assessment - The 2023 Massachusetts State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (2023 MA SHMCAP) Risk Assessment identifies risks, consequences, and impacts associated with the hazards and climate change influences that could affect Massachusetts. It considers the existing and future long-term stressors for each hazard, along with the exposure and vulnerability of populations, geographic areas, assets, and services from each hazard. The risk assessment served as the foundation for developing a strategy to reduce risk and increase resilience for the people, resources, and assets of the Commonwealth.
- State Agency Vulnerability Assessment - The purpose of the state agency vulnerability assessment is to identify areas where the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its agencies are likely to be most vulnerable to the hazard and climate vulnerabilities and consequences identified in the Risk Assessment. To determine the most critical vulnerabilities of state agencies and their associated physical assets, nonphysical assets, and functions, Massachusetts undertook the following actions: Assessed its current and future risk from natural hazards and climate change, as well as associated vulnerabilities, through the Risk Assessment and the 2022 Massachusetts Climate Change Assessment and conducted a survey of state agencies in fall 2022 to identify vulnerability of the physical and nonphysical assets, as well as functions, for which they are responsible.
- Hazard Mitigation Strategy - Based on the findings of the risk assessment and a collaborative action development process, the ResilientMass Plan presents the Commonwealth’s strategy for hazard mitigation and climate adaptation through the implementation of actions developed by state agencies through the Resilient Massachusetts Action Team (RMAT) in collaboration with local municipalities, regional organizations, community organization representatives, and federal partners. Two types of actions were developed: cross-government actions, which are meant to be implemented across various state agencies and partners and reduce risk across the Commonwealth, and state agency actions, which are actions to be implemented by state agencies to reduce risk within their respective areas of responsibilities. Together, the actions present a strategy that is meant to reduce risk and increase climate resilience throughout the Commonwealth.
This project utilized and met existing state climate change resilience goals, data/projects, resources, and planning tools through the integration of climate change and future conditions from the MA Climate Change Assessment currently underway. The goal and intended resilience benefits of this project consisted of anticipating the effects of climate change on all other hazards and to develop climate adaptation strategies.
Metrics
We have developed a framework of ResilientMass Metrics to track adaptation and resilience across the Commonwealth. Tracking for these metrics is currently under development.
Results
The ResilientMass Plan / 2023 SHMCAP received FEMA final approval 9/15/2023. Final deliverables include: ResilientMass Plan / 2023 SHMCAP Final Report and ResilientMass Plan / 2023 SHMCAP Executive Summary, available at 2023 ResilientMass Plan | Mass.gov.
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Best practices include:
- Conducting the Massachusetts Climate Assessment ahead of the SHMCAP update allowed the plan update to be developed based best available forward looking climate science and data specific to Massachusetts. The data and results of the MA Climate Assessment was used as the baseline for the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment. And the high priority impacts were the starting point for agency action development.
- The development of the MA Climate Assessment high priority impacts a leap forward from the 2018 SHMCAP. It provided the foundation for strategy development.
Project Alignment with ResilientMass Plan Priority Actions
This project advanced the 2018 SHMCAP action of updating the State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan and submit for FEMA review and approval every 5 years.
Further Action
The ResilientMass Plan will go through an annual maintenance and review process, cross-government and agency-specific action progress will be routinely monitored, and the Plan will go through a full update prior to September 2028.
Additional Information and Resources
Find the State Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP) 2023, or ResilientMass Plan, here: 2023 ResilientMass Plan | Mass.gov