Sonoma State forum to highlight local implications of climate change

Public policy makers, conservationists, natural resource experts and others will gather Wednesday at Sonoma State University to confront the issue of climate change and discuss strategies to ensure Sonoma County can adapt to evolving conditions.

The day-long conference has been dubbed the nation’s first-ever county-level climate adaptation forum and is evidence of what organizers say is Sonoma County’s proactive and pioneering approach to addressing the issue.

More than 200 people are expected to attend.

Genevieve Taylor, a member of the coordinating committee for the North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative, the event creator, said one of the goals is to update the community on current climate change science and what it might mean locally.

But organizers also hope to broaden participation in the discussion about what can be done to make Sonoma County and its communities resilient to weather extremes and other changes anticipated as the future unfolds.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Gorin said the emphasis Wednesday will be to set the stage for the development of strategies to help local agencies, businesses and residents adapt to longer, warmer summers, increased rainfall variation, sea level rise and other results of climate change.

The event is the product, she said, of “many people now recognizing that change is happening and how do we adapt to these changes that we are observing now and will observe in the future?”

Spokesman Oren Wool said late registration will be accepted this morning at the conference site - SSU’s Student Center in the center of campus.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., followed by a reception.

More information is available at http://sonomacountyadaptation.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.