March 29, 2024

City planners, academics, nonprofits and business leaders from a five-state region will meet in Dallas next week to share knowledge and resources on climate change.

The South Central Climate Resilience Forum will be held April 2-4 at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. Cost is $350 and includes lunch on the first two days and snacks.

The three-day, in-person event is designed for representatives from nonprofit organizations, community groups, the private sector, academia and all levels of government from Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.  

The inaugural conference is hosted in partnership with representatives from all of these sectors, including the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program at University of Oklahoma, city of Dallas, North Central Texas Council of Governments, the cities of Austin, Oklahoma and Fayetteville, the University of Texas at Austin, Louisiana State University and eight other entities.

Darrian Bertrand, a lead organizer of the event and a climate assessment specialist from SCIPP, hopes the conference will provide participants with inspiration and ideas.

“Our region faces a range of weather and climate hazards, including many billion dollar disasters,” said Bertrand. “But finding solutions to climate change and resilience against these extremes requires an interdisciplinary approach.”

The keynote address will be presented by Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy and distinguished Texas Tech University professor.

Over the course of three days, the schedule includes presentations, symposiums and workshops and networking opportunities. Sessions will cover climate-related challenges facing the region and the work being done to enhance resilience in the region. 

“We’re hoping that participants can take these success stories back to their communities,” said Bertrand. “This will be a really great opportunity for attendees to grow their networks and learn who they can talk to if they want to do a project similar to this.”

THE LINEUP

On Tuesday, keynote speaker Hayhoe, author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, will speak at 3 p.m. followed by a panel discussion titled From Science to Action.

Katharine Hayhoe is the keynote speaker. Photo by Artie Limmer, Texas Tech University.

In addition, the Forum's schedule is packed with presentations. All totaled, there are 25 sessions in five 90-minute blocks, plus a workshop block, with the majority of sessions held on Wednesday.

Broad topics include greening cities, implementing climate science, developing disaster resilience, securing federal grants and addressing climate justice, with presenters sharing research and success stories.

After the Forum closes on Thursday, attendees are invited to attend the 7th annual North Texas Climate Symposium, hosted by the city of Dallas in Ballroom A1-A2 at the Convention Center.

Also on Thursday, attendees can choose one of the following field trips to: Restoration Farms (via transit) or Dallas County Renovation & Nearby Green Infrastructure (walking tour).

HELPING CITIES COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE

Organizer Bertrand said the event is modeled after similar events hosted by the National Adaptation Forum and its regional chapters.

“There's never been a conference for the South Central part of the country so we are trying to fill that gap,” she said. “We would love for this to become a reoccurring event.”

An Oklahoma native, Bertrand has a bachelors degree in meteorology and a masters in geography from the University of Oklahoma. In her work as a climate assessment specialist at SCIPP, she helps stakeholders in the South Central U.S. assess their climate risk and be better prepared to face climate-related disasters.

She said her background as a meteorology major spurred her interest in global warming.

“Coming from Oklahoma, I was always interested in the weather,” Bertrand said. “But as I was going through school and learning more about the climate side of things, I was more interested in that versus forecasting. And I just stuck with that for grad school. I find it really fascinating looking at the longer term trends and building resilience for communities.”

SCIPPs is funded through NOAA and is one of 13 regional teams across the U.S. dedicated to helping provide resources for planners, emergency managers and floodplain managers.

“We mostly just work with medium and small-sized communities that don't have the resources to hire consultants or staff within their city to work on some of the resilience aspects,” Bertrand said. “Cities like Dallas have the capacity to have these really great climate action plans, but a lot of the smaller communities are struggling to just to have a hazard mitigation plan, which is required for FEMA funding.” 

Her organization offers resources such as weather and climate data and directs stakeholders to other tools.

Bertrand said the rate of climate change is concerning — our region is experiencing everything from the occasional extreme winter event to extreme rainfall, heat, drought, hail and tornados.

“In most of our region, these changes are happening more slowly than others like the Northeast. However, our coastal communities are really getting the brunt of these changes with sea level rise and coastal erosion.”

On the positive side, Bertrand said there is a lot of progress happening in the South Central region, something they wanted to showcase with this event. 

“Some actions may be more small scale than large scale, like what Dallas is doing, but people are doing what they can.”

Bertrand said smaller, under-resourced communities need more more help to implement the change. But she does she change. 

“Hopefully, the conference provides a little glimpse of that.” 

South Central Climate Resilience Forum 

About: The three-day, in-person event is designed for representatives from nonprofit organizations, government, community groups, the private sector and academia from Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma,and Texas. Sessions will cover climate-related challenges facing the region and the work being done to enhance resilience in the region. Keynote speaker is Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy and distinguished Texas Tech University professor.

When: April 2-4, 2024

Where: Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, 650 S. Griffin St., Dallas.

Cost: $350. The cost includes lunch on thefirst two days as well as snack breaks.

Website

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