Adapting legal and governance systems to address dramatic changes in climate trends pose significant challenges. The focus of this Climate Adaptation Forum is on the development of new rules, regulations, institutions, and forms of governance needed to respond to our changing climate.

This Forum will:

• Provide examples of developing the political will to enact change;
• Discuss impediments from existing regulatory programs designed to protect the existing conditions;
• Present the findings of the Governance and Climate Adaptation Report prepared by UMass Boston Sustainable Solutions Lab on governance;
• And report on Resilient Rhody, the 2018 the Statewide Climate Resilience Action Strategy developed for the State of Rhode Island.

As with past Forums, there will be sufficient of time for audience engagement during the moderated discussion with the speakers.

Forum Chair

Ralph Child, Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Keynote Speaker

Achieving Legislative Change

Representative Kristin Diane Jacobs
Florida House of Representatives

Speaker Agenda

Governance and Climate Adaptation: Updating Policies and Governing Institutions in the Face of Climate Change

David W. Cash, Ph.D., Dean
John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
University of Massachusetts Boston

Resilient Rhody: Rhode Island’s First Comprehensive Climate Preparedness Strategy

Janet Coit, Director
Department of Environmental Management
State of Rhode Island

Resilient Cambridge – Legal and Governance Challenges

Iram Farooq, AICP, LEED-AP, Assistant City Manager for Community Development
City of Cambridge, MA

Adapting Regulations for the Rising Tide

Barbara Kessner Landau, Counsel
Noble, Wickersham & Heart LLP

Moderated Panel Discussion with Audience Q & A

Moderator: Ralph Child, Forum Organizer; Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Panel Members:

• Representative Kristin Jacobs, Florida House of Representatives
• Janet Coit, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
• Iram Farooq, City of Cambridge
• Stephanie Kruel, VHB