Tetra Tech Wins Project Merit for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience

In January 2020, Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ) recognized Tetra Tech’s work in 2019 with a Project Merit for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. EBI Inc. will present the annual CCBJ awards for outstanding businesses at its 18th Annual Environmental Industry Summit in San Diego, California, on March 19.

Tetra Tech received this business achievement award for its development of guidance documents addressing the multiple impacts of climate change in the state of Hawaii. The state’s communities are highly vulnerable to extreme natural disaster events, including hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. In addition, climate change is expected to exacerbate the impacts of many natural hazards, thereby increasing the risk of disaster at the community, county, and state levels. Tetra Tech worked with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to develop two guidance documents for Hawaii addressing sea level rise in community planning and disaster-recovery preparedness. These guidance documents are intended to help counties, together with their communities and partners, address sea level rise through their existing planning processes and provide model resources to support resilient and streamlined post-disaster permitting for reconstruction. Case studies will be used to improve understanding of opportunities and challenges to increase resilience to coastal hazards and sea level rise through planning and post-disaster reconstruction.

"We must take a two-pronged approach to adapting to sea level that focuses on long-range planning to reduce risks of future development and recovery preparedness planning to take advantage of opportunities provided by disasters to retreat from the shoreline,” says Dr. Kitty Courtney, Tetra Tech senior oceanographer.

The Disaster Recovery Preparedness Guidance was completed in April 2019 and the Sea Level Rise Planning Guidance will be completed in April 2020. This work was funded through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Regional Coastal Resilience Grant.

Learn more about the CCBJ Business Achievement Awards at ebionline.org.