A message from the Chief Resilience Officer
As we look back, 2020 was one of the most difficult years in memory. Not only did our County and the world have to confront the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated hardships of that shock, but also here in South Florida we experienced the most active storm season ever, along with the hottest year on record. Although we were spared direct hits from a hurricane, the sheer number of named storms was a stark reminder of how vulnerable our County and the state of Florida are to climate change that is fueling more frequent, more intense, and wetter storms. More than any previous year, we witnessed the harsh realities of climate change in 2020, leading us to remain steadfast in our long-standing conviction that the time for us to act must continue to be now.
With the release of the updated Southeast Florida Climate Change Compact unified sea level rise curves - based on the best, most recent scientific data - we see the acceleration of sea level rise. This means that impacts will be felt sooner than previous projections showed, making it even more urgent for us to find creative ways to adapt while also mitigating the damage of greenhouse gas emissions.
To overcome these challenges, we are proud to be working with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and all County departments to advance multiple resilience goals designed to help our community deal with climate change while ensuring a more equitable and thriving future here in South Florida.
We continue to partner with the cities of Miami and Miami Beach and collaborate with all of our municipalities and a wide range of nonprofit and private-sector partners, Miami-Dade County took great strides forward in 2020 by implementing many of the 59 Action Items in our Resilient305 Strategy. This plan guides our team approach to enlisting community organizations and local leaders in our shared mission of reaching consensus to act so that we succeed in making this both the year and decade that Miami-Dade becomes an international trailblazer for climate action.
This year, the county will release our Sea Level Rise Strategy to address flooding challenges across the County in a comprehensive way. We will also work at the local scale to implement the Strategy through Adaptation Action Areas; the first being in the Little River area.
Working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Back Bay study for coastal storm risk management continues to move forward. This three-year study is an opportunity for our County to help secure federal resources over the coming decades to implement projects that would protect infrastructure. This study and others have clearly demonstrated that the benefits of proactive, preventative measures far exceed the costs. Therefore we must continue our work to invest in preventing damage ahead of a storm, rather than rebuilding after it.
While media coverage in 2020 often focused on adapting to climate change, the County balanced efforts in this area with a clear mission to reduce our carbon footprint. We continue to implement Building Efficiency 305 (BE305), a program to increase water and energy savings and reduce greenhouse gases, and we recently launched the BE305 Challenge to assist local building managers who want to cut costs while minimizing the negative impact of their facilities. We also completed our 2017 greenhouse gas inventory, which will be released this year. By focusing on water and energy efficiency and continuing to measure our emissions, we are taking critical steps toward a healthier future for our planet. Integration of all County water and electricity bills through EnergyCap software has been vital in tracking our own use and in reducing inefficiencies. We are proud to be leading by example.
Taking the benefits of green living to our most economically challenged residents, the County, the City of Miami Beach and several Community-Based Organizations including the NAACP are working together to facilitate deployment of renewable energy in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. This is yet another example of public and non-for-profit collaboration to bridge the equity gap for access to renewable energy, with public-private partnerships enabling us to achieve more than we could hope to accomplish going it alone.
These advances in 2020 have been impressive, but much more work is needed to truly make a difference, especially in light of the fact that County government accounts for less than 5 percent of communitywide GHG emissions. Our first steps have been very promising, but we must remember that long-term success can only be achieved through the integrated teamwork of our many partners and all our residents.
As Miami-Dade's first Chief Resilience Officer, it is my job to lead development of strategies that help our County adapt, survive and thrive in the face of ongoing stresses and any big shocks that come our way. In the year ahead, we will double down on our work toward a more climate resilient and equitable Miami-Dade, but we need for these carefully researched and well thought-out plans to be acted on immediately. We are at a tipping point. If continue as we have, we will watch even more damage unfold before us. But if we tap into our ability to innovate, to solve complex problems and to lead one another forward by our example, we can adapt, and we will thrive.
Miami-Dade County's Office of Resilience looks forward to a new year of strengthened collaborations, increasing effectiveness and expanding partnerships to help ensure that our community excels today and long into the future. #WeCanWeWill.
Thank you for your contributions in this vital work. Each and every one of us has an integral role to fulfill in the year and decade ahead.
James F. Murley
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Mayor Levine Cava reinforces County commitment to Paris Climate Agreement
On December 12, the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava issued the following statement regarding the County's commitment to dealing with climate change.
"As a County uniquely vulnerable to impacts from climate change, including extreme heat and sea level rise, Miami-Dade has both a responsibility and opportunity to confront these challenges head-on. For years, Miami-Dade has led on climate change by setting aggressive goals for carbon reduction and efficiency in all sectors of our economy, and we are pursuing critical adaptation strategies to protect our community well into the future. We have consistently renewed our commitment to fighting climate change, including the Board of County Commissioners' symbolic adoption of the Paris Climate Accord goals in 2017. Today, I am proud to reinforce that commitment by signing on to the National Climate Statement. We are still in because we never left."
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Florida and Miami-Dade County launch $20M Biscayne Bay Preservation Project
On December 21, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a $20 million partnership with Miami-Dade County to protect and preserve Biscayne Bay.
"Protecting Biscayne Bay has to be a top priority," DeSantis said during a news conference at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne. "This means ending sanitary sewer overflows by making the necessary infrastructure improvements, increasing freshwater inflows to many marine habitats that are currently threatened, and restoring the coral reef."
This partnership is supported with $10 million from the state's $625 million water preservation fund and $10 million from the County.
Officials will be implementing recommendations from the Biscayne Bay Task Force Report and tracking progress with a new year-by-year report card.
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Miami-Dade County to receive a $900,000 Federal Transit Administration grant through the Pilot Program for Transit Oriented Development Planning
On Tuesday, December 15, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced that Miami-Dade County will receive $900,000 for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) planning at four stations of the proposed Beach Corridor Trunkline from downtown Miami to Miami Beach, and at six stations of the proposed extension of the Miami Metromover to NW 41st Street. TODs are designed to increase public transit ridership, thereby lowering household transportation costs, reduce air pollution including greenhouse gases, and promote economic development.
"The FTA funding will help Miami-Dade County boost smart economic development and mobility through mixed-use development around transit stations," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "I'm grateful to the Federal Transit Administration, Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao, and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart for their continuous support for transportation solutions in our County."
The Beach Corridor is one of the six rapid transit corridors of the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan. The Beach Corridor runs from the Design District/Midtown Miami and Downtown Miami to the Miami Beach Convention Center area.
This is the third grant award from FTA for TOD projects along the SMART Plan corridors. Previously, FTA awarded $1,040,000 for the South Dade Corridor in 2019 and $960,000 for the East-West Corridor in 2016.
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Sunshine State Spotlight
SFWMD governing board approves 2021-2026 strategic plan
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board approved its 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, providing a blueprint for the District to continue advancing Everglades restoration, protect communities from flooding, ensure water for communities, and engage the public and stakeholders over the next five years. Approved unanimously by the SFWMD Governing Board, the plan is based on restoration priorities and significant input from the public and stakeholders.
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Resilient305 first Annual Progress Report
The Resilient305 team has been hard at work implementing the 59 Action Items in the Resilient305 Strategy since its release in May of 2019. The first annual progress report will be released on January 15 and will be available to download at www.resilient305.com. Highlights from Year One of implementation will be shared via Facebook live from the @Resilient305 account with updates from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County, Mayor Dan Gelber of the City of Miami Beach and Mayor Francis Suarez of the City of Miami.
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Town of Miami Lakes makes strides forward for resilience
The Town of Miami Lakes made great progress toward becoming a more climate resilient community in 2020. The town was recently awarded a street tree matching grant through the County's Million Trees Miami program. The $42,000 grant supports the Miami Lakes West reforestation project.
The town also recently passed a resolution in support of protecting Biscayne Bay.
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Join the SCDRP annual meeting in January
The Southeast and Caribbean Disaster Resilience Partnership will host their annual meeting virtually this year on January 26-28. The event will provide a great opportunity to connect with resilience and adaptation professionals and expand your network.
This year's meeting will focus on new understandings, priorities, and forward-thinking approaches to build capacity in resilience. This meeting celebrates the broader scope of resilience and welcomes new members who focus on climate adaptation, capacity-building and emerging priorities.
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University of Miami launches housing resilience tool
On December 8, the University of Miami's Office of Civic Engagement launched new resilience tools for their Miami Affordability Project (MAP) to assist with housing resilience and help ensure a sustainable South Florida. Through a virtual presentation recorded here, the research team demonstrated the newly developed set of GIS tools and resources addressing the impacts of climate change on Miami's affordable housing stock and providing adaptation and mitigation strategies that promote housing resilience.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Chief Resilience Officer James Murley opened the event and congratulated the UM team on their accomplishment while also thanking JPMorgan Chase for their generous new commitment of $500,000 for the next development phase of MAP, which will focus on urban heat island mapping.
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Office of Resilience About Town |
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Office of Resilience offers insights from the frontline of climate change
Karina Castillo, Resilience Coordinator for Miami-Dade County's Office of Resilience, joined experts from around the world to reflect on the challenges of the past year and identify opportunities for the future during a webinar on the Role of Resilience: What Have We Learned? Putting Equity at the Heart of Resilience. To view the webinar, click here.
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Resilience Coordinator, Task Force Chair share news on County's work during North Bay Village's Save the Bay Town Hall
During a recent virtual town hall meeting, North Bay Village officials joined a group of scientists and experts to discuss ways to protect Biscayne Bay, especially following the fish die off in August caused when a heat wave and nutrient overloading depleted oxygen levels in the bay. Informing the public of actions underway at the County level to help were Office of Resilience Coordinator Monica Gregory and Biscayne Bay Task Force Chair Irela Bague.
North Bay Village has been successful in leading by example when it comes to protecting the Bay while addressing the challenges of sea level rise. Noteworthy best practices include:
- North Bay Village was the first city in Miami-Dade County to pass the Florida Friendly Fertilizer ordinance.
- North Bay Village Mayor Brent Latham was one of the first mayors of the 34 municipalities in Miami-Dade County to sign on to the Resilient305 Strategy at the launch of that communitywide plan on May 30, 2019.
- And the Village also recently banned single-use plastics and enforced an ordinance on pollution caused by construction sites.
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Upcoming Events and Webinars |
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Jan 22
Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference
Feb 8
GEO Coastal Tools 2021
April 13 - 16
National Stormwater and Watershed Conference
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Job Opportunities
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