John S. McCain III
National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution

Service Areas - Climate

The 2018 National Climate Assessment from the U.S. Global Change Research Program warns that climate change presents systemic threats throughout our society. Among those areas mentioned in particular are essential services, public health and disease transmission, water quantity and quality, important ecosystems from which we derive benefits such as sea ice and coral reefs, agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of rural and indigenous communities, coastal communities, infrastructure performance, outdoor recreation, our economy, and national security. Climate-related challenges are often multijurisdictional in nature; have far-reaching impacts across social, political, and environmental spectrums; and involve large numbers of stakeholders, thus creating opportunities for collaborative problem-solving.

The National Center can provide assistance in the climate arena in a variety of ways. We often work with decision makers and stakeholders to analyze a climate-related conflict or complex challenge and design a collaborative problem-solving process tailored to the situation and the parties involved. We bring parties together and help them establish communication guidelines that work for all concerned. We also provide training in interest-based negotiation methods and other collaborative approaches and techniques. Much of our work centers around facilitating consensus-building dialogue and helping parties reach agreement on how they want to address their shared challenges. We do this for policy, site-specific, and/or interagency challenges.

Our collaboration and conflict resolution services can provide value in the following areas:

• Climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.
• Stakeholder and public engagement.
• Response to sea level rise, flooding, drought, and other extreme weather events.
• Management of natural resources and public lands.
• Resiliency in agricultural sectors.
• Energy development.
• Collaborative forest management to reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire.
• Collaborating within certain legislative contexts such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, or the Clean Water Act.
• Helping Federal agencies develop systems and procedures that support the appropriate use of collaboration and conflict resolution approaches.
• Training in stakeholder engagement, Tribal engagement, Government-to-Government Consultation, and collaboration and conflict resolution.

Click here to view and download the Climate flyer.