Climate Resilience Fund Announced as California Hit by Severe Drought

On February 14, President Barack Obama announced his intention to request $1 billion in his 2015 budget proposal for a Climate Resilience Fund. Obama announced his plan during a trip to Fresno, California, which is currently in the midst of one of the most severe droughts it has experienced in the last 500 years. The winter snowpack that provides much of the area’s water supply for the year has dwindled significantly, causing California Governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency. Secretary Vilsack of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared 27 counties in California as primary natural disaster areas.

In his remarks, President Obama focused on the link between climate change and weather-related disasters, such as the drought that California is currently experiencing. According to the president, “scientists will debate whether a particular storm or drought reflects patterns of climate change. But one thing that is undeniable is that changing temperatures influence drought . . . unless and until we do more to combat carbon pollution that causes climate change, this trend is going to get worse.”

The Climate Resilience Fund, if approved by Congress, would fund new technologies to assist communities in climate change preparations, finance research on projected climate change impacts, and support the development of resilient infrastructure. The measures are intended to help Americans prepare for the negative effects of global climate change, such as sea level rises and the increased incidence of extreme weather, droughts, and wildfires. President Obama is focusing on climate change preparedness because he believes that, “we’ve got to start looking at these disasters as something to prepare for, to anticipate, to start building new infrastructure, to start having new plans, to recalibrate the baseline that we’re working off of.”

The new fund would be a separate effort from the President's Climate Action Plan, announced in June 2013, and other climate-related executive orders. The request will go out as part of the Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget proposal, to be sent to Congress in early March.

During the speech, President Obama also revealed a $1.2 billion aid package to assist communities, farmers and ranchers in the Great Plains, Midwest and Southwest regions who have experienced a series of prolonged droughts in the past year.