The catastrophic LA wildfires were a powerful reminder that governments and communities need to think carefully about the risks they face and the role policies may play as they learn to live with greater fire risk.
Policy
Implementing a multifaceted strategy can motivate state and local governments to prioritize resilient design and construction effectively. The combination of policy frameworks, education, collaboration, technology utilization, successful models, funding opportunities, and ongoing evaluation will protect communities for the future.
While designing for resilience requires initial investments, the long-term payoffs often far outweigh these costs. Ensuring that resilience benefits are distributed fairly across all communities, including marginalized groups, is critical. Resilience strategies should be scalable and adaptable to evolving climate risks.
More comprehensive disaster prevention perspectives are needed to enable communities better to withstand the increased frequency and severity of climate-related disasters. Strengthening our up-to-date building codes could play a decisive role in this regard.
The Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) has for decades recognized the critical importance of robust cross-border security, seamless trade and economic cooperation between the U.S. and Canada. .