The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the federal entity responsible for dealing with the impacts left by natural disasters, stripped the words climate change from the 2018-2022 strategic plan. The document also fails to mention sea level rise, extreme weather or other global warming related impacts that could lead to the types of events FEMA typically responds to. This in spite of disaster-stricken 2017, which saw 16 weather and climate disaster events with losses of $1 billion or more in the U.S. according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Instead of hitting on the source of causes of risk, in a climate-jester move the FEMA plan notes: “Disaster costs are expected to continue to increase due to rising natural hazard risk, decaying critical infrastructure, and economic pressures that limit investments in risk resilience. As good stewards of taxpayer dollars, FEMA must ensure that our programs are fiscally sound. Additionally, we will consider new pathways to long-term disaster risk reduction, including increased investments in pre-disaster mitigation.”