An Assessment of Colorado's Future Vulnerability to Flood, Drought, and Wildfire.

Impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across Colorado. Higher temperatures and drier conditions have led to larger wildfires, while population growth has expanded the wildfire-urban interface, meaning these events have much greater impact. Persistent droughts have impacted the agricultural economy, stressed urban water supplies and accelerated groundwater depletion. Economic losses from major storm events such as the Front Range 2013 floods continue to increase, the impacts often greatly exacerbated by the compound effects of wildfire. State policymakers are under pressure to make decisions on climate change that intersect with many other policy domains and have both immediate, short-term consequences and profound, long-term implications. Assessing climate change risks to inform adaptation planning is thus becoming critically important. Failure to effectively plan for and manage future climate change risks will result in significantly greater damage to infrastructure, businesses, the economy and society in general. This presentation focuses on the recent development of a formal structure for evaluating climate change risk as a critical component of state adaptation decision-making. We develop an accessible, cost-effective and user-tested climate change risk assessment framework that aligns with existing state plans for climate change, resiliency, multi-hazards, water, and water supply, so the state can better identify, quantify, prioritize and manage their climate change risks. The final product is delivered through an easy to use, visually engaging and enlightening 'Climate Change Multi-hazard Risk Assessment Tool'.