In September 2014, the Florida Climate Institute (FCI) and the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact (Compact) signed a Preliminary Partnership Agreement to achieve the following goals:
- Seek better alignment between public sector information/management needs and ongoing university research.
- Improve coordination between the Compact and FCI universities in pursuing competitive research funding opportunities.
This partnership will help ensure that both the FCI and the Compact are well-positioned for competitive grant opportunities and are effectively advancing Florida’s environmental, social and economic sustainability through applied research and planning collaborations. The intent of this partnership is to support climate research and planning of particular relevance to Southeast Florida. The two entities meet monthly, and coordinate communications and collaborative efforts with a broader group of statewide FCI partners.
The partnership’s four focus areas are:
- Regionally Coordinated Activities
- Communications
- Initiating joint research and education efforts
- Process for identifying and developing other joint initiatives
The Compact has provided letters of support opportunities for actionable science in the real world, helped demonstrate that university work and research are relevant and applicable, and offered opportunities to pilot projects. In turn, FCI has provided data and conducted modeling, provided information for fact and economic‐based decision points, acted as a partner on grant applications, conducted research, and broadened the Compact’s network.
This partnership has proven worthwhile and has enhanced return on interest on several levels. It has strengthened climate action in Florida and broken down silos. In the first stages of this partnership, success has been seen in the following ways:
- The Climate Indicators webpage
- Resilient Redesign III
- Reducing Climate Risk and Creating Economic Opportunity Workshop
- Unified Sea Level Rise Projections
Learn more about the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.
