Increasing extreme weather, human-induced hazards, and a global pandemic have shed light on vulnerabilities and risks facing both defense communities across the country and the military installations they host.
Defense communities deserve specific attention because they comprise a large network of essential operations, services, and infrastructure necessary for military installations to sustain continued military operations and readiness. Defense communities and the military installations they host must understand their shared vulnerabilities and risks and work together to address the challenges of extreme weather, as well as natural and man-made hazards. As defense communities improve their own resilience, they effectively support a broader spectrum of military operations and national security.
Military installations are major economic engines of a community, region, or state. Therefore, state and local governments have a vested interest in supporting development and maintenance of infrastructure and services beyond the installation fence line to maintain military mission assurance and continued operations. Communities must not only protect and preserve military readiness and defense capabilities, but also provide a safe place for service members and their families to live, work, and play. The defense community resilience planning framework presented in
Advancing Resilience for Defense Communities: A Planning Framework provides defense communities with resilience planning guidance, tools and funding resources to assess, plan, prioritize and implement resilience strategies and infrastructure projects. Additional information on promoting resiliency through a Military Installation Resilience Review can be found within
Plans and Studies to Support Compatible Use or in the
Resources Tab of this website.
Please see below examples of climate resilience planning collaboration between the military and surrounding communities in the Mid-Atlantic region:
