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Coastal states, such as North Carolina would also be required to develop a strategy to address the impacts of <br />climate change and ocean acidification on the coastal zones. This strategy would include similar components. <br />The strategy would require detailed methods for incorporating climate change and ocean acidification <br />strategies into conservation and natural resource management activities carried out by Federal agencies to <br />ensure consistency across jurisdictions and resources. It would also require that plans establish programs <br />for assessing the current and future impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on natural resources <br />managed by the agency and develop programs to monitor natural resources that are likely to be adversely <br />affected by climate change. The strategy needs to identify and prioritize research and data collection needed <br />to address climate change and ocean acidification impacts, such as models of relative sea level rise, and <br />projected habitat loss. The strategy should also identify and prioritize adaptation strategies, establish programs <br />to monitor and improve these strategies, and establish performance measures for assessing the effectiveness of <br />these strategies. <br />Funding from 2010 annual State Wildlife Grants appropriations <br />The 2010 Interior Appropriations bill, passed in November, provides $90 million to the state wildlife agencies. <br />This is an increase of $15 million increase over 2009 funding levels. The needed match of funding from the <br />states for implementation projects has been reduced from 50% match to a 35% match. As in the last two <br />years, some of the funding is set aside for competitive grants — $7 million for tribes and $5 million for states <br />— the language asks for a report on how this has worked over the last two years within 90 days of enactment. <br />The conference report does not state that the increase in funding is to be used specifically for updating action <br />plans for climate change or for climate implementation projects. However, the conference report language <br />states that the conferees believe that climate change is an integral part of action plan implementation and that <br />increases should be used for on the ground adaptation projects. <br />Appendix E 209 <br />