MONROE COUNTY HOSTS 16th ANNUAL SOUTHEAST FLORIDA REGIONAL CLIMATE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT IN KEY WEST

KEY WEST, FL – Monroe County Administrator Christine Hurley, Monroe County Mayor Jim Scholl, and Monroe County Chief Resiliency Officer Rhonda Haag welcomed approximately 400 thinkers and leaders from business, government, higher education, and nonprofits to the 16th annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit in Key West. Monroe County and the five local municipalities, Key West, Layton, Marathon, Key Colony Beach, and Islamorada, are co-hosting this year’s event. The summit rotates annually among the four compact members, which also include Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties.
 
Topics of the “Keys to Resilience” event included panel discussions and innovation programming looking back at the 15 years of compact collaboration and progress and into the future of resiliency in southeast Florida.
 
“This year’s summit focuses on project implementation to help slow or avoid the effects of climate change and the specific resilience projects that are being implemented locally to manage the effects of the rising seas,” said Monroe County Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag. “This unique collaborative effort between the region’s four counties was the first of its kind and is now being duplicated in other areas due to its success and effectiveness in developing resilience solutions.”
 
The summit covers local resilience projects from each of the county’s chief resilience officers, perspectives from South Florida county administrators, an update from Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer Wes Brooks, a view on regional collaboration with the four county mayors moderated by Monroe County Commissioner Holly Merrill Raschein, the Deep Blue Infrastructure focusing on reef protection, policy analysis, and resilient water management with Monroe County Artificial Reefs Director Dr. Hanna Koch, and more. Monroe County Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Lincoln and commissioners David Rice and Craig Cates were also in attendance.
 
The Compact was created in 2010 by Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties to coordinate and collaborate on climate change action across county lines and is internationally recognized as a leading example of regional-scale climate action. To learn more about the Compact, visit www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org.
 
The summit is a major annual event. Monroe County previously hosted the annual conference in 2011, 2015, and 2019, and will again in 2028.
 
Later this month, Monroe County Television (MCTV) will have the summit presentations available for the public to view at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/mctv under the ‘On Demand’ tab.