Miami-Dade County is located far south on Florida's peninsula and sits at sea level, making it vulnerable to sea level rise and other effects of climate change. In addition, Miami-Dade County includes Everglades National Park, increasing its conservation importance on the national scale. Chosen by ICLEI as an appropriate pilot project for local sustainability planning, the Miami-Dade Greenprint aims to serve as a living document or road map for achieving the county's aggressive conservation and sustainability goals.
The Greenprint was published in 2010, and delineates targets for 2015 in the form of performance indicators for each of its conservation goals. It is revisited every five years to adjust for changing technologies and standards. Unlike other greenprint projects, spatial data or maps were not included in the report.
Year Published: 2010
State: Florida
Landscape Context: Coastal
Housing Density: Urban, Suburban
Funding Type: Public
Habitat Focus: Developed, Wetlands
Organizations Involved:
Miami-Dade County (Board of County Commissioners, Mayor's Sustainability Advisory Board, Greenprint Core Planning Team, Climate Change Advisory Task Force) and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability
Values:
Water Supply, Energy Efficiency, Open Space/Habitat, Recreation, Transportation, Sustainability, Community Education, Climate Resilience
Stakeholder Involvement:
Stakeholders were consulted; over 100 community meetings were held in the first year of the Greenprint project, which were complimented by outreach to local experts and advisors.
Planning Process:
The Greenprint team began by assessing existing sustainability baselines and challenges, set relevant goals, and eventually whittled down 360 proposed initiatives to only 137 initiatives based on cost-benefit analyses and alignment with the seven broader sustainability goals. These goals and initiatives were then explicitly linked to the community's Climate Change Action Plan. Implementation strategies were described and assigned to a lead office within the county. As the initiatives progress, the team aims to monitor and evaluate progress, and ultimately to reassess the sustainability plan and goals.
Desired Outcomes:
Create leaders in sustainability, use less water and energy and reduce GHG emissions, preserve ecosystems and their services, responsible land use and efficient transportation system, support green jobs and economy, and increase resilience to future climate change.
What It Accomplished:
Five city governments within the county have adopted the Greenprint and its proposed initiatives (35 cities total in the county). 23,600 acres of land preserved through County's Endangered Lands program, 525 of which are coastal or wetland habitat. Increased community awareness of saltwater intrusion on drinking water supply, local mitigation efforts.
- The county has decreased water use by 3.66 million gallons per day, well below its 1.50 MGD reduction target.
- Public transit ridership has increased in some cities as much as 29%. Developed a Green Business Certification program, under which 15 businesses have been certified to date.
- All schools in the county have been integrated into an awareness program on safe and healthy lifestyles (walking/biking to work).
- Over 18,000 residents have attended native landscaping/gardening information sessions.
- Obtained Energy Efficiency Block Grant funding for projects across the county.