Louisiana

Global climate change poses risks to human health and to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Important economic resources such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and water resources also may be affected. Warmer temperatures, more severe droughts and floods, and sea level rise could have a wide range of impacts. All these stresses can add to existing stresses on resources caused by other influences such as population growth, land-use changes, and pollution.

Climate Change in Louisiana

Below are some of the potential impacts:

• By 2100 temperatures in Louisiana could increase about 3°F (with a range of 1-5°F) in spring and summer, slightly less in winter, and slightly more in fall. The frequency of extreme hot days in summer is expected to increase along with the general warming trend.
• At Grand Isle, Louisiana, sea level already is rising by 41 inches per century, and is likely to rise another 55 inches by 2100. Louisiana currently is losing coastal wetlands at a more rapid rate (approximately 50 square miles a year) than any other coastal state or region in the United States.
• Louisiana’s low-lying delta coastal wetlands are a unique case — these wetlands receive large deposits of sediment from the outflow of the Mississippi River. These deposits provide wetlands with a natural defense against the effects of sea level rise. However, because the surface is subsiding faster than sedimentation is occurring, Louisiana wetlands could be flooded extensively even by relatively small changes in sea level. Cumulative costs of sand replenishment to protect Louisiana’s coast from a 20-inch sea level rise by 2100 could be $2.6-$6.8 billion. sea level rise update
• In addition, warmer seas could contribute to the increased intensity, duration, and extent of harmful algal blooms. These blooms damage habitat and shellfish nurseries, can be toxic to humans, and can carry bacteria like those causing cholera. Brown algal tides and toxic algal blooms already are prevalent in the Atlantic. Warmer ocean waters could increase their occurrence and persistence.
• Along Louisiana’s coast, viral and bacterial contamination of shellfish has repeatedly caused illness. Warming in the Caribbean may have contributed to these ill-nesses; future warming combined with local pollution most likely would continue to damage fish and shellfish and thus affect human health.

The above are based on from the Environmental Protection Agency's report on climate change, which uses data from the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001).

For more info on climate change impacts on Louisiana in areas such as water resources, agriculture, forests and ecosystems, you can download pdf of full EPA Report.

CO2: How Does Your State Rank?

Louisiana is the highest emitter of C02 of all 50 states and the most populous.

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Maps

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Regional Initiatives

This state does not participate in any regional initiatives.

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