NSF CoPe Workshop

Community Resiliency in the Face of Coastal Hazards and the Renewable Energy Transition

Coastal communities along the east coast of the United States, primarily North Carolina to Maine, are in a time of rapid transition. First, like much of the rest of coastal United States, they are experiencing more pronounced coastal hazards, including sea level rise, increased storm rain events, and surging oceanic waters, resulting in flooding. These factors are complicated by climate change. In addition, as the US moves toward clean energy, wind turbines are beginning to be placed in the ocean off their coasts. These two dynamics could result in new relationships between communities and their coasts. This three-morning NSF-funded workshop will explore the implications of the changing nature of the human relationship between coastal communities, coastal processes, and electricity infrastructure in the ocean. The workshop will be oriented toward future research and opportunities to adapt, advance preparedness, and absorb and bounce back after storm events. The workshop will bring together scientists, planners, citizen groups, and business interests.

The outcomes of the workshop are an interdisciplinary research roadmap laying out a research agenda for the emerging coastal community transition and the identification of specific best practices to enhance adaptive capacity and to build skills of local decision makers. Learn more via the PDFs below:

The agenda and workshop research questions can be found below. Additionally, PDF downloads of the agenda, workshop research questions, and biographies of the organizers, keynote speakers, and discussants can be found to the right.

Agenda

9:00am – 9:10am	Welcome and introduction to the workshop Jeremy Firestone, University of Delaware
9:10am – 9:15am	Introduce keynote
9:15am – 10:00am	Keynote #1 + Q&A – Bonnie McCay, Rutgers University
10:00am – 10:10am	Break
10:10am – 10:30am	Discussants Patrick Field, Consensus Building Institute David Bidwell, University of Rhode Island
10:30am – 11:30am	Breakouts to Develop Research Roadmap related to Q1 (60 minutes)
11:30am – 12:00pm	Wrap-up/Report out from Breakouts

9:00am – 9:10am	Recap Day 1 Bonnie Ram, University of Delaware
9:10am – 9:15am	Introduce keynote
9:15am – 10:00am	Keynote #2 + Q&A —Kirstin Dow, University of South Carolina
10:00am – 10:10am	Break
10:10am – 10:30am	Discussants Darlene Finch, NOAA Danielle Swallow, Delaware Sea Grant
10:30am – 11:30am	Breakouts to Develop Research Roadmap related to Q2 (60 minutes)
11:30am – 12:00pm	Wrap-up/Report out from Breakouts

9:00am – 9:10am	Recap Day 2 Bonnie Ram, University of Delaware
9:10am – 9:15am	Introduce keynote
9:15am – 10:00am	Keynote #3 + Q&A – Melissa Finucane, RAND Corporation
10:00am – 10:10am	Break
10:10am – 10:30am	Discussants Marccus Hendricks, University of Maryland Vanessa Parks, University of Mississippi
10:30am – 11:30am	Breakouts to Develop Research Roadmap related to Q3 (60 minutes)
11:30am – 12:00pm	Summary discussion with larger group – facilitated session
12:00pm – 12:05pm	Wrap up/Next Steps Jeremy Firestone, University of Delaware

Workshop Questions

The workshop will be designed around the following three questions.

Question 1

How should non-local natural resource managers and energy regulators balance critical social, economic, and cultural needs of coastal communities in an era marked by climate change, including sea level rise, and proposals to industrialize the ocean through renewable energy development, primarily offshore wind power? Sub-topics include:

The combined effects of industrialization of the ocean and the changing environment on coastal economies and sense of place
The effects of industrialization of the ocean and efforts to manage coastal risks on job opportunities, local community economic development and social structures
The social and cultural effects of ocean industrialization and the changing environment on potentially underserved communities (including older adults, those of low-income, and other marginalized populations such as communities of color).

Question 2

How can society improve collaborations between the research (science) community and small coastal towns and rural communities, including those that are underserved, so that scientific research and data can be more effectively leveraged (“useable science”) to (i) support local capacity to implement resiliency projects and adapt to coastal change, and (ii) define and leverage potential benefits of development and adaptation, particularly for those communities that are already in transition? Subtopics include:

Links (such as (equity, lessons learned, community capacity building) between underserved urban and rural communities
Opportunities for adaptive management and distributive justice

Question 3

Which risk communication strategies are likely to be most effective at reaching vulnerable populations on the coast (including underserved communities) and how should the tradeoffs, uncertainties or potential opportunities associated with climate change and offshore wind power development be communicated? Sub-topics include:

Appreciation for the nature of a given challenge and the environmental, political, and social dynamics that may inhibit knowledge exchanges.
Bridging the gap between decisionmakers, agencies, and communities, and how to incorporate more effectively host community voices.
Incorporation of communities’ current and past experiences with trust, underlying conditions, and existing stressors into communication strategies.

Highlights

Date
April 20-22
9am-12pm EDT, each day

Topics
• Coastal adaptation to industrialization of the ocean (offshore wind power).
• Coastal adaptation to coastal hazards, such as SLR, storm surge and precipitation.

Links

CoPe website

NSF Coastlines and People Hubs for Research and Broadening Participation (CoPe)

NSF 20-567, Coastlines and People Program Solicitation

Downloads

Download Agenda (PDF)

Participant Bios (PDF)

Workshop Questions (PDF)

Registered Participants (PDF)

Participant Guide (PDF)