We will partner with communities to enhance proposals to organizations that can fund innovative nature-based flood mitigation projects along the Gulf Coast. We will provide scientifically sound and illustrative information using mature modeling approaches to drive holistic coastal planning that considers ecological and socioeconomic values.

Why We Care
Local government leaders, planners, and others involved in hazard mitigation confront a daunting challenge regarding climate change as it changes their risk. To address these compounding vulnerabilities, communities need to be able to plan, design and implement resilience projects that address their local physical, social, and environmental needs. However, in many communities, the capacity to develop such projects, seek funding, and implement them is hindered by a lack of needed data, confusion over what data they should use, and a shortage of expertise to use the available data. Many communities need help — both in the form of time and technical support — to develop and access the data they need to develop robust projects to improve their resilience to natural hazards.

What We Are Doing
We will partner with communities to enhance proposals to agencies for innovative nature-based flood mitigation projects. To do this, we will combine socioeconomic data with hydrodynamic, morphologic, and ecological data to model how human and environmental systems respond to mitigation initiatives and adaptation strategies under various sea level rise scenarios. We will also compare predicted flood hazards and co-benefits, with and without nature-based flood hazard mitigation projects, and under potential adaptation measures. The specific project scenarios and designs evaluated will be determined through iterative conversations with stakeholders.

This work is led by Dr. Matthew Bilskie at the University of Georgia, in collaboration with Dr. Craig Landry and J. Scott Pippin at the University of Georgia, Dr. Davina Passeri at the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, and Dr. Stephen Medeiros at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and is funded through the NCCOS Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) Program.