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Giving Compass' Take:
• The Aspen Institute shares key needs identified at the Coastal Resilience Roundtable: data collection, coastal mapping, support for communities, and addressing security threats.
• Are you positioned to address the needs of coastal cities? Which communities have the most urgent needs?
• Read about the costs of sea-level rise.
In June 2019, the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program – in partnership with Van Ness Feldman – convened the inaugural Aspen Institute Coastal Resilience Roundtable. This one-day roundtable brought together experts from academia, non-profits, the private sector, and government (including some current members of Congress) to discuss the state of America’s coasts, what is needed to protect them, and how best to ensure their resilience for decades to come. The scope of the roundtable was expansive, and the rich dialogue and exchange of ideas confirmed the value of convening on this topic.
This report briefly summarizes the core themes and topics discussed at the Coastal Resilience Roundtable. After reviewing the key takeaways from the entire event, this document highlights the main thoughts and ideas that emerged during each of the roundtable’s four sessions: (1) the state of the coasts; (2) national security and coastal resilience – opportunities and vulnerabilities; (3) the role of data in resilience planning; and (4) insights from state and local officials.
Key Takeaways:
- There is a pressing need to address the current damages occurring in U.S. coastal communities and to take action to prevent even more costly and destructive consequences in the future. Pre-disaster spending is always more effective than post. Boosting coastal resilience must be a vital national imperative – one that will benefit not only states with a coastline, but every community in the United States.
- More accurate mapping of coastal communities and flood zones, greater levels of funding, and improved coordination – both among federal agencies and among local, state, regional, and federal actors and jurisdictions – are all needed to ensure that communities have a better understanding of, and can better respond to, the range of risks they face.
- Quality updated data is essential to arming communities with the information and tools needed to improve coastal resilience, but the data currently available is inadequate. Data standards and coordination among the different actors in the space are necessary.
- Climate change is a threat to military infrastructure and to the communities in which military bases are located. Boosting coastal resilience will require civilian-military partnerships.
In addition, in discussing funding, issues of equity must be addressed. There are many vulnerable cities, suburbs, and rural areas that have limited resources and high levels of poverty and so are unable to plan and adapt to potential threats. These places can be left even further behind when disasters strike. It is critical to consider how funding changes can be leveraged to address the needs of all affected communities.