2013 ncse conference tie briefing packet
DESCRIPTION
Briefing packet on the symposium and workshop hosted by TIE at the 2013 National Council for Science and the Environment's (NCSE) Conference, Disasters and Environment: Science, Preparedness and ResilienceTRANSCRIPT
NCSE Conference 2013
Disasters and Environment:
Science, Preparedness and Resilience 13th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment
Washington, DC| January 15-17, 2013
Symposium 15
Tuesday, January 15, 3:45 - 5:15pm EST
―Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and
Sustainability - Lessons from the Northeast and Superstorm
Sandy‖
Breakout Workshop 4
Wednesday, January 16, 2:00 - 5:15pm EST
―Coastal Communities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation
and Sustainability - Building Resilience in Coastal
Communities: An International Agenda‖
BRIEFING PACKET
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Mission Statements:
The National Council for Science and the Environment's
(NCSE) mission is to improve the scientific basis of
environmental decisionmaking.
The Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) is an
interdisciplinary university-wide institute that initiates,
facilitates, and promotes environmental education, research,
and outreach toward a sustainable future.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Briefing Packet
Table of Contents
Subject Heading Page
Logistics, Contact Information & Social Media ….……………… 3
NCSE Conference Agenda ………….………..…………………… 4 - 8
Our Definition of Resilience ………………………………………. 9 - 10
Summary of Symposium 15 …………………………….....……… 11 -12
Symposium 15: Panelist Profiles ……………………….…….…… 13 - 16
Relevant Publications by Panelists………………..…….…..…….. 17 - 21
Summary of Breakout Workshop 4 …………………...………….. 22 - 23
Workshop 4: Discussant Profiles ……………………..…………….24 - 27
Additional Readings …………………………………….…………..28 - 30
This packet was produced by the staff at the Tufts Institute of the Environment
(TIE) to internally support and foster collaboration within both the
Symposium and Breakout Workshop organized for the 13th annual NCSE
conference. More general info about the conference itself can be found at:
www.environmentaldisasters.net
For revisions, additions, or any other suggestions to this document, please get
in contact with Emily Geosling at [email protected].
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Disasters and Environment: Science, Preparedness and Resilience 13th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment
Washington, DC| January 15-17, 2013 Conference Venue
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Nearest Metro Stations: Federal Triangle (Orange/Blue lines) and Metro Center
(Orange/Blue/Red lines)
Click here for venue, travel, and lodging info.
Symposium and Workshop Contact information:
Antje Danielson
Administrative Director
Tufts Institute of the Environment
(617) 627-5521 (office)
Emily Geosling
Program Coordinator
Tufts Institute of the Environment
(617) 627-5522 (office)
Lilah Sloane
Program Assistant
National Conference and Educational Assessment Program
The National Council for Science and the Environment
(202) 530-5810 ext. 237
Social Media information
TIE‘s Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/TIEatTufts
TIE‘s Twitter handle: @TIE_Tufts , www.twitter.com/tie_tufts
NCSE Twitter handle: @ncseonline or @ncseconf , www.twitter.com/ncseonline
Twitter hashtags to use when tweeting about the conference: #NCSEconf #disastercon
#SeaLevelRise #Solutions #ClimateChange #SuperstormSandy
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013 Draft Agenda
Symposium 15 and Workshop 4 highlighted
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
7:45 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibition, and Scientific Poster presentations
open
8:25 a.m. Opening and Introduction
8:30 a.m. Keynote Address: Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the Secretary-
General for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations
9:00 a.m. Keynote Address: W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
9:30 a.m.
Plenary 1: Japan 2011: Cascading Disasters
Moderator: Jon Hamilton, Correspondent, Science Desk, NPR
Timothy Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of South
Carolina
Yoshimi Inaba, Chairman, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Kenichiro Sasae, Ambassador of Japan to the United States*
Admiral Robert Willard (USN, Ret.), Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
2010-2012; President and CEO, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
10:30 a.m.
Plenary 2: The Gulf Coast: Diverse Converging Issues
Moderator: Admiral Thad Allen (USCG, Ret.), Senior Vice President, Booz Allen
Hamilton
Marcia McNutt, Director, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Bill Walker, Gulf of Mexico Alliance Management Team; Executive
Director, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
Nancy Rabalais, Executive Director and Professor, Louisiana Universities
Marine Consortium
Bernard Goldstein, Chair, Coordinating Committee of the Gulf Region
Health Outreach Program
11:30 a.m.
Plenary 3: Aridity and Drought and their Consequences
Moderator: Veronica Johnson, News4 Meteorologist, NBC Washington
Margaret Hiza Redsteer, Research Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS)
Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD)
Donald Wilhite, Professor of Applied Climate Science, School of Natural
Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Roger S. Pulwarty, Physical Scientist and Director, National Integrated
Drought Information System (NIDIS), Physical Sciences Division and
OAR/Climate Program Office
12:30 Lunch (on your own)
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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p.m.
2:00 p.m.
-
3:30 p.m.
Symposia A:
1. International Roles in Environmental Emergencies
2. Tools to Identify Vulnerability to Disasters: Part 1
3. Inundation Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
4. Preventing Catastrophic Losses to the Cascading Effects of Forest Fire
5. Lifeline Services at the Interface of the Built and Natural Environment
6. Ecosystem Impacts from Nuclear Energy: Lessons from Chernobyl and
Fukushima
7. Building a New Framework for Understanding and Mitigating Disaster
Impacts on Ecosystems
8. Envisioning Resilient and Sustainable Communities
9. Climate Change, Communities, and Risk: Research from the U.S. Global
Change Research Program and National Climate Assessment
10. Applying Models of Human Behavior and Memory in Disasters Across
Space and Time
11. Florida: A Statewide Case Study of Alternative Approaches to Adaptation
and Recovery
3:45 p.m.
-
5:15 p.m.
Symposia B:
12. Tools to Identify Vulnerability to Disasters: Part 2
13. Wildland Fire in a Changing Climate
14. Military Bases and their Communities
15. Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and Sustainability--
Lessons from the Northeast and Superstorm Sandy
16. Climate, Environment, and Readiness (CLEAR) Action Plan for Virginia -
Incorporating Expertise from CA's Bay Area and the City of Philadelphia,
PA
17. Mapping a Path to Resilience: The Intersection of Environmental Disasters,
Ecosystem Services, and Security
18. Enhancing Preparedness and Building Resilience in the Rapidly Changing
Arctic
19. Learning from Disasters: Environmental Disasters as Teachable Moments
20. Informing Disaster Resilience Policy
21. Women and Climate Change Disaster Resilience: Local to Global
Ecological Impacts and Strategies
22. No Regrets Resilience along the Gulf Coast
23. Unmeasured Consequences of Major Natural Disasters and Conflict
5:30 p.m. Keynote Address: Amanda Ripley, Author of The Unthinkable: Who Survives When
Disaster Strikes -- and Why
6:30 p.m. Reception
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013
7:45
a.m.
Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibition, and Scientific Poster presentations
open
8:30
a.m. Keynote Address: Mark Tercek, President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy
9:00
a.m.
Keynote Address: Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
Atmosphere and Administrator, NOAA
9:30
a.m.
Plenary 4: Feedbacks: Environmental Changes Driving Environmental Disasters
Moderator: Juliet Eilperin, National Environmental Reporter, The Washington Post
Gary Machlis, Science Advisor to the Director, National Park Service
James Murley, Executive Director, South Florida Regional Planning Council
Tom Tidwell, Chief, U.S. Forest Service
private sector perspective*
10:30
a.m.
Plenary 5: Climate Change and Disasters
Moderator: Heidi Cullen, Chief Climatologist, Climate Central
Amy Luers, Director, Climate Change, Skoll Global Threats Fund
Kathryn Sullivan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental
Observation & Prediction; Deputy Administrator and Acting Chief Scientist,
NOAA
Christopher Shore, Director, Natural Environment and Climate Issues, World
Vision International
Kristie Ebi, Consulting Professor, Department of Medicine, Stanford
University; former Executive Director, IPCC WGII (Impacts, Adaptation, and
Vulnerability) Technical Support Unit
11:30
a.m.
Plenary 6: The "Human Factor" in Environmental Disasters
Moderator: Andrew Revkin, Journalist and Senior Fellow for Environmental
Understanding, Pace University
David Kaufman, Director of Policy and Program Analysis, Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
Gerald Galloway, Research Professor, A. James Clark School of Engineering,
University of Maryland
Joe Ruiz, UPS Corporate Contributions Manager & Humanitarian Relief
Program Manager, The UPS Foundation
Kathleen Tierney, Director, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado
12:30
p.m. Lunch (on your own)
2:00
p.m. -
5:15
p.m.
Breakout Workshops:
1. Ready or Not: Resilience Indicators
2. Connecting Tools with Decision Makers
3. Grid Collapse: Electric Power and Disasters
4. Coastal Communities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation and Sustainability -
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Building Resilience in Coastal Communities: An International Agenda
5. Managing the Wildlands-Urban Interface for Fire Safety
6. The U.S. Flood Control Program at 75: Moving from Flood Control to Risk
Management
7. Impacts of Earthquakes on the Environment and Human Health
8. Resilient Buildings and Communities: Responding to Disasters and a Changing
Climate
9. Policies and Frameworks for Integrating Resources into Disaster Planning
10. Reducing Risk and Vulnerability: A New Future in Green Disaster
Management, Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
11. Natural Resource Managers and Disaster Risk Reduction: Protecting Coastal
Ecosystems
12. Enhancing Preparedness and Building Resilience in the Rapidly Changing
Arctic: Developing an Action Plan
13. Megadroughts
14. Environmental Emergencies: How to Manage Recent Trends of Climate
Change and Urbanization
15. Building Community Resilience and Capacity through Extension Programs
16. Responding to Drinking Water and Wastewater-Related Disasters and
Preparing for Climate Change
17. Resilient Community Disaster Recovery
18. Legal Issues in Emergency Management
19. Out of Harm's Way: Natural Disasters and Population Movements
20. Supporting Community Resilience
21. Risk Perception and Communication: How We Respond to Disasters
22. Predicting and Responding to Famine
23. Cities and Disasters
5:45
p.m.
NCSE Lifetime Achievement Award
13th Annual John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture: James Lee Witt, Founder and
Chairman, Witt Associates
6:45
p.m. Reception
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
8:00
a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30
a.m. Keynote Address: Rowan Douglas, Chairman, Willis Research Network
9:00
a.m. Keynote Address: Thomas Loster, Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
9:30
a.m.
Plenary 7: Building Resilient Communities
Moderator: Monica Brady-Myerov, Reporter, NPR
Susan Cutter, Carolina Distinguished Professor and Director, Hazards &
Vulnerability Research Institute, University of South Carolina
Nancy Kete, Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation
Gus Felix, Global Head of Operational Risk Management, Citigroup
Joseph Fiksel, Executive Director, Center for Resilience, The Ohio State
University
10:30
a.m.
Plenary 8: No Regrets Resilience: Saving Money, Saving Lives
Moderator: Elizabeth Shogren, Correspondent, Science Desk, NPR*
Howard Kunreuther, James G. Dinan Professor of Decision Sciences & Public
Policy; Co-Director, Risk Management and Decision Processes Center,
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Russ Paulsen, Executive Director of Community Preparedness and Resilience
Services, American Red Cross
Margaret Arnold, Senior Social Development Specialist, The World Bank
Ellis Stanley, Vice President, Western Emergency Management Services,
Dewberry
11:30
a.m. Closing Keynote Address
12:00
p.m. Networking and Buffet Lunch (with youth mentoring tables)
2:00
p.m. Conference ends
Taken from http://www.environmentaldisasters.net/topics/view/81252/
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NCSE Conference 2013
Disasters and Environment: Science, Preparedness and Resilience
A Definition of Resilience
Resilience takes on different meanings for different groups of people. For some, it encompasses disaster mitigation in effort to recover from natural and unnatural disasters. For others, it is understood as planning ahead in order to lessen the effect, or avoid, damage
and disaster in the event of an unforeseen event. For the purpose of finding a common ground at which further and more meaningful discourse can take place, it is important for us
to define resilience in the context of our symposium and workshop session.
Resilience is a community's capacity to adapt successfully in the face of threats and changes. Community resilience is based on the smart and sustainable use of available natural resources and on social constructs that support the community's health and safety. In the face of a changing world and with the availability of new research and development, a community's resilience should be measured and benchmarked in order to continually adapt and increase it.
Our definition has been shaped from scholarly work and literature offering various opinions about resilience, some of which are listed below for further reading:
Berke, Philip R., Kartez, Jack, and Wenger, Dennis. 1993. ―Recovery after disaster:
achieving sustainable development, mitigation and equity.‖ Disaster 17: 93-109. This paper reviews key findings and raises issues that not fully addressed by the predominant disaster recovery literature.
Achievement of equality, mitigation and sustainable development, particularly through local participation in redevelopment planning and institutional cooperation, is the central issue of the review. Previous research and past assumptions about the process by which communities rebuild after a disaster are reviewed. A conceptual and practical significance of this model is then demonstrated by presenting case studies of local recovery experiences, Finally, conclusions on the current understanding of disaster redevelopment planning, as well as implications for public policy and future research are offered.
Burby, R.J., et al. 1999. ―Unleashing the power of planning to create disaster-resistant communities.‖ Journal of the American Planning Association 65(3): 247-258.
Artist Vita Marie Lovett's art quilt Toro, I've a Feeling We're Not in Miami Anymore includes debris found in her south Florida yard after Hurricane Andrew struck in 1994. She describes it as a "photo documentary of Hurricane Andrew's destruction whirling against a background of broken fabric roof trusses and window frames." It is dedicated to her friend Jackie Parker Koger who lost her life as a result of the storm, which was the costliest 22 natural disaster in U.S. history up until that time. After the hurricane, Lovett relocated to Marietta, Georgia, where she creates art quilts with architectural themes from her home studio. Human suffering and losses of lives and property in natural disasters can be reduced with appropriate planning for hazardous areas. Federal policies addressing these problems, however, have yet to recognize the importance of planning as the cornerstone of effective local hazard mitigation. In fact, federal programs make planning more difficult because they encourage the intensive use of hazardous land and shield local governments and private decision makers from financial losses in the disasters that inevitably follow. To unleash the power of planning for hazard mitigation, federal policies must be revised so that they help build local understanding of risk, commitment to hazard mitigation, and support for planning. A number of actions can be taken now to begin moving in this direction. In the long term, however, new legislation is needed to reduce subsidies that sustain and encourage development in hazardous areas and to increase assistance for planning.
Christoplos, I., Mitchell, J. and Liljelund, A. 2001. ―Re-framing risk: the changing context
of disaster mitigation and preparedness.‖ Disasters 25(3): 185-198. This issue of Disasters explores the roles of NGOs and other actors in disaster mitigation and preparedness and also reviews
broad international trends in risk assessment and disaster prevention. The need to address risk, and with that the motivation to improve disaster mitigation and preparedness, has tended to fall between the cracks of grander frameworks of development co-operation and humanitarian assistance. Despite the seemingly glaring need to reduce the horrific impact of floods, droughts and wars, disaster mitigation and preparedness have neither the allure of directly ‗saving lives‗, nor of providing an ‗escape from poverty‗. There are, however, signs that risk management is becoming a min stream concern. Factors such as the need to address factors that do not fit into traditional slots on the relief-development continuum, the rising economic costs of disasters and growing acknowledgement that aid will never cover more
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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than a small fraction of the costs of disasters and are all leading to new approaches, priorities and institutional configurations. A realization that dealing with risk and insecurity is a central part of how poor people develop their livelihood strategies has begun to position disaster mitigation and preparedness within many poverty alleviation agendas. A number of long-standing challenges remain; most of all, the complexities of maintaining the political will that is needed to ensure that risk management becomes more than a passing fad.
Cutter, Susan L., Christopher G. Burtony and Christopher T. Emrichz. 2010. ―Disaster
Resilience Indicators for Benchmarking Baseline Conditions.‖ Journal of Homeland Security
and Emergency Management 7(1): 1-18. There is considerable federal interest in disaster resilience as a mechanism for mitigating the impacts to local communities, yet
the identification of metrics and standards for measuring resilience remain a challenge. This paper provides a methodology and a set of
indicators for measuring baseline characteristics of communities that foster resilience. By establishing baseline conditions, it becomes
possible to monitor changes in resilience over time in particular places and to compare one place to another. We apply our methodology
to counties within the Southeastern United States as a proof of concept. The results show that spatial variations in disaster resilience exist
and are especially evident in the rural/urban divide, where metropolitan areas have higher levels of resilience than rural counties.
However, the individual drivers of the disaster resilience (or lack thereof)—social, economic, institutional, infrastructure, and community
capacities—vary widely.
McEntire, D. A. & Myers, A. 2004. ―Preparing communities for disasters: issues and processes for government readiness.‖ Disaster prevention and management 13(2):140-152.
This paper discusses what local governments must do to prepare for various disasters, including terrorist attacks. It provides background information on preparedness and highlights lessons from prior research. It also identifies the process of establishing local ordinances, assessing risk, creating emergency operations plans, acquiring resources, instituting mutual aid agreements, training, exercising and educating the public. Finally, it concludes with recommendations to implement these preparedness measures.
Paton, D., Smith, L. and Violanti, J. 2000. ―Disaster response: risk, vulnerability and
resilience.‖ Disaster Prevention and management, 9(3):173-179. The assumption of an automatic link between disaster exposure and pathological outcomes is increasingly being questioned.
Recognition of the possibility of positive reactions and growth outcomes in this context necessitates the development of alternative models and, in particular, the accommodations of the resilience construct in research and intervention agenda. Reviews possible vulnerability and resilience factors and adopts a risk management framework to outline its potential for modeling the complex relationships between these variables and both growth and distress outcomes. Resilience and vulnerability is discussed at dispositional, cognitive and organizational levels. The paradigm developed here focuses attention on facilitating recovery and growth in professionals for whom disaster work and its consequences is an occupational reality.
Rubin, C. B. 1985. ―The community recovery process in the United States after a major natural disaster.‖ International journal of mass emergency and disasters 3: 9-28.
After studying first-hand how 14 U.S. communities recovered from a major natural disaster, an organizing framework recovery process was developed. That framework depicts the dynamic processes that contribute to an efficient local recovery, including the key elements of recovery and the relationships among those factors. The three key elements are personal leadership, ability to act, and knowledge of what t o do. Of paramount importance to an expeditious recovery are effective intergovernmental relations. In those communities where the speed and quality of recovery was greater, local officials had found ways to (a) ensure more productive intergovernmental relationships, (b) compete effectively for scarce resources, and (c) better manage community- level decision-making during the post-disaster period.
Tobin, Graham A. 1999. ―Sustainability and community resilience: the holy grail of hazards
planning?‖ Environmental Hazards 1: 13- 25. Recent hazard literature frequently refers to sustainability and resilience as the guiding principles behind e!ective hazard
planning. Certainly, structurally organizing communities to minimize e!ects of disasters and to recover quickly by restoring socio-
economic vitality are laudable goals. However, while anticipating such outcomes is relatively easy from a theoretical standpoint, practical
implementation of comprehensive plans is much more elusive. Indeed, relationships between community sustainability/resilience and
hazards are complex involving many social, economic, political and physical factors. A conceptual framework for analysis of
sustainability and resilience, then, is described based on three theoretical models, a mitigation model, a recovery model, and a structural-
cognitive model. This framework is examined using data from Florida, USA, where local context, social and political activities, and
economic concerns present difficulties in application. The question remains, therefore, to what extent can communities truly develop
sustainable and resilient characteristics?
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Disasters and Environment:
Science, Preparedness and Resilience
Symposium Summary
The symposia are in a general lecture format--the moderator will give introductory remarks
and introduce the speakers, then each speaker will have 10-15 minutes to present followed
by a discussion and question-and-answer session. These are general guidelines; the
organizers/moderators can conduct the session as they wish. We strongly suggest against
power points, especially since each speaker only has 10 minutes to present, but can supply if
you want. There are two rounds of symposia, each an hour and a half long.
Day: Tuesday, January 15
Time: 3:45 - 5:15pm EST
Symposium 15:
Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and Sustainability - Lessons from
the Northeast and Superstorm Sandy
Moderator: Kent Portney, Tufts University Professor of Political Science
Panelists: Paul Kirshen, Research Professor of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire
(Interdisciplinary focus on hydrological change and human adaptation)
Jack Wiggin, Director, Urban Harbors Institute at UMass Boston (Coastal, Port and
harbor planning with multiple stakeholders)
Samuel Merrill, Director, New England Environmental Finance Center Associate
Research Professor, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of
South Maine Margaret Davidson, NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
Acting Director
In this symposium, we will consider resilience (disaster prevention and disaster response) from the perspective of vulnerable urban areas along coastal areas confronted with sea level
rise and more frequent and severe extreme weather events and other natural disasters.
First, we will consider the information needed by municipalities to plan for adequate
resilience; secondly, what should be accomplished toward proactive planning and investment in vulnerable communities; and lastly, identify the best practices that can be recommended to the rapidly growing coastal cities of developing countries.
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This symposium will focus on our insights from cities and communities in the Northeast of the United States. As Hurricane Sandy has just demonstrated, the current modus operandi
in most communities is to focus on risk analysis and subsequent disaster recovery rather than risk reduction and prevention. The symposium panel will bring the perspective of
science, city governance, civil engineering, planning, and economics to this topic. We will examine how decisions are made, what factors are important when addressing change, and
what we can learn from best practice approaches. The symposium will provide insights and context for Workshop 4, which will take a broader international perspective and develop strategies for effective responses.
http://www.environmentaldisasters.net/topics/view/81498/
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NCSE Conference 2013
Symposium 15
Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and
Sustainability - Lessons from the Northeast and Superstorm Sandy
Panelist Profiles
Kent Portney (Moderator)
Professor, Political Science Department
Tufts University
Kent Portney teaches courses in methodology, judicial politics,
political behavior, public administration, survey research, and
environmental politics. He is the author of Taking Sustainable
Cities Seriously: Economic Development, the Environment, and
Quality of Life in American Cities (MIT Press, 2003), Approaching
Public Policy Analysis (Prentice-Hall, 1986), Siting Hazardous Waste Treatment Facilities:
The NIMBY Syndrome (Auburn House, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991), and
Controversial Issues in Environmental Policy (Sage Publications, 1992). He is also the co-
author of Acting Civically, published in 2007 by Tufts University Press, and The Rebirth of
Urban Democracy (Brookings, 1993), which won the American Political Science
Association's 1994 Gladys Kammerer Award for the Best Book in American Politics, and
the American Political Science Association Organized Section on Urban Politics' 1994 Best
Book in Urban Politics Award; and he is the co-editor of The Distributional Impacts of Public
Policies (St. Martin's, 1988). He is also co-editor of Virtual Decisions: Digital Simulations for
Teaching Reasoning in the Social Sciences and Humanities published in 2006 by Lawrence
Erlbaum. He is currently a member of the OECD's Metropolitan Review Panel. Portney has
held grants from the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer
Foundation, and the Polaroid Foundation. Professor Portney was recipient of the American
Political Science Association's 1997 Rowman and Littlefield Award for innovative teaching
in Political Science. He also received the APSA section on Information Technology and
Politics Award for best instructional software.
-- Taken from Department of Political Science, Tufts University website
http://ase.tufts.edu/polsci/faculty/portney/
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Paul Kirshen Research Professor - Civil Engineering department
University of New Hampshire [email protected]
Paul Kirshen has 30 years of experience serving as Principal
Investigator/ Project Manager of complex, interdisciplinary,
participatory research related to water resources and coastal zone
management and climate variability and change. He is presently
Research Professor, Environmental Research Group of
Department of Civil Engineering, and Institute for the Study of
Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. Previous to that he
served as Climate Change Adaptation Research Leader at Battelle Memorial Institute. From
1996 to 2009, he was Research Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department, Tufts University and Director and Co-founder of the Water: Systems, Science,
and Society (WSSS) Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program. He is also a Lead
Author for the 2014 Fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment
and the 2013 US National Climate Assessment, is a member of ICLEI USA– Local
Governments for Sustainability‘s Climate Adaptation Steering Committee, and a member of
the Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Committee and its Coastal Zone
and Ocean Subcommittee. He is also part of teams conducting a national vulnerability
assessment of US Army Corps of Engineers projects and programs, investigating municipal
adaptation options to SLR in several New England municipalities using the COAST tool,
and developing a drainage and sewer masterplan for Boston Water and Sewer Commission.
He has also conducted water and climate management research in West Africa since 1974.
-- Taken from American Geophysical Union Science Policy Conference 2012 website
http://sites.agu.org/spconference/program/speakers-and-moderators/kirshen-bio/
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Jack Wiggin
Director, Urban Harbors Institute
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Jack Wiggin is the Director of the Urban Harbors Institute where
he is responsible for the Institute's interdisciplinary research and
public service projects on coastal area, port, and harbor issues. He
has almost 30 years experience in coastal management, port and
harbor planning and management, waterfront development,
community planning, and public participation. Jack has provided
technical assistance in these and related areas to local, state, and
national governments in the United States and abroad. Jack's work in coastal management
and planning includes work as an associate investigator in Bulgaria, responsible for training
national and local government officials in coastal management, local coastal plans,
assessing coastal issues, environmental impact assessment, GIS mapping, and strategies for
program implementation and public participation. He also worked on the coastal element of
the Environmental Capacity-Building Action Plan for the Murmansk region of Russia.
Jack's extensive planning experience includes work on numerous coastal, harbor, and
resource management plans in the US. He is the chairman of the Advisory Council for the
Boston Harbor Islands National Park and serves on the Coastal Resources Advisory Board
of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program. Prior to joining the Institute,
Jack was senior environmental planner with the Connecticut Coastal Management Program
where he assisted the 36 coastal municipalities in preparing comprehensive plans and
regulations for their coastal areas. While there, he headed the research, writing, interagency
coordination, and initial implementation of Connecticut's Harbor Management Act. He was
also chief land use planner with the law firm Robinson & Cole, assisting private and public
sector clients with the planning and regulatory aspects of waterfront development and
coastal resource protection.
-- Taken from Urban Harbors Institute website http://www.uhi.umb.edu/staff_pages/wiggin.htm
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Sam Merrill
Director, New England Environmental Finance Center
Associate Research Professor, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public
Service, University of Southern Maine
Sam Merrill specifically aims to help land conservation be more cost
effective and strategic from a planning perspective. He conducts this
work through his role as Director of the New England
Environmental Finance Center, housed at the Muskie School. His
background is in applied conservation biology, wildlife management, and private land
protection initiatives. In the last several years he has also developed an applied policy focus
on local adaptation to global challenges of climate change - specifically in 1) land use
permitting issues around installation of new renewable energy generation capacity and 2)
fiscal preparations municipalities must undertake.
-- Taken from Muskie School of Public Service, University of Maine website
https://webapp.usm.maine.edu/MuskieWebDBfrontend/personView.action;jsessionid=12592006311
30229A709A31E41425398?personId=378
Margaret Davidson NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
Acting Director
The director of the NOAA Coastal Services Center is no stranger
to the coast or its many challenges. Before joining NOAA,
Margaret A. Davidson was executive director of the South
Carolina Sea Grant Consortium from 1983 to 1995. She also
served as special counsel and assistant attorney general for the
Louisiana Department of Justice. An active participant in coastal
resource management issues since 1978, Davidson earned her juris
doctorate (J.D. degree) in natural resources law from Louisiana State University. She later
earned a master's degree in marine policy and resource economics from the University of
Rhode Island. Davidson holds a faculty appointment at the University of Charleston and
serves on the adjunct faculties of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.
She has served on numerous local, state, and federal committees and has provided
leadership for national professional societies. She has focused her professional work on
environmentally sustainable aquaculture, mitigation of coastal hazards, and impacts of
climate variability on coastal resources. Davidson served as the acting assistant
administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service from 2000 to 2002.
--- Taken from NOAA Coastal Services Staff Directory website
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/about/director.html
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Symposium 15: Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and Sustainability -
Lessons from the Northeast and Superstorm Sandy
Relevant Publications by Panelists
Kent Portney
Professor, Political Science Department
Tufts University
Portney, Kent E., and Jeffrey M. Berry. 2010. ―Participation and the Pursuit of
Sustainability in U.S. Cities.‖ Urban Affairs Review 46(1): 119-139. This article explores the relationship between political and civic participation and the pursuit of sustainability in American cities.
Some have argued that cities that exhibit more participation, engagement, and bridging social capital are more likely to pursue policies
and programs designed to achieve greater sustainability. Others have posited alternative explanations, especially explanations related to
resources, socioeconomic status, and economic growth. Using the Social Capital Benchmark Survey cities—10 of which have extensive
sustainability programs, 5 of which have modest programs, and 12 of which have virtually no sustainability programs at all—as the source
of comparison, this research finds that cities that are most committed to pursuing sustainability policies do tend to be more participatory
places with respect to signing petitions, participating in demonstrations, belonging to local reform groups, and joining neighborhood
associations, even controlling for personal income and other factors.
Portney, Kent E. and Cuttler, Zachary. 2010. ―The local nonprofit sector and the
pursuit of sustainability in American cities: a preliminary exploration.‖ Local
Environment 15(4): 323-339. This paper reports on the results of a study of the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in 13
moderate sized US cities with populations between 400,000 and 600,000. Dividing the cities into two groups – those that have been more
serious and less serious about adopting and implementing sustainability policies, analysis of a survey of local public officials examines
differences in the nonprofit landscape. Analysis shows that the cities that are more serious about sustainability have local public officials
who interact more with nonprofit organisations, and are more likely to report the presence of at least one nonprofit group that supports
city sustainability policies. Additionally, these reported groups are more likely to be ―local‖, or homegrown, and to be explicitly dedicated
to the environment or sustainability. While far from definitive, the results provide evidence that the nonprofit sector is different in cities
with sustainability policies, and suggest that the role of these nonprofit groups in the governance decisions of city leaders warrants more
in-depth study.
Portney, Kent E. 2008. ―Education and Smart Growth Policies in U.S. Cities: A
Response to Lenahan O'Connell.‖ Social Science Quarterly 89(5): 1378–1383. Objective. This response to Lenahan O‘Connell‘s article ‗‗Exploring the Social Roots of Smart Growth Policy Adoption by Cities‘‘
examines whether the relationship between education and the adoption of smart growth programs in U.S. cities is reflective of the new
political culture and rooted in postmaterial values or, perhaps, just reflective of a slightly different way of thinking about traditional
economic development. Methods. Using data for 45 U.S. cities that have articulated broad policies to try to become more sustainable, this
analysis includes a measure of the severity of air pollution as an indicator of the need for smart growth programs. Results. The measure of
need is more strongly related to the pursuit of smart growth than is either education or income. Conclusions. Since the level of air
pollution is frequently understood to make economic growth difficult or impossible, the results suggest that smart growth programs might
be just as likely motivated by traditional economic development as by postmaterial values, and there is a need to develop a deeper
understanding of the motivates for adopting such programs.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Paul Kirshen
Research Professor - Civil Engineering department
University of New Hampshire
Kirshen, Paul, William P. Anderson and Matthias Ruth. 2005. Report: Climate’s Long-
Term Impacts on Metro Boston (CLIMB). ―CLIMB is a multi-sector analysis of how global warming will affect some of the key socioeconomic activities typical in major urban
centers. CLIMB demonstrates how global warming could fundamentally affect the Boston region over the next century, requiring tens of
billions of dollars to adapt to changes and to repair climate-related damages.‖
Kirshen, Paul et al. 2012. ―Simplified method for scenario-based risk assessment
adaptation planning in the coastal zone.‖ Climatic Change 113(3): 919-931. The development of successful coastal adaptation strategies for both the built and natural environments requires combining scenarios
of climate change and socio-economic conditions, and risk assessment. Such planning needs to consider the adaptation costs and residual
damages over time that may occur given a range of possible storm conditions for any given sea level rise scenario. Using the metric of the
expected value of annual adaptation costs and residual damages, or another metric that can be related to the elevation of flooding, a
simplified method to carry this out is presented. The approach relies upon developing damage flooding depth probability exceedance
curves for various scenarios over a given planning period and determining the areas under the curves. While the approach does have
limitations, it is less complex to implement than using Monte Carlo simulation approaches and may be more intuitive to decision makers.
A case study in Maine, USA is carried out to illustrate the method.
Kirshen, Paul, Kelly Knee, and Gary Yohe. 2011. "On the economics of coastal
adaptation solutions in an uncertain world." Climatic Change 106(1): 71+. ...It follows that estimates of the economic value of mitigation, and therefore potentially the level of mitigation that some decision-makers
might find palatable, also depend critically on the specification of the adaptation baseline. This, of course, is one of the reasons why it is
so important to incorporate adaptation into large scale integrated assessment models. The current exercise paper reinforces this point in an
environment that superimposes stochastic coastal storm events on two alternative sea level rise scenarios. It reports estimates of the value
of adaptation to rising sea and associated changes in the character of major coastal storms against two baselines. In the first, decisions are
made under assumptions of perfect economic efficiency that are supported by the availability of actuarially fair insurance. Indeed,
providing this insurance will proposed as a policy response to potential increases in damages associated with coastal storms that can be
associated with sea level rise, and its value with and without other adaptations will be evaluated. In the second, perhaps more realistic
assumptions about how fundamental market imperfections might significantly impair society‘s ability to spread risk sustain an exploration
of comparable valuations in a ―second-best‖ world in which the policy response has not been implemented.
Kirshen, Paul et al. 2008. ―Coastal Flooding in the Northeastern USA due to
Climate Change, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global
Change.‖Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 13(5-6): 437 - 451. With dense population and development along its coastline, the northeastern United States is, at present, highly vulnerable to coastal
flooding. At five sea level stations in the United States, from Massachusetts to New Jersey, sea level rise (SLR) trends and tidal effects
were removed from the hourly sea level time series and then frequency analysis was performed on the positive remaining anomalies that
represent storm surge heights. Then using eustatic SLR estimates for lower and higher greenhouse gas emissions scenarios and assumed
trends in local sea level rise, new recurrence intervals were determined for future storm surges. Under the higher emissions scenario, by
2050, the elevation of the 2005 100-year event may be equaled or exceeded at least every 30 years at all sites. In more exposed US cities
such as Boston, Massachusetts and Atlantic City, New Jersey, this could occur at the considerably higher frequency of every 8 years or
less. Under the lower emissions scenario, by 2050, the elevation of the 2005 100-year event may be equaled or exceeded at least every 70
years at all sites. In Boston and Atlantic City, this could occur every 30 years or less.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Jack Wiggin
Director, Urban Harbors Institute
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Poitras, Jean, Robert Bowen and Jack Wiggin. 2003. ―Challenges to the use of
consensus building in integrated coastal management.‖ Ocean & Coastal Management
46(5): 391-405. An electronic forum involving 15 coastal managers was conducted in order to identify and explain the challenges involved in using
consensus-building methods to resolve coastal management issues. The forum's participants generated a list of ten challenges. Getting
participants committed to the consensus-building process was identified as the major problem. Participants reported four factors that may
affect negatively the willingness of participants to commit to the process. These factors are the novelty of consensus building, the lack of
incentive to seek a compromise, the apprehension of having to negotiate and the uncertainty of the outcome. The paper concludes with
proposed strategies to overcome these factors.
The University of Massachusetts Boston Planning Frameworks Team and The
Massachusetts Ocean Partnership. 2009. ―Planning Framework Options for the
Massachusetts Ocean Plan.‖ The Massachusetts Oceans Act (Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2008) places the ocean waters and ocean-based development within the ocean management planning area (Ch. 114, Sec. 4C(b)) under the oversight, coordination, and planning authority of the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (Secretary) (Ch. 114, Sec. 4C(a)). Ch. 114, Sec. 4C(a) requires the Secretary to develop an integrated ocean management plan (plan) for the ocean management planning area. Upon adoption of the plan, all certificated, licenses, permits and approvals for any proposed structure, uses, or activities in the area subject to the ocean management plan shall be consistent, to the maximum extent practicable, with the plan (Ch. 114, Sec 4C(e)). The plan does not supersede existing general or special laws or confer rights and remedies in addition to those of existing or special laws (Ch. 114, Sec. 4C(j)).
The University of Massachusetts Boston Planning Frameworks Team and The
Massachusetts Ocean Partnership. 2009. ―Compatibility Determination:
Considerations for Siting Coastal and Ocean Uses.‖ This draft report is one of several prepared under contract to the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP) to support the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) in its development of the integrated coastal ocean management plan mandated by the MA Oceans Act of 2008. Among other requirements, the Oceans Act states that the plan shall ―identify
appropriate locations and performance standards for activities, uses and facilities allowed under sections 15 and 16 of chapter 132A1.‖ To fulfill this requirement, the EEA planning team wanted to utilize compatibility determinations as a tool for considering the appropriate locations for activities, uses and facilities relative to one another. This report was prepared for Massachusetts ocean planning purposes but contains information that may be useful to coastal ocean resource managers in other locations.
The University of Massachusetts Boston Planning Frameworks Team and The
Massachusetts Ocean Partnership. 2009. ―A Review of Ocean Management and
Integrated Resource Management Programs from Around the World.‖ The purpose of this report was to inventory and review ocean management and integrated resource management programs from
around the world, including the United States, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, and ultimately to inform the development of a
framework for integrated ocean planning and management suitable for Massachusetts. Drawing from these reviews, this report identifies
applicable approaches to ocean management planning and examines their relevance to Massachusetts.
Wiggin, Jack, et al. 2009. ―Compatibility Determination: Considerations for Siting
Coastal and Ocean Uses‖. UMass Boston Planning Frameworks Team and The
Massachusetts Ocean Partnership. This draft report is one of several prepared under contract to the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP) to support the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) in its development of the integrated coastal ocean
management plan mandated by the MA Oceans Act of 2008.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Sam Merrill
Director, New England Environmental Finance Center
Associate Research Professor, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of
Southern Maine
New England Environmental Finance Center. 2011. A Financial Impact Assessment of
LD 1725: Stream Crossings. Portland, ME: University of Southern Maine, Muskie
School of Public Service, New England Environmental Finance Center. This document presents a financial impact analysis of LD 1725 for stream crossing replacements in the state of Maine. This analysis
was conducted by the New England Environmental Finance Center (EFC), in coordination with the Maine Department of Transportation
(MaineDOT), DEP, and state, nongovernmental, and local stakeholders. All documentation supporting this analysis is publicly available
and located on the EFC website (http://efc.muskie.usm.maine.edu/index.html)
Merrill, S., Yakovleff, D., Holman, D., Cooper, J., & Kirshen, P. 2010. Valuing
mitigation strategies; A GIS-based approach for climate adaption analysis. ARCUser,
online, 28-29. As more municipalities engage in climate change adaptation planning, better tools to quantify risks to vulnerable assets are needed
to facilitate this process. The New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC), with the support of Battelle Memorial Institute,
has developed an approach that assesses the costs and benefits of adapting to sea level rise scenarios.
New England Environmental Finance Center. 2009. Preserving assets in at-risk
municipalities: Financial strategies for climate change adaptation. ICLEI Supplemental
Brief. Portland, ME: New England Environmental Finance Center. A large share of America's population, businesses and economic activity now occurs in coastal areas. At the same time, during this
century many coastal communities are likely to be severely impacted by sea level rise and increased storm surge and tidal flooding. "What
to do" about this vulnerability is the subject of this brief. It is intended to help municipalities identify courses of action and steps they
might take toward increasing their resilience, especially regarding financial resources that will need to be allocated toward the various
strategies identified.
Colgan, C.S., & Merrill, S.B. 2008. ―The effects of climate change on economic
activity in Maine: Coastal York County case study.‖ Maine Policy Review 17(2): 66-
79. Climate change can have significant ramifications for Maine's economy. If short-term projections for the next century are accurate, at
minimum sea level rise will become increasingly noticeable in association with more severe and destructive coastal storms. The authors
evaluate risk estimates by presenting a case study of the projected consequences of sea level rise and coastal storm damage on the economy
of the state's most vulnerable area, York County's coastal communities.
Merrill, S.B., Sanford, R.M., & Lapping, M.B. 2008. ―Planners and climate change
action: An approach for communities.‖ Maine Policy Review 17(2): 149-152. The authors discuss the role of planners in helping local communities prepare for the near-term effects of climate change, especially
the impact of rising sea levels and increased storm severity.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Margaret Davidson
Director, NOAA Coastal Services Center
Davidson, Margaret et al. 2012. ―Incorporating Sea Level Change Scenarios at the
Local Level.‖ NOAA Coastal Services Center. Incorporating sea level change into planning processes involves more than selecting a number. That is why this document advocates
the scenario approach. Using the information provided here, communities can develop a process that incorporates a range of possibilities
and factors. With this information various scenarios can be developed, both in terms of projections and responses, to meet the specific
circumstances of a community. Moreover, working through the scenario development process provides the data and information that
officials will need to make communities readily adaptable to changing circumstances.
Culver, M.E., J. R. Schubel, M.A. Davidson, J. Haines, and K.C. Texeira (editors).
2010. Proceedings from the Sea Level Rise and Inundation Community Workshop,
Lansdowne, MD, Dec 3-5, 2009. Sponsored by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with other
federal agencies and the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel, are supporting a coordinated effort to develop a Community Framework for Responding to Sea Level Rise and Inundation. This effort to build a community of practice began with an assessment of the current understanding of coastal inundation impacts on coastal communities, of the requirements to assess and respond to changing coastal vulnerability, and of the status of prototype tools to identify critical risk factors and develop effective responses. Building on this shared sense of urgency, and the substantial efforts to develop effective responses, the first workshop (reported here) brought together leaders in the academic, federal, and nonfederal governmental, nongovernmental, and private sectors to initiate a framework for a more coordinated and effective response to sea-level rise and coastal inundation. This report details the framework, discussions on priority data, tools, and information, and recommendations for progress. The information gathered in preparation for this workshop, including a review of needs assessments for inundation information and three case studies of regions working on adaptation to sea level rise, also are included in this report.
Edwing, Richard, Margaret Davidson, Juliana Blackwell and John Lowell. 2010.
―Technical Considerations for Use of Geospatial Data in Sea Level Change Mapping
and Assessment.‖ NOAA Technical Report NOS 2010-01. This document is intended to provide technical guidance to agencies, practitioners, and coastal decision-makers seeking to use
and/or collect geospatial data to assist with sea level change assessments and mapping products. There is a lot of information available
today regarding sea level change and navigating this information can be challenging. This document seeks to clarify existing data and
information and provide guidance on how to understand and apply this information to analysis and planning applications by directing
readers to specific resources for various applications.
Davidson, Margaret. 2008. Hearing on Planning for a Changing Climate and its
Impacts on Wildlife, Coasts, and Oceans: State and Federal Needs Before the
Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans,
United States House of Representatives. Personal Testimony.
Coastal Services Center and NOAA. 2007. ―No Adverse Impact in the Coastal
Zone.‖ No Adverse Impact as outlined by the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) provides a new and effective coastal
management philosophy, and also identifies its legal underpinnings. No Adverse Impact (NAI) floodplain management is essentially a ―do-no-harm‖ policy based on the concept that everyone benefits when the actions of every community or property owner does not adversely affect others. NAI calls for anticipating the potential negative effects of any development or floodcontrol action on other people, their property and on the coastal environment itself. Such negative effects could be direct, such as causing shoreline erosion on the adjacent property. Or negative effects could be indirect, such as undermining the economic value of a fishery or altering the filtration capacity of an estuary.
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Disasters and Environment:
Science, Preparedness and Resilience
Breakout Workshop Summary
The breakout workshops are the core of the conference, and are intended to be an
opportunity for participants to play a role in generating science-based solutions within the topic area of the session. The session will involve a combination of very brief opening
comments (5-10 minutes) from the presenters, followed by a facilitated participant discussion to develop a set of 6-10 outcomes--a new initiative, a new partnership or collaboration, recommendations for action, or a "follow-up" activity. The opening
comments should set the stage to get people thinking about the final recommendations.
There is no "audience;" the participants are partners in developing ideas and potential
partners in advancing the ideas and recommendations from the session. If you want an idea of what the outcomes are, the final recommendations from last year are posted on our
website at http://www.environmentandsecurity.org/. We strongly suggest that you have no PowerPoint presentations. We have found that
PowerPoints drag out the presentations, and people enjoy the session much more and participate more when they are not used. But, we also understand that some people would
rather lose a limb than present without a PowerPoint, so if you need one please let me know as soon as possible and we will get that together.
Date: Wednesday, January 16
Time: 2:00 – 5:15 PM
Workshop 4:
Coastal Communities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation and Sustainability - Building
Resilience in Coastal Communities: An International Agenda
Moderator: Antje Danielson, Tufts Institute of the Environment, Tufts University and
Emily Geosling, Program Coordinator, Tufts Institute of the Environment, Water: Systems, Society and the Environment
Confirmed Discussants: Thomas Loster, Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Kjell Larsson, Chair, Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (AGEE)
Ninian Stein, Director of Earthos and Visiting Professor, Environmental Science and
Policy Program, Smith College
Joanne Potter, Principal, ICF International
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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In this workshop, we will consider resilience from the perspective of disaster prevention in
addition to disaster response. While extreme weather events are predicted to increase
dramatically in our lifetime, both in frequency and in severity, more careful and prescient
planning can prevent communities from the worst of harm caused by such changes, and
other natural disasters, and create more sustainable cities for the long-term. With an
abiding view to resilience and adaptation, rapidly growing coastal cities, especially those in
developing countries, can better prepare for extreme weather events. This workshop will
highlight the opportunity costs and potential cost savings for a resilience strategy that
emphasizes prevention over response and consider the information needed by municipalities
to plan for adequate resilience
The session will:
· Collect suggestions on best practices from around the world and develop
recommendations for what can be done for proactive planning and investment in vulnerable
communities.
· Collect list of databases from federal and international agencies and organizations that can
provide forecasting data and transmitting information that will prepare municipal
institutions to create more defined resilience plans.
· List effective policies around ports, levees, pollution control, and industrial zoning in US
cities, as well as countries in Northern Europe, which have effectively managed extreme
water events for hundreds of years.
http://www.environmentaldisasters.net/topics/view/81500/
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Breakout Workshop 4
Coastal Communities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation and
Sustainability - Building Resilience in Coastal Communities:
An International Agenda
Discussant Profiles
Ninian Stein
Director of Earthos
Visiting Professor
Environmental Science and Policy Program
Smith College
With a Doctorate in Anthropology-Archaeology from
Brown University as well as masters degrees in Environmental Science and Anthropology
from Yale School of Forestry and Harvard University respectively, Ninian Stein taught at
the University of Massachusetts Boston for two years before moving to her post-doctoral
fellowship at Wheaton College in Norton MA. Teaching in both Environmental Sciences
and Anthropology gives Ninian a broad perspective on interdisciplinaity and environmental
issues. From her environmental and anthropological background Ninian has contributed
materially to Earthos projects. Having taught a course in Environmental Policy with an
emphasis on communication between policy and science, she is familiar with some of the
disciplinary barriers to creating change at local, regional and national levels—and strategies
for getting beyond them. Ninian's collaboration with paleo-ecologists, ecologists,
geochemists, geophysicists, geologists, and marine scientists on previous projects brings
perspectives on interdisciplinary scientific inquiry and disciplinary conventions to Earthos.
Through teaching, research and her work with Earthos, Ninian is committed to using
interdisciplinary tools to address the environmental challenges of our times.
-- Taken from Eartos Institute website http://www.earthos-institute.us/ABOUT_earthos-
institute/Board_of_Directors.html
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Joanne Potter
Principal
ICF International
Joanne Potter has more than 15 years of experience in climate
change and sustainability analysis and policy development. She
has particular expertise in transportation, addressing climate
change impacts, vulnerability, adaptation, and mitigation and
sustainability. Ms. Potter has served as project manager for several projects, reports, and
analyses, including vulnerability and risk assessments and major national studies addressing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from mobile sources. She is currently supporting the
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program of the U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD) in its examination of climate change impacts on coastal installations. Prior
to joining ICF, Ms. Potter was a lead and editing author of The Impacts of Climate Change and
Variability on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study Phase I, released in
March 2008. This study assessed the risks of climate change to transportation infrastructure
and services and developed a framework for adaptation decision making. Ms. Potter was
project manager for the U.S. Department of Transportation‘s (DOT) "Report to Congress
on Transportation's Impact on Climate Change and Solutions." In this role, she led a
multimodal technical and policy team that addressed technology, fuel, and behavioral
approaches to address climate change. She also managed Moving Cooler: An Analysis of
Transportation Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (July 2009), a national
multisponsor study assessing the effectiveness of transportation activity strategies to reduce
GHG emissions. At the regional level, she managed a climate change vulnerability and risk
assessment of transportation infrastructure in New Jersey. Ms. Potter received a master's
degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
-- Taken from ICF International website http://www.icfi.com/about/our-people/icf/p/potter-joanne
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Thomas Loster
Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Thomas R. Loster, a geographer, was a member of the GeoRisk
Research Group at Munich Reinsurance Company, Munich, the
world‘s leading reinsurance company, for 16 years. He was in charge
of issues relating to weather perils, climate change and climate
policy. His responsibilities also included the statistical analyses of
worldwide natural catastrophes and trends.Mr. Loster was
appointed chairman of the Munich Re Foundation in July 2004. The foundation addresses
major global challenges including environmental and climate change as well as disaster
prevention. True to its motto ―From Knowledge To Action,‖ the foundation aims to
prepare people to deal with risks and to improve their living conditions - with a special focus
on developing countries. Providing knowledge in the field of microinsurance is a key pillar
of the work of the foundation. Thomas R. Loster is board member of the Munich Climate
Insurance Initiative (MCII), which tries to establish insurance mechanisms for the poor as
one climate change coping mechanism. He is also a member of the German National
Committee of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
-- Taken from http://www.munichre-foundation.org/dms/MRS/Documents/CVThomasLoster.pdf
Kjell Larsson
Chair, Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (AGEE)
Kjell Larsson has spent most of his life dedicated to emergency
response. Since the mid 90-ies he is Head of Overseas Operations at
MSB in Sweden (former SRSA). Before reaching management level
at HQ he served in humanitarian agencies, including the UN, in
Turkey (Gulf War), Bosnia, Great Lakes and many other humanitarian emergencies in the
1990-ies. It has been his responsibility as a manager in SRSA/MSB to lead the agency in the
response to all major humanitarian catastrophes since 1999. He has also been responsible
for SRSA/MSB's response to EU/MIC related operations and to ESDP operations.
SRSA/MSB's have supported EU in Aceh (peace treaty), Georgia, Kosovo and Afghanistan
among others and have long supported EU-ENV in training issues. Mr. Larsson personally
believes in international response and thus practically demonstrating solidarity without
borders. The major players in our part of the world, UN and EU, are the two key players
and it is a pleasure to see them walking together.
-- Taken from http://ec.europa.eu/echo/civil_protection/civil/forum2009/pdf/bio/larsson.pdf
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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Kent Portney
Professor, Political Science Department
Tufts University
Profile on page 13.
Antje Danielson (Session Chair)
Administrative Director
Tufts Institute of the Environment
Antje Danielson is the Administrative Director at TIE as well as
the graduate interdisciplinary Water: Systems, Science and
Society (WSSS) program. She came to Tufts from Durham
University (UK), where she served as the Deputy Director for
Sustainability, in May 2008. Previously, she worked with the
Harvard Green Campus Initiative. A long-time resident of
Cambridge, Mass, Antje also co-founded the innovative
carsharing company Zipcar. She holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Free University, Berlin.
Emily Geosling (Moderator)
Program Coordinator
Tufts Institute of the Environment
Water: Systems, Science & Society
Libby Mahaffy
(Moderator)
Communications Specialist
Tufts Institute of the Environment
Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
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NCSE Conference 2013
Coastal Cities: Planning for Resilience, Adaptation, and Sustainability
Additional Readings
1. Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOAA Ocean Service. 2005.
Report to Congress On National Coastal Management Performance Measurement System. The report summarizes the process for developing coastal management indicators, identifies suggested coastal management
indicators, and outlines an implementation plan for the National Coastal Management Performance Measurement System.
2. Bowen, Robert E. and Cory Riley. 2003. ―Socio-economic indicators and integrated
coastal management.‖ Ocean & Coastal Management 46 (3–4): 299-312. The need to better understand the linkages and interdependencies of socio-economic and coastal environmental dynamics has
taken on a more deliberate role in the development and assessment of Integrated Coastal Management world-wide. The analysis and
establishment of indicator-driven programs to assess change in coastal and watershed systems have increasinglymoved to stress socio-
economic forcings and impacts. This article serves to review the need for and provide an assessment of important frameworks designed to
foster such integration. It argues that the evolution of the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework, now in broad
use, provides an essential contribution.
3. Turner, R. Kerry. 2000. ―Integrating natural and socio-economic science in coastal
management.‖ Journal of Marine Systems 25(3–4): 447-460. The future more sustainable management of coastal resources is an important policy goal for all governments of countries with
coastlines. Coastal areas are under intense environmental change pressure with extensive feedback effects between the natural systems
and the human systems. It could be argued that there is just one jointly determined and coevolving system that needs to be studied and
managed. Understanding the interactions between the coastal zone and environmental change cannot be achieved by observational studies
alone. Modelling of key environmental and socio-economic processes is a vital tool, required to buttress coastal management institutions
and practice. Three overlapping procedural stages can be identified in the coastal resource assessment process. The scoping and auditing
stage, implemented via a ‗pressure–state–impact–response‘ framework, details, among other thing, problems, system boundaries and value
conflicts. The framework is itself based on a conceptual model, which lays stress on functional value diversity and the links between
ecosystem processes, functions and outputs of goods and services which are deemed ‗valuable‘ by society. The two subsequent stages are
integrated modelling, combining natural and social science methodologies, and evaluation of management options and related gains and
losses. An overview of a research project, which utilised the pressure–state–impacts–response. P–S–I–R framework and supporting
concepts and methods, is presented in the last section of the paper, together with some generic ‗lessons‘ for interdisciplinary research.
4. Mee, Laurence. 2012. ―Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The coastal zone in an
Era of globalisation.‖ Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 96: 1-8. Human pressure has changed the physical and ecological characteristics of coastal zones for centuries. ‗Boom and bust‘
development of coastal zones is a historically recurrent problem. For nearly 40 years, there have been concerted efforts to improve
management of the diverse human pressures that have led to deterioration of coastal environments. Since 1992, Integrated Coastal Zone
Management (ICZM) has been a dominant policy paradigm for bringing together relevant sectors of society to overcome conflicts of
resource use and to pursue sustainable development. There is growing evidence that, with some exceptions, these efforts have not reversed
environmental degradation. A major reason for this is that the economic and social changes leading to this decline operate increasingly at
temporal and spatial scales greater than the scope of management regimes established through ICZM. Alternative approaches such as
Adaptive Management are needed to deal with this mismatch of scales. Cross-scale tools including information technology and social
networking may also provide vehicles for innovation. As part of a broader range of tools, ICZM helps respond to locally driven problems
and adapt to global change. Effective future management must work across scales and benefit from the ‗long view‘ of how coupled social
and ecological systems operate.
5. Wongbusarakum, Supin and Christy Loper. Pacific Environment Programme through
the Coral Reef InitiativeS for the Pacific (CRISP) and International Union for Conservation
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of Nature. 2011. Indicators to assess community‐level social vulnerability to climate change: An
addendum to SocMon and SEM‐Pasifika regional socioeconomic monitoring guidelines. ―The purpose of this addendum is to provide a minimum set of socioeconomic indicators related to climate change. These can
be included in a socioeconomic assessment of any site for which climate change impacts are an important issue. The resulting information
can then inform coastal management needs and adaptive management.‖
6. Agrawal, Arun. 2009. ―The Role of Local Institutions in Adaptation to Climate Change.‖
International Forestry Resources and Institutions. Church St, MI: U of Michigan. ―This review focuses on the role of local institutions in adaptation to climate change. It does so under the belief that climate
impacts will affect disadvantaged social groups more disproportionately, and that local institutions centrally influence how different social
groups gain access to and are able to use assets and resources. It suggests that adaptation to climate change is inevitably local and that
institutions influence adaptation and climate vulnerability in three critical ways: a) they structure impacts and vulnerability, b) they
mediate between individual and collective responses to climate impacts and thereby shape outcomes of adaptation, and c) they act as the
means of delivery of external resources to facilitate adaptation, and thus govern access to such resources.‖
7. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. ―Ecosystems and Human Well-being: General
Synthesis.‖ Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press. Retrieved
September 24, 2012 http://millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf Four main findings pg 1-2
Examples of Promising and Effective Responses for Specific Sectors pg 21 Box 2
How might ecosystems and their services change in the
future under various plausible scenarios? pg 71-73
8. ---. ―Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being: Wetlands and Water Synthesis.‖
Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press. Retrieved September 24,
2012. http://millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.358.aspx.pdf
9. United Nations Human Settlements Program. 2011. Cities and Climate Change: Global Report on
Human Settlements. Earthscan, Washington DC. ―Cities and Climate Change: Global Report on Human Settlements 2011 seeks to improve knowledge, among governments and
all those interested in urban development and in climate change, on the contribution of cities to climate change, the impacts of climate
change on cities, and how cities are mitigating and adapting to climate change. More importantly, the Report identifies promising
mitigation and adaptation measures that are supportive of more sustainable and resilient urban development paths.
10. Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2000. Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. DMA 2000 (Public Law 106-390) provides the legal basis for FEMA mitigation planning requirements for State, local and
Indian Tribal governments as a condition of mitigation grant assistance. DMA 2000 amended the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act by repealing the previous mitigation planning provisions and replacing them with a new set of requirements
that emphasize the need for State, local, and Indian Tribal entities to closely coordinate mitigation planning and implementation efforts.
The requirement for a State mitigation plan is continued as a condition of disaster assistance, adding incentives for increased coordination
and integration of mitigation activities at the State level through the establishment of requirements for two different levels of state plans.
DMA 2000 also established a new requirement for local mitigation plans and authorized up to 7 percent of HMGP funds available to a
State for development of State, local, and Indian Tribal mitigation plans.
11. Metropolitan Area Planning Council. 2008. City of Boston 2008 Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act, passed in 2000, required that after November 1, 2004, all municipalities that wish to
continue to be eligible to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for hazard mitigation grants must adopt a
local multi-hazard mitigation plan. This planning requirement does not affect disaster assistance funding. Massachusetts has taken a
regional approach and has encouraged the regional planning agencies to apply for grants to prepare plans for groups of communities. The
Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) received a grant from FEMA under the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Program to assist
the City of Boston and eight other communities with developing a regional multiple-hazard mitigation plan. The regional plan and this
local annex meet the requirements of the Disaster Mitigation Act.
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12. Longstaff, PH. 2008. Security, Resilience, and Communication in Unpredictable Environments Such as
Terrorism, Natural Disasters, and Complex Technology. Center for Information Policy Research, Harvard
University. In many systems with high uncertainty, resistance against all possible surprises is futile and a resilience strategy will be
appropriate. But there is a tradeoff. Resilience will often have a price in the form of lower efficiency. The paper explores successful
resilience strategies for many systems as well as what makes a resilience strategy fail. One of the major assets of any resilient system is a
trusted source of information. One of the major internal threats to resilience is the Blame Game.
13. Longstaff, Patricia H. et. al. 2010. ―Building Resilient Communities: A Preliminary Framework
for Assessment.‖ Homeland Security Affairs 6(3). This article moves beyond debating definitions of resilience, towards the development of a preliminary conceptual framework for
assessing community resilience. We recognize that not all frameworks are created equal, nor do they satisfy all constituent audiences. The
proposed framework presented herein is consistent with Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom‘s stated purpose of a framework: to ―identify the
elements (and the relationships among these elements)...to consider for analysis...organize diagnostic and prescriptive inquiry...[and]
provide the most general set of variables that should be used to analyze all types of settings relevant for the framework.‖ It does not outline
a cookie-cutter solution for all communities to apply, but rather an approach that allows community leaders and policymakers to begin to
think about resilience as it pertains to their own community‘s unique circumstances. While sacrificing operational specifics in the interim,
it summarizes the core attributes of resilient systems (resource performance, resource diversity, resource redundancy, institutional
memory, innovative learning, and connectedness) in the context of five key community subsystems (ecological, economic, physical
infrastructure, civil society, and governance). Through the examination of each community subsystem, a preliminary, community-based,
resilience assessment framework is proposed for continued development and refinement.