Jonathan Hallemeier, ERDC/EWN
Natural and Nature Based Features (NNBF) are promising tools in efforts to enhance social and ecological resilience to threats, such as coastal flooding exacerbated by climate-driven sea level rise and weather events. However, implementing NNBF remains a challenge – in addition to the complexity faced by any infrastructure project, NNBF projects routinely occur at spatial scales that cross jurisdictions, include novel components that present uncertainties different from gray infrastructure, and fail to fit cleanly into established policies and budgeting categories. Navigating such challenges requires networks to build knowledge, establish legitimacy, procure resources, and foster creativity to navigate constraints and seize opportunities. This presentation brings social science scholarship of collaboration to hear on what factors enable and constrain collaborative networks for NNBF. These insights are grounded in current literature and emerging findings from research centered on Jamaica Bay, a socially and ecologically diverse and highly urbanized estuary in New York City. Jamaica Bay is vulnerable to increased flooding from sea level rise and severe weather events (such as Hurricane Sandy), and adaptation must contend with social, institutional, biophysical, and engineering complexity. Despite challenges, there are successes in developing collaborative networks and pursuing NNBF for coastal resilience.
The N-EWN Knowledge Series offers 1 Continuing Education Credit (CEC) per seminar. This Series is presented by N-EWN, Limnotech, the University of Georgia, and USACE ERDC.