December 2022 — Engineering with Nature to Face Down Hurricane Hazards
As coastal communities grow and severe weather events intensify, there is a growing need for information about the best ways to keep towns and cities safe. However, a lack of monitoring information about the protection provided by natural infrastructure, like berms and dunes, has limited managers’ ability to use them as tools. A new paper published in Eos by N-EWN members Safra Altman and Marshall Shepherd outlines just why monitoring is so important.
November 2022 — Operationalizing equity for integrated water resources management
The N-EWN People and Policy team, which consists of representatives from the University of Georgia and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently published a new paper in the Journal of American Water Resources, titles, “Operationalizing equity for integrated water resources management.”
September 2022 — Benefit-Cost Analysis of Green Infrastructure Investments: Application to Small Urban Projects in Hinesville, GA
Is there an economic benefit to implementing small-scale natural infrastructure projects in urban areas? N-EWN researchers Scott Pippin, Craig Landry and Mohammadreza Zarei addressed that question in their recent publication, “Benefit-Cost Analysis of Green Infrastructure Investments: Application to Small Urban Projects in Hinesville, GA.”
September 2022 — Engineering coastal structure to centrally embrace biodiversity
This work shows how engineering practice can be advanced through structured decision-making and landscape architecture renderings that include ecological sciences and NBS into an integrated approach for enhancing biodiversity in coastal marine environments. This integrated approach can be applied when designing new infrastructure projects or modifying or repairing existing infrastructure.
September 2022 — A strategic monitoring approach for learning to improve natural infrastructure
Natural infrastructure (NI) development, including ecosystem restoration, is an increasingly popular approach to leverage ecosystem services for sustainable development, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation goals. Although implementation and planning for these tools is accelerating, there is a critical need for effective post-implementation monitoring to accumulate performance data and evidence for best practices.
August 2022 — Evolution of Benefits Evaluation and Prioritization of Water Resources Projects
N-EWN partners the USACE EWN® Program has teamed up with The Water Institute of the Gulf to analyze past and current benefits evaluation approaches to identify practical options for improving federal practice for evaluating the economic, environmental, and social benefits of natural infrastructure and nature-based solutions. This is the first in a series of products that will identify opportunities for evaluating comprehensive benefits and costs.
May 2022–Nature futures for the urban century: Integrating multiple values into urban management
This paper presents the Urban Nature Futures Framework (UNFF), a framework for scenario building for cities that is based on three Nature Futures perspectives: Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture. Our framework engages stakeholders with envisioning the three Nature Futures perspectives through four components using participatory methods and quantitative models: identification of the socio-ecological feedbacks in cities, assessment of indirect impacts of cities on biodiversity, development of multi-scale indicators, and development of scenarios.
March 2022–A Machine-Learning Based Tool for Diagnosing Inland Tropical Cyclone Maintenance or Intensification Events
Tropical Cyclone Maintenance and Intensification (TCMI) is a generalized definition of tropical cyclones that strengthen or maintain intensity inland while maintaining tropical characteristics. Herein, a novel methodology, using a machine learning method was created to examine the tropical cyclone record to improve climatological representation of such cases. Using the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) dataset, individual times of inland tropical cyclones were classified into TCMI and non-TCMI (weakening) events. The MERRA-2 dataset was applied to develop a prototypical machine-learning model to help diagnose future TCMI events.
September 2021–International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management
Announcing the publication of the International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management.
The 1000-page document is the culmination of a five-year, multi-sector effort that involved 77 organizations around the world.
June 2021–N-EWN researcher Marshall Shepherd published in Forbes on Equity in Weather Warnings
N-EWN researcher Dr. Marshall Shepherd dove into the hot topic of equity in weather warnings, and explored the deepest waters of this complicated issue.
March 2021 — Presidential Seed Grants Promote Interdisciplinary Research, UGA Today
The N-EWN partnership was upheld in UGA Today for the success of its interdisciplinary research. Dr. Brian Bledsoe and Dr. Marshall Shepherd were both mentioned. Click the image to read the article!
February 2021 — Promoting Coastal Resilience through Partnerships and Planning
Shana Jones, N-EWN member and Planning and Environmental Services Unit Program Manager at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, collaborated with Amelia Stevens to write this publication in the Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal. Click the photo to access the publication.
January 2021 – Nature Based Approaches to Urban Shoreline Management – Biohabitats Expert Q&A
In an interview with Biohabitats, Dr. Todd Bridges discusses coastal resilience and natural infrastructure. Click the photo to read the Q&A!
December 2020 – Building With Nature – “Creating, Implementing and Upscaling Nature-Based Solutions” Publication
In both a book and an interview with EcoShare, Dr. Todd Bridges discussed the complementary work of Engineering With Nature. Click the photo to learn more.
November 2020 – “Challenges to realizing the potential of nature-based solutions” Publication
IRIS and N-EWN researchers Drs. Don Nelson, Brian Bledsoe, Susana Ferreira, and Nathan Nibbelink published this piece discussing the barrier that natural infrastructure faces in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability volume 45.
February 2020 — UGA Today Shines a Spotlight on Scott Pippin’s Septic Work
This past February, Scott Pippin’s research on septic systems was featured in UGA Today. His work highlights the need for better understanding how sea level rise and failing septic systems may lead to environmental contamination.