CoPe Conference on Community Resiliency In The Face of Coastal Hazards and The Renewable Energy Transition; May, 2020, Annapolis, MD

Communities along the east coast of the United States, primarily North Carolina to Maine, are in a time of rapid transition. First, like much of the rest of coastal United States, they are experiencing more pronounced coastal hazards, including sea level rise, increased storm rain events, and surging oceanic waters, resulting in flooding. These factors are complicated by climate change. In addition, as the US moves toward clean energy, wind turbines are beginning to be placed in the ocean off their coasts. These two dynamics could result in new relationships between communities and their coasts. This workshop will explore the implications of the changing nature of the human relationship between coastal communities, coastal processes, and electricity infrastructure in the ocean. The workshop will be oriented toward future research and opportunities to adapt, advance preparedness, and absorb and bounce back after storm events. The workshop will be held in Annapolis, Maryland in Spring 2020, and bring together scientists, planners, citizen groups, and business interests.

The transition of the US east coast is characterized by two dynamics: coastal hazards, including rising seas, storm surge and increased precipitation events leading to flooding and inundation, which often have more serious impacts in the most vulnerable coastal populations, and siting and installation of renewable energy infrastructure in the ocean. The workshop seeks a better understanding of these interrelated dynamics with a focus on resilience building efforts and consideration of the development of an offshore wind energy system. The workshop will draw on academia (e.g., social and physical scientists, disaster management specialists and Sea Grant engagement professionals); government (federal, tribal, and state and local planners); adaptation practitioners; coastal civil society; and industry/private sector (chamber of commerce, commercial fishers, offshore wind developers) and focus on the changing human relationship with the coast/sea in small coastal communities. The workshop will work to improve understanding of (a) the links between large-scale coastal changes from physical processes and industrialization of the ocean from offshore renewable energy, (b) how best to engage policymakers in viewing these two forces of change together to find common strategies, overcome institutional barriers, and innovative partnering opportunities with co-benefits, and (c) effective risk communication strategies that articulate tradeoffs and uncertainties related to rapid transitions and resilience building in coastal communities. The workshop will generate an interdisciplinary research roadmap that address emerging coastal community transitions and identifies best practices and risk communication strategies to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.