Coastal Resilience EBM Tool Demonstration Project
Presentation on the Coastal Resilience EBM Tool Demonstration Project by Zach Ferdaña of The Nature Conservancy (July 16, 2009). The Coastal Resilience project, supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation as an EBM Tool Demonstration project, provides communities with easy access to information for coastal planning, zoning, acquisition, and other management decisions regarding resources at risk from sea level rise and coastal hazards. The project is using the interactive web mapping tool Future Scenarios Mapper to visualize future flood scenarios, determine ecological, social and economic impacts caused by sea level rise and storm surge, and conduct policy analysis of possible solutions for the south shore of Long Island, New York. Long Island is an ideal case study for examining sea level rise projections and management scenarios because it is home to 7.5 million people, low-lying, heavily developed along much of its shoreline, and extremely likely to be radically changed by sea level rise. The project’s methodology is readily transferable to other locations as well. This presentation/demonstration covered how the Future Scenarios Mapper tool is informing local planning on Long Island as well as the Future Scenarios Mapper tool itself. Learn more about the project and play with the Future Scenarios Mapper at http://coastalresilience.org/future-scenarios.html.