Coastal Community Resiliency
Priorities for Resilient Coastal Communities
The bayous, sloughs, and swamps support an abundant population of the crawfish, which have become an important aquaculture venture. Photo: Paul Wallace, NRCS
Resilience is the capacity of human and natural/physical systems to adapt to and recover from change. To continue to enjoy living and receiving the benefits these coastal areas have to offer, there is a need to make the natural, built, and social environments more resilient. Enhancing resilience requires adjustments to day-to-day living, as well as adjustments to processes of long-term settlement and development of coastal areas. Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast captures this need for change, stating that “...wiser land use practices must govern the way we live in this dynamic landscape if we are to create safe communities that thrive over the long-term.” Building resilience is an economic imperative for the Gulf region – individuals, businesses, communities, and ecosystems all need to be more resilient in order to sustain and grow the region’s economic prosperity.
Long-term Goals
- Provide enhancements for coastal communities, ecosystems, and economies to become more resilient to coastal hazards
- Increase the understanding of coastal hazards risks associated with living, working, and doing business in the Gulf region by residents and visitors
- Incorporate state-of-the-art mitigation methods for reducing risks and enhancing resilience
- Encourage growing numbers of communities, businesses, and individuals to adopt new methods for risk mitigation and resilience
CCR-1: Risk and Resilience Assessment
Action: Provide tools to coastal communities to better understand the risks and impacts associated with coastal hazards, including climate changes. In addition, the Alliance will assess the risks of coastal hazards to the natural, built, and social environments of the Gulf Coast and increase infrastructure to better quantify these risks in the future.
Expected Results:
- Twenty coastal communities have used a Resilience Index to self-assess their vulnerabilities and track progress towards greater resilience.
- A region-wide geospatial infrastructure is designed to obtain baseline data for monitoring local sea level rise trends.
- Twenty coastal counties have participated in a Resilience Social Climate Survey measuring trends in public knowledge and acceptance of community resilience.
- Wetlands dynamics models are being used to demonstrate the ecological impacts of projected sea level rise on estuarine systems.
- An initial assessment of Gulf-wide risks and resilience of natural, built, and social environments is assisting planners to incorporate a better understanding of risk into the determination of appropriate land use.
CCR-2: Risk and Resilience Management Toolbox
Action: Prepare an inventory of existing capabilities and tools to address coastal hazards in the Gulf region, identify important gaps, and, where needed, develop new methods to enhance regional and local resilience.
Expected Results:
- A risk and resilience-related management toolbox is being used by individuals, businesses, and communities.
- Local coastal communities have implemented recommendations for enhancements to existing resilience policies.
- Coastal marinas have adopted more resilient and environmentally responsible operations and volunteered to become certified as Clean/Sustainable Marinas.
CCR-3: Risk and Resilience Communication
Action: Inform communities about the risks associated with coastal hazards and provide access to the tools necessary to increase their resilience.
Expected Results:
- State-specific resilience guidebooks/handbooks have been developed and distributed to more than 50 percent of local coastal communities.
- An online Resilience Clearinghouse/Web portal is available to all residents of and visitors to the Gulf region.
- Sea level rise modeling results from the Gulf region are available via the Clearinghouse/Web portal, and information is being exchanged with other efforts around the country, thereby resulting in partnerships with Mexico and other nations bordering the Gulf.
- Twenty resilience training workshops have been conducted across the Gulf States.
- Resilience information and tools are available to all Gulf residents using a variety of communication methods.
Highlights of Governors’ Action Plan Accomplishments
Click here to visit the NOAA Coastal Storms Program website.
NOAA Storm Surge Partnership Project
Click here to download a one-page overview of the project’s modeling, tools, and methodologies.
Click here to view updated descriptions of Sea Grant Resiliency Projects.
A vibrant Gulf Coast community. Photo credit: Gulf of Mexico Alliance Governors' Action Plan
New publication from Louisiana Sea Grant
Click here to download the publication “Hazard Mitigation and Land Use Planning in Coastal Louisiana: Recommendations for the Future.”
New publication from Texas Sea Grant
Click here to download the publication “The Resilient Coast: Policy frameworks for adapting The Built Environment to Climate Change and Growth in Coastal Areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.”
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