Emphasizing Natural Infrastructure, Equity, and Justice in Coastal Resilience Planning and Management Across the Great Lakes
Blakely, Valerie; Jones, Ashley; Palmer, Alison; Ramirez, Maria
2023
Abstract
As climate change increases the intensity of storms along oceanic coasts, the Great Lakes region experiences disruptions of a different nature than their salt-water cousins. On lacustrine coasts, building ecosystem and community resilience to extreme shifts in climate poses a dynamic challenge for land managers and coastal communities alike. Conservation organizations in the Great Lakes region like The Nature Conservancy carry a vested interest in improving coastal resilience- the idea of a coastal area in one state-of-being receiving some impact and being able to return to its original state-ofbeing in some timescale (often less than a human lifetime). Coastal resilience applies to the physical environment, and this includes the human groups living in communion with coastlines, adding the depth of that social and cultural environment to this concept. Improving coastal resilience in the Great Lakes leads to less destruction of coastal ecosystems critical to the health of the region, and the preservation of ecosystem services that coastal communities enjoy and rely upon, but in this view also strengthens coastal communities’ ability to adapt to or recover from change and still meet their needs. Current inhibitors of coastal resilience include the high historical levels of industrialization and resulting land transformation done in the name of trade and economic prosperity along the Great Lakes coasts and the environmental injustices inflicted upon people living there that diminish human health and restrict access and connection to the surrounding environment. The spreading discussion of “green” and natural infrastructure as alternatives to the hard infrastructure that more heavily degrades ecosystems reflects the growing pressure on humans to create solutions to infrastructure challenges that, among other things, increase or maintain an area’s resilience to extreme events rather than reduce it. Establishing more equitable and just conservation practices is a work in progress long over-due, but holistically achieving it involves actions that increase coastal community resilience such as supporting communities in rebuilding lost connection with and generational knowledge of their environment. Emphasizing natural infrastructure along with equity and justice in future coastal resilience planning can and in fact should take unconventional forms alongside reducing pavement surface area and cleaning up Areas of Concern. In reaching for these emphases, the sheer variety in community values and needs across the Great Lakes coasts necessitates taking insight from a variety of coastal communities and highlights the importance of planning that uplifts community voices that are already aware of the specifics of their area. This report details the results of research, observations, and interviews in varied coastal communities that identify ways to incorporate natural infrastructure and equity and justice to improve coastal resilience planning and management. There are many competing interests in the realm of coastal resilience planning and a lack of consistent standards regarding management. Setting clear measurable goals and having metrics that track progress towards these goals assists decision making in 4 this challenging environment. Recording and using data for social, cultural, economic, and environmental metrics reflects a wider range of coastal resilience traits that decision makers can consider. Throughout United States history, the perspectives of marginalized communities; including people of color, Indigenous people, and other minority communities, have been largely disregarded, particularly within the conservation and environmental movements. It is important to give credit, acknowledge, and support displaced communities that have not received the proper space and resources to live in a clean environment where their cultural practices are allowed to exist and thrive. Four broad ideas were synthesized from a literature review and interviews to succinctly conceptualize equitable conservation: 1. Equitable distribution of benefits 2. Equitable distribution of harms 3. Meaningful inclusion of all perspectives 4. Importance of holistic background research. Ultimately, equitable conservation should seek to undo or break generational racism and displacement through a shift of conservation ideology and practice. Three outstanding themes that impact coastal resilience planning in regard to natural infrastructure equity and justice include: 1. Factors impacting success of projects include conflicting interests and current governmental funding mechanisms that seldom can guarantee longterm funding and do not successfully direct most coastal-resilience-related funding toward municipality-level actors despite them doing most of the implementation. 2. Structural inequity created by historical patterns of racism and economic development still shapes and impacts coastal cities in their construction, in the people living there experiencing the fallout of past injustice, and in the amount of degraded infrastructure left behind in marginalized communities that can compound the effects of climate-based disasters. 3. Educational opportunities and local news are important to community knowledge and awareness of problems and opportunities with a communities coast and natural environment, providing the foundation for community support of coastal resilience projects. We found many instances of lack of local environmental awareness and trusted information sources hindering success of projects related to community access to the environment and natural infrastructure, despite present knowledge of natural infrastructure in the community. Synthesizing observations between multiple cities, a gradient of evolving excitement and support for natural infrastructure projects between cities previously dominated by manufacturing industries emerged that has implications for which types of projects may best serve communities and see strong support in similar cities. Noting the negative historical impact of conservation work on marginalized communities, to incorporate equity and justice into coastal resilience requires each conservation organization to 5 conceptualize what equitable conservation means, in context of their mission, and how their work affects the health and livelihood of communities that are at a disadvantage. Master plans are a valuable source of community values and goals (though certainly not all-encompassing) and can also provide the foundation for local implementation of natural infrastructure projects and other coastal resilience measures. The level of engagement and communication between the community and governing bodies often determines what values, goals, and priorities are included in the Master Plan. This report’s final recommendations are as follows: • Build relationships with and support local entities in conservation, educational, and funding opportunities. • Prioritize locations for implementing natural infrastructure that: o Have strategic benefits for resilience to storms and flooding. o Are accessible to communities who: have been displaced by industry; have historically been segregated; and are of low-income (under the U.S. household average income). • Review and support joint work on Master Plans within and across Municipalities.Deep Blue DOI
Subjects
natural infrastructure equity Great Lakes justice
Types
Project
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