Event Description:
This interactive, discussion-based session will focus on proactive, community-driven relocation as a critical, nature-based tool to eliminate flood risk. Moving away from the coast is a tool currently utilized primarily in response to extreme storm events. This type of reactive approach to coastal relocation planning and action misses important risk reduction opportunities and reinforces structural inequalities, further harming already-disadvantaged communities. Proactive, regionally coordinated planning which includes community-led relocation can increase opportunities for both risk reduction and coastal habitat restoration. It can create opportunities for communities to collaboratively vision the future of their coasts and maintain social resilience networks, creating better outcomes for people and nature. Planning for relocation requires communities to carefully balance social, environmental, and economic factors to implement equitable, effective solutions which also consider what happens with the land once relocation has taken place. Participants in this session will be invited to ask questions and participate in conversation about the role of coastal relocation in coastal planning across (and beyond) the SNEP region.
Presenter: Emma Gildesgame, The Nature Conservancy