R/PO-07

Strategic focus area:

Description:

Limited exchange occurs between science researchers implementing traditional coastal resilience assessments and social scientists engaged in research on vulnerability and resilience of communities to climate change impacts. Better integration of geospatial and modeling data with social science knowledge has the potential to reveal critical decision points leading to more resilient communities, economies and ecosystems. Effective decision-making under conditions of uncertainty can benefit from collaborative knowledge creation sustained through networks of stakeholders with diverse and complementary expertise. We propose to expand upon previous work by the Deal Island Project focusing on social-ecological system resilience in the Deal Island Peninsula area. This rural coastal area is a historic and iconic region of the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland's Eastern Shore. Many problems faced here will be echoed in systems throughout the region and eastern seaboard. We propose to conduct an Integrated Coastal Resilience Assessment (ICRA) of the Deal Island Peninsula area that combines geospatial, cultural and social research to identify ecosystem and community vulnerabilities and resilience to climate change impacts and evaluates restoration and adaptation strategies. The proposed research will extend traditional coastal resilience assessments by integrating two social science approaches, cultural consensus and social network analysis, alongside more traditional geospatial and modeling approaches. The ICRA will proceed in three phases: I) assessment of vulnerability and resilience via geospatial and social science analyses, II) analysis and initial prioritization of restoration and adaptation strategies through engagement of an existing and growing stakeholder network, and III) resiliency implementation (phase III would occur following the proposed work). A portion of ICRA phase I wilI be completed prior to the initiation of the Sea Grant project by leveraging funds from the University of Maryland and the MD DNR Coastal and Chesapeake Service. The project will support a multidisciplinary team including social scientists, ecologists, a geospatial analyst, a coastal trainer, watershed and community extension agents, and others in the project's stakeholder network. Our objectives include quantifying cultural knowledge about vulnerability and resilience to climate change in order to identify patterns of agreement and disagreement within our stakeholder network and better understanding how social institutions and relationships among stakeholders affect the creation, flow, transfer, translation and valuation of intra- and inter-group cultural knowledge and values about resilience and climate. Outreach activities will target stakeholders within the project's network and technical service providers and others involved in multi-disciplinary teams conducting coastal resilience assessments. Deliverables include an outreach technical product, maps and visualization tools, website content, and refined methodologies for the implementation of an ICRA. A collaborative and interdisciplinary ICRA process holds tremendous promise to effectively build the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems.