Nature-Based Adaptation: Getting to Scale
Details
Date: December 9, 2022
Venue
CDM Smith
75 State Street
Boston, MA 02109
The Climate Adaptation Forum is a collaboration between the Environmental Business Council and the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Flooding risks, sea level rise, storm surges, and extreme heat are accelerating with a changing climate. Ecosystems are also at risk, along with the social, economic, and environmental benefits they provide. Nature-based climate adaptation approaches offer opportunities to bring people into greater harmony with ecology, secure and enhance ecosystem services for future generations, and cost-effectively reduce some flooding risks. Funders, regulators, adaptation professionals, and the public now view nature-based adaptation as no longer an aspiration, but a priority or requirement. Pilot projects are being scaled up to billions of oysters, miles of shoreline, and hectares of wetlands. But how feasible and effective are they? And how do we effectively regulate and build the capacity to plan and implement them at scales that match the urgency of risks, speed of climate changes, and our own expectations? Join us to learn about the opportunities and barriers to scaling up nature-based approaches to climate adaptation, from planning to permitting to implementation.
Forum Co-Chairs
Nasser Brahim, Senior Climate Resiliency Specialist, Woods Hole Group
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Mark Costa, Water Resources and Civil Engineer, VHB
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Melanie Gárate, Director of Climate Engagement, Stone Living Lab
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Forum Speakers
Alison Bowden, Director of Science & Strategy, The Nature Conservancy
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Pippa Brashear, Resilience Principal, SCAPE
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Jason Burtner, South Shore Regional Coordinator, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM)
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Leah Feldman, Coastal Policy Analyst, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (RI CRMC)
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Heidi Nutters, Senior Program Manager, San Francisco Estuary Partnership
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Steve Rochette, Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District
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Adaptation to climate change has emerged as an essential and permanent topic for professional, academic, government and public discussion.
Civil engineers, architects, building owners, real estate investors, insurers, planners, environmental regulators, transportation providers, emergency responders, public health providers, and many others are grappling with how to incorporate the evident need for adaptation and resilience into much of what they do. Academia is also deepening its involvement with this most important and fascinating set of public policy issues.
The growing body of experience and expertise in adaptation is not widely appreciated either within or across the traditional silos that define professions, disciplines and practices. At the same time, there is no regular, ongoing opportunity for adaptation professionals from various fields to meet in Boston to cross-pollinate ideas and share solutions to common problems.
The Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC) and the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston have collaborated to establish a quarterly series of half-day Climate Adaptation Forums that will provide cutting-edge thought leadership on adaptation to climate change for environmental and energy professionals, policy makers, municipal officials, NGOs, and practitioners.
These quarterly forums will address everything from infrastructure and design solutions to communication challenges and barriers to implementation to policy solutions to the nexus of climate and equity. Local, national and global speakers will represent forward-thinking institutions, global firms, academia, government and other high level practitioners. Join the ever-growing group of professionals working to address the challenge of climate change adaptation and resiliency at the quarterly forums.
More about the Forum here: https://climateadaptationforum.org/
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