Dr Kousky & Dr Billy on Inside Ideas
We need to talk about adaptation
Writing in The Hill last year Dr Carolyn Kousky called on President Biden to launch an Ecosystem Restoration Corps. The Executive Director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania made the rallying call in response to the UN’s declaration that 2021–2030 must be the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration; and because natural habitats in her homeland are in a perilous state.
Dr Kousky joins me as my guest today on Inside Ideas, along with Dr Billy Fleming. We talk about the idea for the corps and the recently released book the pair edited, along with Alan M. Berger: A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy. Which lays out a bold new research and policy agenda for coastal adaptation providing implementable options for coastal communities.
Throughout the book, coastal adaptation experts discuss the interrelated challenges facing communities experiencing sea level rise and increasing storm impacts. These issues extend far beyond land use planning into areas including insurance, housing policy, financing for public infrastructure, and fostering healthier coastal ecosystems.
Deftly addressing far-reaching problems, from changes in drinking water composition to cleaning up contaminated, abandoned sites, the chapters give a clear-eyed view of how we can still chart a course to create thriving coastal communities. From Jamaica Bay, New York, to Buras, Louisiana, the book draws lessons from communities to present equitable solutions to coastal adaptation issues, including reducing flood risk and improving coastal resilience.
A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation offers a range of climate adaptation policies that can protect coastal communities against increasing risk, while preserving the economic value of these locations, their natural environments, and their community and cultural values. It provides tools for evaluating necessary tradeoffs to think more comprehensively about the future of our coastal communities.
Article from INNOVATORS MAGAZINE.
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