Abstract
Over the past decade, coastal communities and ecosystems in the Northeast United States have begun to face acute and chronic impacts of climate change. Extreme events such as Superstorm Sandy caused stakeholders in this region to examine what information is needed to implement adaptation and mitigation plans to prepare for the next major storm. The objective of this study was to determine research needs identified by stakeholders in the Northeast needed for decision-support and policy creation so that scientists can target future research efforts to fill gaps. Modeled after document analysis methods in Dilling et al. (2014), this study examines documents sourced from local and regional organizations in both the public and private sectors to determine gaps in information necessary for climate resilience planning. Stakeholders throughout the Northeast expressed a need for solution-based research, in particular natural and nature-based solutions such as wetlands. Additionally, there was a need to better understand the economic impacts of climate change on key industries in the region as well as cost-benefit analyses of different adaptation options. It was also determined that government organizations, such as Sea Grant, play a crucial role in supporting stakeholder needs assessments both in terms of funding and providing necessary expertise. This study provides a baseline of stakeholder-expressed research needs in the Northeast to start the conversation between communities and researchers interested in conducting useable science.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 103987 |
| Pages (from-to) | 103987 |
| Journal | Marine Policy |
| Volume | 118 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:G.D. Molino was partially supported by the Earth Science Systems Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland and NOAA National Ocean Service , Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. M.A. Kenney and A.E. Sutton-Grier were partially supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Grant NA14NES4320003 (Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites – CICS) at the University of Maryland /ESSIC. M.A. Kenney received partial support from Maryland Sea Grant under award NA18OAR4170070 Subaward R/CL-2 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , U.S. Department of Commerce.
Funding Information:
G.D. Molino was partially supported by the Earth Science Systems Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland and NOAA National Ocean Service, Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. M.A. Kenney and A.E. Sutton-Grier were partially supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Grant NA14NES4320003 (Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites ? CICS) at the University of Maryland /ESSIC. M.A. Kenney received partial support from Maryland Sea Grant under award NA18OAR4170070 Subaward R/CL-2 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Funding Information:
The first major finding from this analysis is the important role that government agencies and affiliate programs play in coastal resilience planning. One major role played by the government was funding these stakeholder needs assessments; of the 50 documents analyzed, government agencies funded a third of the documents with acknowledged funding sources ( Table 1 ). NOAA was by far the largest funder with seven documents funded directly by offices of NOAA, and two documents funded by state Sea Grant programs which receive federal funding from NOAA. Another important role of government agencies was that agency employees helped write or produce the majority of these documents. There was a total of 94 authors contributing to 50 documents, over 50% of the authors were from government agencies ( Table 1 ). Of these, the largest contribution came from 8 state Sea Grant programs either as a main author or as part of a broader coalition. Both NOAA and Sea Grant programs are clearly important supporters of state development of coastal resilience plans and projects and without their support (financially and via expertise), communities would have a more difficult time developing such assessments. Future research should include an evaluation of research needs suggested by government agencies themselves, such as the Army Corp of Engineers, which meet both the “stakeholder” definition as well as that of an end-user. The North Atlantic Coastal Climate Assessment is a comprehensive starting point [ 34 ] and suggests that some research priorities include improved research and collection of pre- and post-storm data and better design guidance for natural and nature-based features.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
Keywords
- Climate change
- Document analysis
- Extreme events
- Natural infrastructure
- Societal impacts
- Useable science
