Northern Gulf of Mexico Stakeholders' Considerations of Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure Options for Coastal Hazard Mitigation
Abstract
This presentation reports on the process and results of stakeholder engagement activities, specifically social science focus groups, implemented during a workshop in the second year of an interdisciplinary multi-year NOAA-sponsored project, Dynamic Sea Level Rise Assessments of the Ability of Natural and Nature-based Features to Mitigate Surge and Nuisance Flooding. The focus group qualitative research method has been applied effectively across a range of topics, including complex environmental issues such as coastal sustainability and resilience. With strengths in fostering participant interaction and nonjudgmental rapport, the approach sparks spontaneous comments and embraces various perspectives. In this project, focus groups are being incorporated systematically each year with the primary purpose of better understanding viewpoints of coastal stakeholders (e.g., community planners, extension specialists, natural resource managers) regarding use of different natural and nature-based infrastructure (e.g., dunes, oyster reefs, living shorelines) to mitigate Northern U.S. Gulf Coast hazards including nuisance flooding, hurricane storm surge, and sea level rise. The engagement activities are also helping to build mutual trust, open two-way communication, solidify scientist-stakeholder relationships, and facilitate a successful convergence research effort.
During the project's second annual workshop in Mississippi, trained moderators conducted two concurrent sixty-minute focus groups which involved asking a series of open-ended questions using a collaboratively-produced interview guide. The questions captured familiarity and experiences with different types of natural and nature-based infrastructure, perceptions of important conditions and considerations about these mitigation options, and crucial information for decision making. The presentation will share a framework of key focus group findings, documented by representative data from the focus groups and other stakeholder engagement activities. In conclusion, the presentation will discuss practical implications for coastal adaptive management, connect to interdisciplinary academic literature and government reports, and offer future related research recommendations.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC51A..02D
- Keywords:
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- 0466 Modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 1622 Earth system modeling;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1641 Sea level change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 4321 Climate impact;
- NATURAL HAZARDS