NOAA Coastal Services Center

Providing state and local organizations with the skills, tools, and data

needed to manage the nation’s coastal resources and communities.

• Coastal planners• Regulatory agencies• Natural resource agencies• Protected area managers • Hazards planners• Estuarine reserves• Floodplain managers• Conservation organizations

Serving state and local organizations

Sample Products and Services

•Training•Coastal Services magazine•Coastal Zone conference•GeoTools conference•Gulf of Mexico Alliance•Land Trust partnerships•Visualizations

Improving coastal management by providing new skills and information

Sample Products and Services

•Digital Coast•Marine spatial planning•Flood mapping products•Hazard assessment tools•Impervious surface analysis•Nonpoint-source pollution and erosion comparison tool

Improving coastal management by providing new tools

Sample Products and Services

•Land cover•Topographic and bathymetric•Benthic habitat mapping•Social science

Improving coastal management by providing new data

Hazard Resilience:• Provides information, tools and technical support

to help communities improve their resilience.

Coastal and Ocean Planning: • Raises awareness of climate change impacts,

supports regional ocean governance, supports alternative energy development and incorporates climate change adaptation and hazards resilience into comprehensive land use planning.

Conservation:• Sustains and improves coastal and marine

habitats, and the ecosystem services that they provide, through better strategic planning and implementation.

Strategic Emphases

Hazards Data & Information

• Data & Derived Products – LIDAR, C-CAP, Topobathy

• Historic Hurricane Tracks Tool• Storm Mapping Guide and

Tutorial• Model Output Mapping

Methodology• Shoreline Change

Hazards Visualization

Hazards Visualization • Hazard Assessment Tools and

Templates• Tsunamis Hazards Information

Service• Hurricane Evacuation Zone Tool• Coastal Inundation Visualization

Tools• Flood Severity Mapping• CanVis Visualization

Risk-Wise BehaviorTargeted Products & Activities

• Risk Perception & Behavior Studies

• Risk Communication & Behavior Resources

• Risk-Based Decision-Making, Motivators, Incentives

Vulnerability andResilience Assessment

• Risk, vulnerability, resilience assessment methods & tools

• Participatory processes & tools

• Contextual applications & resources – land use, conservation, climate adaptation, hazard mitigation, floodplain management

Community Resilience Definitions

• Absorb • Buffer capacity• Ability to absorb• Magnitude of disturbance absorbed

• Recover • Recovery capacity• Speed of recovery• Level of recovery

• Adapt • Adaptive capacity• Flexibility• Growth potential

Redefining Outcomes - What is Success?“Aim high, and you won't shoot your foot off.” – Phyllis Diller

• Old Model: responsive to risks - able to survive and rebuild• Success Measures =

Higher survival rates + reduced $$ needed to repeat stupidity

• New Model: resilient to risks - able to absorb impacts and adapt to change• Success Measures =

Higher rates of recovery + improved resilience to future risks

Measuring Resilience through Indicators

• Cooperative Agreements - Louisiana & Texas Pilots (UNO, TAMU, SUNY)

• Gulf of Mexico Alliance – Resilience Index

• Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) Assessment Guidebook

• Heinz Center Resilience Coasts Initiative

• Community & Regional Resilience Initiative (CARRI) Local Pilots (Charleston, Pascagoula, Memphis)

• Others?

CRI Cooperative Agreements (FY07-09)

• Define quantifiable indicators and develop methodologies, tools, and information resources for the assessment of community resilience

• Develop scientifically defensible indicators for community resilience (ecological, economic, socio-cultural and physical) 

• Develop a strategy for using indicators in efforts to enhance the resilience of coastal communities.

Considerations

• What are you developing that could be most useful to our audiences and what might we need to do to help them use it?

• What have you learned in the process that our audiences might want or need to know?

• How are you planning or considering using your results in the future?