On September 27th, The Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience program was represented at the Monterey County Coastal Resilience Workshop hosted by FEMA Region IX, the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, United States Geological Survey, the California Coastal Commission, the State Coastal Conservancy, and USC Sea Grant.
As part of FEMA Region IX’s Open Pacific Coast Study, the workshop was a collaboration with FEMA’s federal, state, and local partners to convene interactive RiskMAP Coastal Resilience workshops up and down the California coast to learn more about the risks and hazards facing coastal communities, and share best available tools and resources.
TNC’s Kelly Leo, a Coastal Project Director with our California Coastal Program, presented on our Coastal Resilience approach and benefits of natural infrastructure as a way to adapt to sea level rise and presented the Coastal Resilience mapping tool at the “resource market” portion of the workshop to scope possible alignment for Monterey and Conservancy-wide Coastal Resilience efforts.
The day was full of interaction and exciting events where participants walked away with clarity on the alignment of state and federal processes, guidance materials, and models for considering flooding and sea level rise and the available federal and state resources that can help support risk reduction. Participants also learned to identify how to operationalize vulnerability assessments to support climate adaptation planning and best practices from local community stakeholders who are leveraging resources to support resilience-building actions. Lastly, partnerships were developed with other local stakeholders as well as federal and state agencies.
