Overcoming Collaboration Barriers Among Government Agencies & Between Agencies and Communities -- for Climate Change Adaptation

Transcription

1 Overcoming Collaboration Barriers Among Government Agencies & Between Agencies and Communities -- for Climate Change Adaptation Shirley Laska, PhD & Kristina Peterson, PhD University of New Orleans (uno.edu/chart) & Lowlander Center (lowlandercenter.org) for AWRA Summer Specialty Conference: Climate Change Adaptation (6/15/15, New Orleans)

2 Outline 1. Climate Change Adaptation Challenges 2. Govt. Agency Organizational Resource Reality 3. Challenges of Community Adaptation: Needed Level of Actions 4. Requirements of Adaptation Success 5. Already Existing Examples: Louisiana Leads 6. Conclusions

3 1. Climate Change Challenges Very complex Multiple dimensions of change Knowing the signals Interaction of climate change with other hazards Selecting and implementing the prospective adaptations Keeping adaptations integrated in regional responses

4 2. Government Organizational Resource Reality & Requirements Who is already present? What is their regulatory relationship? How experienced are they with community collaboration?

5 Who Are The Local Key Government Agency Players? Example: Louisiana Coastal St. Bernard Parish Federal: Army Corp of Engineers Levee Construction Storm Surge Barrier Protection Wetland Delineations Wetland Restoration Borrow Pit Permitting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Recovery Capitol Projects Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air/Water/Soil Quality Permitting / Enforcement

6 State: Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) Coastal Master Plan Implementation Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Air/Water/Soil Quality Munic. Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) w/epa Discharge Permits Enforcement (illicit discharges, illegal dumping, etc.) Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Oil & Gas Energy Mineral Conservation and Coastal Management SE Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East E. Jefferson, Orleans & Lake Borgne Basin Levee Districts Funding and Policy Interaction with Army Corp of Engineers

7 Region: Lake Borgne Basin Levee District Interaction with SE Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East Interaction with St. Bernard Parish Government Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Regional Planning Commission (RPC) for Metropolitan New Orleans Environmental Planning

8 Recent Research on Intergovernmental Collaboration Willingness to support/resistance to regulatory framework adherence. (Norris-Raynbird, 2011) Linking adaptive management to collaborative governance. (Seth, 2014)

9 3. Challenges of Community Adaptation: the Level of Action Community Resilience Community Resiliency Indices Cutter, Univ. of South Carolina, Baseline Indicators for Disaster Resilient Communities Sea Grant & NOAA Coastal Community Resilience Index CARRI (Oak Ridge) Community and Regional Resilience Index NIST Community Disaster Resilience Army Corps Coastal System Resilience Approach: Communities, Projects, Systems

10 4. Requirements of Adaptation Success Collaboration among scientists from different bureaucracies to blend knowledge and multi-agency goals. Enforcement of legal requirements required by each agency but not with heavy-handed approach. TRUE collaboration between agency scientists and communities REQUIRED by format legislated for implementation of climate change adaptations.

11 Largest Barrier to Science/Community Collaboration Belief that only science knows best with regard to adaptations.

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13 Largest Barrier to Science/Community Collaboration: Solutions Sci-TEK (Bethel et al., JCR) Boundary Land (Peterson, dissertation, UNO Scholar Works)

14 5. Already Existing Science Collaboration Examples: Louisiana Leads Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) of 1990 Louisiana Coastal Area Program (LCA) of WRDA 2007 Louisiana Master Plan (La-CPRA) of 2012 Civil works projects of U.S. Army Corps of Eng. ongoing

15 The Co-Located Agency Team of the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act of 1990 (CWPPRA) o Environmental Protection Agency o Commerce (National Marine and Fisheries Service) o Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Geologic Survey) o Agriculture (Natural Resources Conservation Service) o U.S. Army Corps of Engineers o Louisiana s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

16 CWPPRA Organizational Structure

17 5. Already Existing Science Collaboration Examples: Louisiana Leads Consensus from the programs: Co-location works!

18 6. Conclusions Knowledge co-location a must Knowledge co-respect a must both among agencies and between agencies and community members with ecological and other relevant knowledge. Co-management of project determination, project construction and implementation a must (Fikret Berkes, Univ. of Manitoba)