2015 Conference

Full Presentation Panel

Science is ever-evolving with new findings emerging on a regular basis. This leaves communities wondering what scienc­e they should use in their planning processes addressing coastal hazards and climate change. Additionally, it leaves local governments wondering if they should delay implementation of strategies until the “best” information becomes available. Through the usage of innovative and interdisciplinary research and planning, communities can assess and plan today for the future, but still have enough flexibility to incorporate new information as it becomes available, and update policies and plans as appropriate. As part of this session three separate case studies will be presented, providing on-the-ground examples of how communities throughout Southern California are creating opportunities for regional collaborations in planning for an uncertain future: (1) the University of California, Irvine’s Flood Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainable Environments (FloodRISE) project’s interdisciplinary research into how to more effectively communicate about flood hazards in two distinctly different communities; (2) the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve’s Climate Understanding & Resilience in the River Valley (CURRV) project which is using scenario planning to help move climate adaptation planning forward along the US-Mexico border; and (3) the University of Southern California Sea Grant’s AdaptLA project which implemented innovative adaptive management approaches to help the City of Los Angeles adapt to sea level rise.

Juliette Hart, PhD

University of Southern California Sea Grant

jahart@usc.edu

AdaptLA, developed by USC Sea Grant in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, is a science-based and stakeholder-supported adaptation planning process. The primary goal for creating AdaptLA was to help the City begin planning for the impacts of sea level rise along its coastline. A team of subject matter experts assessed the physical, social and economic impacts of sea level rise on the City's resources and population, as well as the possible impacts to coastal and shoreline assets. As part of the AdaptLA model, USC Sea Grant advocated for  “adaptive” adaptation planning that incorporated an iterative planning process. This allowed for inclusion of the best available science throughout the study, while also recognizing likely electoral and political changes throughout the life of an adaptation plan. In the midst of this first AdaptLA project, new, important scientific information emerged which required consideration while the study was already anyway. Similarly the mayoral administration changed, which required gaining quick support of the findings near the close of the study period before release of the report. The final report was released with the new administration’s support and approval.  In our presentation, we will describe how the adaptive management approach was helpful in addressing these two obstacles, focusing on the critical need for effective interdepartmental communication. We will close with an overview of how this approach is now being utilized throughout L.A. County in a regional AdaptLA project.

Dr. Jeff Crooks

Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve

jcrooks@trnerr.org

Preparing for Climate Change in a Binational Watershed

The Tijuana River Valley (TRV) contains the largest intact coastal wetland system in Southern California, despite intense pressure from development associated with being situated on an international border between two major metropolitan areas- San Diego (California, United States) and Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico). Through the Climate Understanding & Resilience in the River Valley (CURRV) project, the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (TRNERR) is using scenario planning to outline local vulnerabilities, focusing on the relationship between sea level rise and riverine flooding.  The project is helping move forward local climate planning by recognizing the primary obstacles that often prevent the process from being effective, including uncertainty, multi-agency jurisdictions, and balancing the built and natural environments.  The results of the scenario planning process are informing the development of climate adaptation strategies for the TRV, addressing the potential impacts that threaten the future resiliency of important natural ecosystems, critical infrastructure, and surrounding human communities.  This presentation will introduce audiences to collaborative climate adaptation planning in the San Diego region, and more specifically the CURRV process, providing a unique case study of how TRNERR is improving the ability of public agencies to adapt to climate change, as well as offer tools for effective participatory ecosystem-based management in light of these changes.

Kim Serrano

University of California, Irvine

krserra1@uci.edu

FloodRISE is an NSF-funded, UC Irvine-led research project to promote resilience to coastal flooding in southern California and Mexico. The project unites flood modeling engineers with social scientists and economists to work alongside two communities facing increased flooding from climate impacts like sea level rise and changing storm patterns: Newport Beach, California, and Los Laureles Canyon, Tijuana. These communities are vastly different in their demographics, governance structures, and development practices, yet face similar challenges of preparing for dangerous flood events. FloodRISE responds to uncertainties associated with flood planning through collaborative interdisciplinary research that blurs the traditional boundaries between campus and community. Engineers build parcel-level flood models that are validated, adjusted, and improved by residents and property owners in affected areas, while social scientists and economists work with community members to characterize local perceptions of flood risk. Given the distinct ways that communities in different contexts think about and prepare for flooding, the FloodRISE project is also concerned with devising innovative, context-driven communication strategies that make information about flood risk accessible and intelligible to those at greatest risk from a flood event. By incorporating community knowledge at each stage of the research process, the FloodRISE project aims to generate context-specific approaches to managing flood hazards that foster community resilience and sustainability.

The Role of Technological Innovation and Social Learning in Disaster Risk Reduction: Evidence from a Cross-National Study on Earthquake Losses

Qing Miao

While the importance of technology in reducing disaster risks is widely recognized in the policy world, it has received much less attention from researchers. Recent studies which investigate the determinants of natural disaster losses have largely focused on the effect of economic development and institutional quality (e.g., Kahn, 2005). This study provides the first empirical analysis which quantitatively examines the role of technological innovation and social learning in mitigating disaster impacts. Drawing upon the adaptation literature, I consider innovation and learning as a key aspect of adaptive capacity which affects a society’s ability to cope with extreme events. The notion of adaptation implies that people constantly learn from their prior exposure to certain types of hazards, and acquire new knowledge that could be either tangible (e.g., new technologies) or intangible (e.g., experiential knowledge) for reducing future disaster risks. My study examines the treatment effect of both technological innovation and prior disaster exposure, considering the latter as not only a driver of learning but also a proxy of intangible knowledge.

Using a global cross-section, I estimate the effect of a country’s innovations in earthquake-proof building technology and prior quake exposure on earthquake-related fatalities and economic damages. I find that countries that have accumulated more patents in quake-proof buildings suffer fewer human and economic losses from earthquakes of the same intensity. This suggests technological innovation, as a dynamic social learning process, provides a long-term adaptation strategy. I also find that a country’s prior earthquake experiences can also significantly reduce the losses from later quakes. This “learning-by-doing” effect is more pronounced in high-income countries, which suggests their stronger adaptive capacity.