At What Point Managed Retreat? Resilience Building in the Coastal Zone

CCRUN and partners organized a conference on managed retreat, entitled “At What Point Managed Retreat? Resilience Building in the Coastal Zone”, hosted by the Climate Adaptation Initiative at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, which took place on June 19- 21, 2019. As one of the first major academia-led conferences on the subject, the event convened diverse stakeholders including researchers, community-based organizations, tribal and indigenous leadership, planners, practitioners, local government, industry representatives and more to discuss the issues surrounding retreat as an adaptation option. Major themes discussed included environmental justice, community resilience, policy and decision-making, and climate modeling of various aspects of retreat from sea level rise to migration.

The event brought together over 300 individuals, including researchers of multiple CCRUN universities, CISA, and other NOAA affiliates. The event provided a platform for CCRUN to assess knowledge gaps and opportunities for future research agendas relevant to coastal communities in the Northeast and across RISA regions. Out of this conference, the organizers plan to build new partnerships for co-generating knowledge on adaptation and develop a policy-oriented article for a leading journal, op-eds for broader audiences, and a distillation of best practices in a white paper for local planners.

Date: June 19 - 21, 2019
Location: New York, NY