Coastal adaptation workshop brings together experts from around the country

Climate change research helps state prepare for its impact on coastal communities, forests, and wildlife.

A two-day workshop, “Closing the gap between science and implementation in coastal adaptation”, led by Professor Ming Li of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Horn Point Laboratory, brought together academic and management communities nationwide to explore topics in coastal adaptation.

“A major challenge to developing an effective coastal resilience strategy is the disconnect between the academic research and stakeholder needs," said Ming Li. "Our workshop is very timely, and a lot of great ideas have come out of it."

At the workshop, UMCES President Peter Goodwin pointed out that at COP27 the Biden-Harris Administration had just announced a new road map for nature-based solutions to fight climate change, strengthen communities, and support local economies.

Ming Li’s work focuses on the regional impacts of climate change, sea-level rise, and coastal flooding..

Li leads the Estuarine Coastlines and People (CoPe) Research Coordination Network, a group of national experts, oceanographers, engineers, ecologists, and social scientists focused on understanding the dangers coastal communities face and the impacts of a changing coastal environment.

“Sea-level rise and intensifying storms in a changing climate are a global phenomenon, but sea levels in a bay or estuary depend on how we manage coastlines,” said Li. Climate change and its effects is a complex issue where communities are not only trying to mitigate the source of the problem but also must find the best solutions to deal with the effects they are seeing in present day.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the CoPe Network aims to gather insights from existing coastal resiliency projects around the country, including Chesapeake Bay, Hudson River and New York Harbor, Massachusetts Bay and San Francisco Bay, and propose bold new strategies that integrate ecosystem enhancement and recovery to protect coastal communities and infrastructure.

UMCES' Horn Point Laboratory, located on more than 800 acres on the banks of the Choptank River on Maryland's Eastern Shore, has advanced society’s understanding of the world’s estuarine and ocean ecosystems. Horn Point scientists are widely respected for their interdisciplinary programs in oceanography, water quality, restoration of seagrasses, marshes and shellfish and for expertise in ecosystem modeling. With ongoing research programs spanning from the estuarine waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the open waters of the world's oceans, Horn Point is a national leader in applying environmental research and discovery to solve society’s most pressing environmental problems.