- Getting Started
- Assessing Vulnerability
- Building Resilience Strategies
- Implementing Resilience Strategies
Getting Started |
The process to become a resilient coastal community starts with planning. Planning provides a systematic way to develop solutions to natural hazards. At the beginning of the planning process, it is important to:
Assemble a steering committee |
A steering committee should be established to help guide the development of a coastal resilience plan. Steering committee members should have expertise in or be critical to the success of community resilience strategies. When establishing a steering committee:
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Set guiding principles and motivations |
Once assembled, the steering committee should reach consensus on community resilience goals and the necessary actions to meet such goals. These goals should be diverse and should reflect the various interests of the different stakeholders involved in the planning process. When determining guiding principles for your coastal resilience plan:
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Define the geographic context |
The first action item for the steering committee should be to identify the geographic boundaries of the planning area. This step is the foundation for the vulnerability assessment to follow. See the Assessing Vulnerability section below. |
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Identify opportunities for community participation |
Community members outside of those on the steering committee should be involved in the coastal resilience planning and implementation phases, too. The same principles for public engagement and outreach discussed on the Risk Communication page apply to community participation in the planning process. When exploring avenues for community participation, remember first and foremost to identify target stakeholders and develop a public outreach approach. |
Assessing Vulnerability |
The vulnerability assessment is the second step in planning to become a more resilient community. Limited resources require local governments to prioritize resiliency efforts. Vulnerability assessments allow communities to identify areas and assets with the greatest physical, social and economic vulnerabilities to coastal hazards. When completing a vulnerability assessment for your community:
Conduct an exposure analysis |
An exposure analysis identifies the areas within a community that are likely to be impacted by natural disasters. The process for conducting an exposure analysis will vary depending on the natural disaster a community chooses to focus on. When conducting an exposure analysis:
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Conduct a sensitivity analysis |
A sensitivity analysis is an extension of the exposure analysis. A sensitivity analysis provides a more in depth understanding of how coastal areas are likely to be impacted by a natural disaster. Specifically, the sensitivity analysis goes beyond just identifying what areas are likely to be impacted by a disaster to the specific people and resources (who and what) that are likely to be impacted. When conducting a sensitivity analysis:
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Determine focus areas |
The results from the exposure and sensitivity analyses can be used to determine where to target resiliency efforts within the planning area. These focus areas may include environmental, socially or culturally significant geographic areas, vulnerable populations or critical infrastructures. Assigning vulnerability ratings to each of these county assets can be helpful in project prioritization.
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Analyze local plans for inconsistencies |
Assemble all plans and policies that govern land use, development, conservation, etc. in areas prioritized for coastal resiliency efforts and check for contradictions across plans. For example, a mitigation plan that calls for buy-outs in high-hazard areas, and a comprehensive plan that sets goals to increase investments in the same location. |
Building Resilience Strategies |
The third step in planning to become a more resilient community involves developing resilience strategies. Resilience strategies should outline ways to address the findings from the vulnerability assessment. When developing resilience strategies for your community, consider the following:
Assess resilience capacities |
Communities are encouraged to evaluate their current ability to recover from the impacts of natural disasters. In order to assess resilience capacity, communities may hire technical experts to conduct a detailed self-assessment study and/or may utilize the coastal resilience index tool developed by Sea Grant, NOAA, and Gulf of Mexico Alliance. These options help identify areas of the community that are already resilient as well as areas where resilience may be enhanced. |
Prioritize needs |
Communities should create a short, prioritized list of their biggest challenges based on output from the detailed self-assessment. This list will help guide the development of resilience strategies. |
Identify resilience strategies |
Resilience strategies will be a combination of mitigation, adaptation and preparedness and response actions. Mitigation and adaptation actions seek to reduce long-term vulnerability to natural hazards through the use of local plans and regulations, structural and infrastructural projects, natural systems protection and education and awareness projects, while preparedness and response actions rely on outreach plans and efforts catered to the time during and immediately following a natural disaster. See the Mitigation section for more specific stratgies. |
Integrate into existing plans |
Efforts to enhance resiliency are more effective when integrated into already existing local plans. Typical plans to integrate resilience efforts into may include: comprehensive plan, post-disaster redevelopment plan, capital improvements plan, stormwater management plan, historic preservation plan. |
Implementing Resilience Strategies |
The final step in the process to become a more resilient community is implementing the plans you have made and strategies you have identified. During implementation:
Prioritize strategies |
It is not always economically feasible to implement all proposed strategies outlined to enhance resilience. Making use of focus maps created during the vulnerability assessment will help guide which strategies should be prioritized to take advantage of available funding opportunities. |
Create an implementation schedule |
It is important to create a time-bound schedule for proposed activities and actions that identifies the agencies responsible for completing proposed activities and actions. |
Monitor and evaluate |
As proposed activities and actions are implemented, it is advisable to monitor and evaluate each activity and action to ensure that they are performing as intended. This evaluation allows communities to make modifications where needed to ensure that resilience goals are achieved. |
Reach out to local stakeholders |
Developing strong relationships with organizations, agencies, public entities and other stakeholders within your community is essential to effective decision making. These collaborative relationships can help promote peer-to-peer learning about risk assessment and mitigation practices. Building partnerships and relationships also enables trust. When talking with communities, it is important to address the unique concerns of each group, create and share information transparently to build consensus and buy-in. See the Risk Communication page for more specific stratgies. |
Identify funding opportunities |
It is important to review and identify all potential funding sources to implement resilience strategies. More information on funding options available at the county level can be found on the Funding page. |
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ENDNOTES |
This section was adapted from the planning framework outlined in the Florida Adaptation Planning Guidebook which was produced by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in June 2018. |