SCC-CIVIC-PG Track A: The Development of Salt-Tolerant Plant Communities for Coastal Climate Resilience in Environmental Justice Areas Such as East Boston, Massachusetts

Coastal populations face unprecedented threats from rising sea level, increased frequency and severity of storms, degradation of protective wetlands, and tidal flooding. Many coastal communities, especially those in urban settings, are especially vulnerable, not only due to their geography, but also as a result of “societal comorbidities” including industrial pollution, adjacency to utility and chemical hazards, economic disadvantage, and language isolation.

This community-driven research project entails the mobilization and empowerment of community groups and involvement of local middle/high students in participatory citizen research and piloting of nature-based solutions to wetland degradation and flooding that address specific concerns related to environmental justice and unprecedented climate change in an East Boston MA pilot site. East Boston is a type example of the intersection of the above factors, with additional stressors of the rising cost-of-living, real estate development, and displacement.

This research pilot project attempts to flip the dynamic of vulnerability and resilience by providing a community-driven, inclusive, and equitable process that involves all key stakeholders in considering risks and new solutions in-situ. Success of the pilot would enable community residents, activists, researchers, and other local groups to have greater economic and educational opportunities associated with the implementation and upkeep of the nature-based infrastructure that prepares the land for water-related disasters.

Broader impacts of the research include developing nature based solutions to climate change and increasing community resilience to flooding. It also involves local citizens in the science and provides improved living conditions for a low-income coastal community. Outcomes of the pilot will be used as a template that can be used to increase resilience in other similarly positioned coastal communities.

The goal of this research is to build upon and weave together academic-based research results for optimizing marsh diversity for sustained ecosystem services. It will include aspects of industry-based research on bioremediation and civic discussions on post-industrial land use. The project will provide intellectual advancements including: (1) increased understanding of the interactions between communities of salt-tolerant marsh organisms and their impact on water management and contaminant control that can contribute to the framework for nature-based solutions research; (2) an adaptable methodology for how community-driven-research can effectively inform inclusive planning for climate preparation; and (3) broad, community-wide improvements to the local knowledge base and community scientific literacy.

The approach employs, engages, and empowers the participation of local residents in community planning. It also offers informed perspectives from researchers and other experts in the co-production of solutions and their implementation of these which improves the likelihood of coastal community resilience in the face of climate change and sea level rise.

This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track A. Living in a changing climate: pre-disaster action around adaptation, resilience, and mitigation—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.