In Miami, coastal resilience efforts involve more than just fortifying buildings and creating evacuation plans. Jane Gilbert, chief resilience officer for Miami, Florida, recognizes that coastal resilience is “really about how do we look at the underlying social, physical, [and] technological infrastructure.” Her holistic vision of coastal resilience will be critical in the coming decades. Fostering resilient communities that can rebound from disaster becomes ever more important as sea levels rise and storms become stronger and larger.
A recent article by Hyun Kim, David Marcouiller, and Kyle Woosman, helps flesh out the connection between climate justice and vulnerability to climate change. They used data from 1600 counties in the Mississippi River basin to analyze the relationships between climate justice and community resilience to disaster, especially flooding.
So what makes coastal communities more resilient to climate change?
More often than not, increasing resilience is a matter of climate justice. Decreasing inequality, improving housing access, and fostering communities with strong social and organizational ties will be key in the years to come.
A tiled mural doubles as a street sign in Little Havana, Miami. Resilient 305 is a Miami-based organization working to protect and preserve communities such as these. Creating and maintaining strong communities is essential to resilience.
The study found that higher income inequality was associated with more vulnerability and risk. Major flooding events hit the poorest the hardest, compounding poverty that already exists. For example, without expendable income, it’s almost impossible to follow recommendations to stock up on supplies in preparation for disaster. Going somewhere else to escape the storm becomes difficult as well. Following Katrina, almost a third of those who didn’t evacuate said limited means prevented them from doing so. Not having a car was one of the biggest barriers.
Critically, the study found that communities with stronger social networks and relationships are more resilient to flooding. For example, higher presence of civic organizations was associated with less flood risk. Civic organizations like non-profits and advocacy groups provide citizens with resources, support, and footing to build relationships. In contrast, organizational incapacity to reach certain areas represents a climate injustice and makes unassisted communities more vulnerable.
Small organizations can fill in during times of disaster where larger organization have failed to reach, thus increasing resilience. In preparation for Hurricane Irma, Miami-based social justice group Miami Dream Defenders did just that. A member of the group, James Valsaint, explains, “We knew what communities would be hit the hardest yet nobody did anything to prepare for it in any real concrete ways; basically the poorest communities that were already vulnerable.” So the group sent volunteers to the most vulnerable communities following the storm.
Communities with longer-term residents are more equipped to bounce back from climate disasters by taking advantage of established social connections. The study found longer residency length contributed to higher resilience, while areas with newer residents were at higher climate risk because they had weaker social networks to fall back on when disaster struck. People with low incomes often find themselves at the mercy of the increasing expense of housing. Moving means losing social links or not even having the time to establish meaningful connections in the first place. Post Katrina, 71% of those that didn’t evacuate due to limited means cited “not having anywhere to go” as a barrier. For people with few financial means, finding somewhere to stay often depends on having widespread, deep social connections throughout a city or region. Moving often and being segregated to insular areas vulnerable to flooding means forging these relationships is next to impossible.
Homeowner status, which requires financial means and produces social stability, brought lower climate risk. Homeowners are often eligible for assistance to rebuild that renters don’t receive. After Hurricane Sandy, for example, 40% of homes affected in New Jersey were renter occupied, yet tenants only received 25% percent of financial assistance by the state.
The study also found that those living in older housing were more vulnerable. Not only is older housing more susceptible to damage, relief programs reinforce inequality by distributing money based on property value rather than costs borne as a result of disaster. In Louisiana, the $9.7 billion federal and state-funded Road Home program did just that. Henry L. Irvin Senior, a Katrina survivor, explains, “The dollar value on our property was so low back in them days you couldn’t really build nothing with what they gave.” Poor, predominantly black communities lost out while upscale areas received ample funds to rebuild—a clear example of governmental failure and injustice.
Climate justice is an essential component of bringing about resilient coastal communities with extensive and meaningful social connections. Kim, Marcouiller, and Woosman’s recent study suggests the future of resilience planning doesn’t just include constructing floodwalls and dykes. It must also incorporate climate justice measures like making housing affordable and ensuring organizational assistance reaches the people that need it most.