Pacific RISA is collaborating with the Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, Health, and Equity (C3HE), the NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships team for the Carolinas region, to conduct community-engaged research to support equitable flood resilience in Hawaiʻi and North Carolina. The work centers on developing local flood risk models and engaging with community members to prioritize adaptation solutions in four coastal communities (the North Shore and northern Koʻolaupoko to southern Koʻolauloa on Oʻahu; Down East Carteret County and Carolina Beach in North Carolina).
Map of partner communities. Credit: Chris Shuler.
The CAP teams are partnering with community organizations in each region—Kualoa Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth (KEY) Project in Hawaiʻi and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center in North Carolina—to lead engagement. The project aims to build collective capacity to advance community resilience goals and identify infrastructure investments that reduce risk, support wellbeing, and align with community values.
As a cross-CAP project, the teams will exchange knowledge and work collaboratively to test innovative research and engagement methods across the two regions.
Core project components are:
Develop models and characterize flood risk. The team will develop and refine flood models for each community that include multiple drivers of flooding and can help communities understand present-day and future risk. Models can be used to explore the benefits and trade-offs of different infrastructure options in various future climates.
Deploy web cameras for improved flood risk communication. Pacific RISA and C3HE are collaborating to install new sensors and webcams in Hawaiʻi at flood hotspots to support public safety during floods and to validate and enhance flood risk assessment.
Analyze community vulnerabilities and adaptation priorities. This component will build a collective understanding of flood impacts, future risks, and climate change adaptation priorities among community members and decision-makers. Activities include workshops and analyzing data from interviews, oral histories, and household surveys.
Graduate student Lilia Davis (right) shares a sea level rise demonstration with community members at Kalo Fest, March 2024 Credit: Zena Grecni.
Evaluate adaptation solutions and assess transferability across communities. Adaptation solutions identified by community members will be modeled to assess how they influence different types of flood risks under future scenarios. Peer exchange between the two regions can reveal commonalities and differences among communities and test the usefulness of this approach for evaluating solutions.
Pacific RISA hosted a booth at KEY Projectʻs annual Kalo Fest in March 2024 to introduce the project by leading outreach activities on participatory flood mapping, sea level rise, and webcam siting. They successfully engaged many members of the community while doing an educational demo of their participatory flood mapping application.
The 3-year project (2023-2026) is funded by the NOAA Climate Programs Office through special Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding (Federal Award No. NA23OAR4310474).
Pacific RISA Research Team Zena Grecni (Arizona State University)
Dr. Chris Shuler (University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center)
Dr. Matthew Widlansky (University of Hawaiʻi, JIMAR UH Sea Level Center)
Brian Gorberg (University of Hawaiʻi graduate student)
Resilient and sustainable Pacific Island communities using climate information to manage risks and support practical decision-making about climate variability and change.
Community-engaged flood management
Cross-CAP Community Engaged Flood Risk Modeling
Pacific RISA is collaborating with the Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, Health, and Equity (C3HE), the NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships team for the Carolinas region, to conduct community-engaged research to support equitable flood resilience in Hawaiʻi and North Carolina. The work centers on developing local flood risk models and engaging with community members to prioritize adaptation solutions in four coastal communities (the North Shore and northern Koʻolaupoko to southern Koʻolauloa on Oʻahu; Down East Carteret County and Carolina Beach in North Carolina).
The CAP teams are partnering with community organizations in each region—Kualoa Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth (KEY) Project in Hawaiʻi and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center in North Carolina—to lead engagement. The project aims to build collective capacity to advance community resilience goals and identify infrastructure investments that reduce risk, support wellbeing, and align with community values.
As a cross-CAP project, the teams will exchange knowledge and work collaboratively to test innovative research and engagement methods across the two regions.
Core project components are:
Pacific RISA hosted a booth at KEY Projectʻs annual Kalo Fest in March 2024 to introduce the project by leading outreach activities on participatory flood mapping, sea level rise, and webcam siting. They successfully engaged many members of the community while doing an educational demo of their participatory flood mapping application.
The 3-year project (2023-2026) is funded by the NOAA Climate Programs Office through special Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding (Federal Award No. NA23OAR4310474).
Pacific RISA Research Team
Zena Grecni (Arizona State University)
Dr. Chris Shuler (University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center)
Dr. Matthew Widlansky (University of Hawaiʻi, JIMAR UH Sea Level Center)
Brian Gorberg (University of Hawaiʻi graduate student)
Additional Resources
Stories as science: Integrating lived experience and community knowledge into actionable adaptation science in Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands regions
Our Vision
Resilient and sustainable Pacific Island communities using climate information to manage risks and support practical decision-making about climate variability and change.
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