Coastal Resilience cited in big win for California’s Ventura Program.
Photo: Industry and its byproducts threaten to undermine the ecological stability of nearby Ormond Beach, a protected coastal wetlands area and bird nesting site off the Pacific in Ventura County, southern California. ©Melinda Kelley
Contributed by Lisa Park, California. July 2014
On July 1 and again on July 29, the Oxnard City Council unanimously voted for a moratorium on coastal power plants, based on data provided by the Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience Ventura project that predicts that the power plants would be under water by 2020, if not sooner. The community wants to see the preservation and restoration of Oxnard’s coastline, not more infrastructure built in a flood zone. Oxnard is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise because it’s a large, low-lying region that has a range of infrastructure built close to the coast. The goal of our Coastal Resilience project is to make the best climate data science publicly available so communities can make informed coastal planning decisions that incorporate nature.
Lily Verdone, TNC Ventura Project Manager, is excited not only about the decision but about the process that decision makers used to get there. “The moratorium is a big win for our work – not only is the TNC coastal resilience modeling being used to influence this emergency ordinance, but it is also being used to update the City’s LCP plan as a long-term solution to coastal planning”, she said. “It was inspirational to hear the environmental justice folks strongly represented and voice their concerns on the inequities low income communities face around sea level rise and coastal development.” Lily was interviewed for Think Progress where you can read more from Lily. Her work was additionally featured in Reuters and on local radio station KPCC.
Zach Ferdana, TNC Global Marine Team, has been leading the development of Coastal Resilience 2.0, the web based mapping tool that was used in the Ventura County process. “This is a real win for Coastal Resilience, Ferdana stated. ” This is a great example of the tangible results we need to highlight when asked how the tool and the coastal resilience process supports adaptation decisions”.
Learn more! For more information visit Coastal Resilience Ventura (link) or contact Lily Verdone firstname.lastname@example.org