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

沿海人口面临着海平面上升、风暴频率和严重程度增加、保护性湿地退化和潮汐洪水等前所未有的威胁。许多沿海社区，特别是城市社区，尤其脆弱，这不仅是因为其地理位置，而且还因为工业污染、邻近公用事业和化学品危害、经济劣势和语言孤立等“社会共病”。这个社区驱动的研究项目需要社区团体的动员和授权，以及当地中学生/高中生的参与公民研究和基于自然的湿地退化和洪水解决方案的试点，解决与环境正义和前所未有的气候变化有关的具体问题，在马萨诸塞州东波士顿试点地点。东波士顿是上述因素交叉的典型例子，还有生活成本上升、房地产开发和流离失所等额外压力因素。该研究试点项目试图通过提供一个社区驱动的、包容的、公平的过程，让所有关键利益攸关方参与就地考虑风险和新的解决方案，从而扭转脆弱性和复原力的动态。试点的成功将使社区居民、活动人士、研究人员和其他地方团体获得更多的经济和教育机会，这些机会与实施和维护基于自然的基础设施有关，这些基础设施为土地应对与水有关的灾害做好了准备。这项研究的更广泛影响包括开发基于自然的气候变化解决方案，以及提高社区对洪水的抵御能力。它还让当地公民参与科学，并为低收入的沿海社区提供改善的生活条件。试点结果将作为模板，用于提高其他处境类似的沿海社区的抗灾能力。本研究的目标是建立并整合基于学术的研究成果，以优化沼泽多样性，以实现可持续的生态系统服务。它将包括以工业为基础的生物修复研究和关于后工业土地利用的公民讨论。该项目将提供智力上的进步，包括：(1)加深对耐盐沼泽生物群落之间相互作用的理解，以及它们对水管理和污染物控制的影响，这有助于建立基于自然的解决方案研究框架；(2)社区驱动的研究如何有效地为气候准备的包容性规划提供信息的适应性方法；(3)在社区范围内广泛地改善当地的知识基础和社区科学素养。这种方法让当地居民参与到社区规划中来。它还提供了研究人员和其他专家在共同制定解决方案及其实施方面的知情观点，这些解决方案提高了沿海社区面对气候变化和海平面上升的复原力的可能性。该项目是对“公民创新挑战”项目（track a）的回应：在不断变化的气候中生活：围绕适应、恢复和缓解的灾前行动——是国家科学基金会、国土安全部和能源部之间的合作项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.