Community Engagement for Coastal Resilience, with Celso Ferreira and Elizabeth Van Dolah

This week, host Margaret Walls welcomes Celso Ferreira and Elizabeth Van Dolah on the podcast to talk about building resilience in coastal communities that are vulnerable to sea level rise. Ferreira, a professor at George Mason University, and Van Dolah, an environmental anthropologist and community engagement expert, were members of an interdisciplinary research team that aimed to construct nature-based solutions to flooding problems in the rural municipality of Pocomoke City, Maryland. Throughout the process, the team consulted with an advisory committee of community members who weighed in on the project—and the local input shaped the researchers’ conclusions in surprising ways. In this episode, Ferreira and Van Dolah reflect on how continuous engagement with impacted communities can help identify overlooked ecosystem values and result in improved outcomes for people and the surrounding environment. References and recommendations: “Building coastal resilience in Pocomoke City, Maryland” by Celso Ferreira, Andre de Souza de Lima, Diana Veronez, Elizabeth Van Dolah, Joseph Galarraga, Ayanna Healy, Margaret Walls, Emma DeAngeli, and Nicole Carlozo; https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0638e5e7beea4a11ba7e277ce87ef7e2 “Recreation and Resilience: When Parks Do Double Duty” by Emma DeAngeli and Margaret Walls; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/recreation-and-resilience-when-parks-do-double-duty/ “Nature-Based Solutions 101” by Emma DeAngeli, Brandon Holmes, and Margaret Walls; https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/nature-based-solutions-101/ “A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness” by Michael Pollan; https://michaelpollan.com/books/a-world-appears/ “Goat” movie; https://www.netflix.com/title/82710848 Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/