SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A team of scientists from the University of Rhode Island will start working this fall with the town of Warren to address worsening climate hazards affecting coastal communities as part of a three-state collaboration backed by the National Science Foundation, thanks to a $1.5 million foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research grant, the university announced Friday.
URI says that according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projections, the sea level is projected to rise 1.6 feet by 2050, and 2.29 feet by 2060. It is a worsening the conditions that Warren faces under normal tide ranges, including flooding and salinization, the university says.
The grant will help fund a $6 million collaborative project, titled “Risks, Impacts, and Strategies for Coastal Communities: Advancing Convergent Science to Support Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience,” involving Rhode Island, Delaware and South Carolina, URI says. Warren, the university says, was selected because it is “disproportionately affected” by climate change and sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast. As a result, the town, the university says, faces nearly twice the global rate of sea-level rise, causing a potential for infrastructure to be damaged by high floods.
URI says its researchers will evaluate these areas and more, helping town residents come up with climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The university also says the project will also advance scientific knowledge on how disproportionately affected coastal communities deal with and adapt to flooding and salinization.
“Finding solutions to this very complex problem requires experts with a range of expertise to provide the support and information necessary to enable community members to make important decisions,” said Emi Uchida, chair of URI’s Department of Environmental Natural Resource Economics, in a statement. “So, we’re bringing together experts in behavioral economics, natural sciences, engineering, public policy, and stakeholder engagement to provide the information communities need to empower them to make adaptation decisions that ensure climate resilience to flooding and salinization.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
