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Development of Community-Level Capacity of Resilience to Natural Hazards for Environmental- and Social-Justice-Challenged Communities: 1. Approach, Concepts, and Assessment of Existing Information
Citation:
Summers, J., R. Sanderson, R. Trahan, K. Hendricks, M. Ruffian, A. Williams, A. Lamper, M. Lowery, AND L. Harwell. Development of Community-Level Capacity of Resilience to Natural Hazards for Environmental- and Social-Justice-Challenged Communities: 1. Approach, Concepts, and Assessment of Existing Information. Sustainability. MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, 16(3):963, (2024). https://doi.org/10.3390/su16030963
Impact/Purpose:
The conceptualization phase of the Building Resilience Capacity Framework )Phase 1) will be the selection and examination of candidate communities and parishes to determine the extent of the need for capacity building and the environmental social justice status of the candidate communities. We will partner with the Capital Regional Planning Commission (Louisiana), Louisiana Watershed Initiative District #7, and Region 6 to select potential candidate communities/parishes needing resilience capacity building. This determination will be made using existing EPA tools and models [e.g., Cumulative Resilience Screening Index (CRSI), the Human Well-Being Index (HWBI), the Decision Integration for Stronger Communities (DISC)] through consultation with the partners and other entities (e.g., FEMA). The EJ/SJ status of the communities and parishes will be determined using the Environmental Justice Screening Tool (EJSCREEN) and the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) in consultation with the partners and other organizations [e.g., National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), Office of Environmental Justice, and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)]. In consultation with partners, a list of the best candidates for resilience capacity building that are also highly ranked EJ/SJ community/parish candidates will be determined. Priority will be given to communities/parishes overburdened by anthropogenic and/or natural hazards and/or cumulation hazards resulting in adverse community outcomes. Through the partners, we will initiate community engagement workshops to vet the findings of the list. This community engagement effort will be designed to determine if the community, in question, agrees with the assessment of their resilience capacity and the assessment of being overburdened (EJ/SJ). The effort is intended to determine the willingness of the community/parish to invest the effort (time) to develop resilience capacity. The list will be reduced to two or three communities/parishes where resilience capacity building will have the greatest impact. The sub-product will be a peer-reviewed manuscript entitled, "Development of resilience capacity building for environmental and social justice communities: Conceptualization. In addition, the results will be developed into a presentation that will be provided to the selected communities/parishes.
Description:
Impoverished and under-served communities are often exposed to the worst environmental and climate hazards. Identifying these communities and building their resilience capacity to withstand such hazards is a vital justice aspect of environmental management. Building community resilience requires five activities: (1) examination of existing information, (2) community engagement and assessment of local knowledge, (3) development of reasonable strategies to build resilience, (4) implementation and these strategies, and (5) monitoring and transability of the process. This manuscript examines the first component of this process. The attributes of multiple parishes in Louisiana are examined using available data and existing models of human well-being, community resilience, and environmental/climate/socioeconomic justice. These existing models and tools were used to determine parish-level resilience to natural hazards including flooding, hurricanes, and other potential natural climatic hazards in central Louisiana (U.S.). Through consultation with state officials and local community groups, candidate environmental justice (EJ) and social justice (SJ) communities were selected to develop resilience capacity enhancement plans to address potential adverse parish and community outcomes of natural hazard events. Of the available parishes, St. Helena Parish was selected as an entity that would significantly benefit from resilience capacity building. The remaining two activities, community engagement and strategy development, will be examined in sister manuscripts. Continuing studies, to be described elsewhere, will describe community engagement and the determination of strategies, implementation plans, and the monitoring of the success of these strategic implementations.
