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Introduction and Background

In 2021, the Gulf Research Program (GRP)⁶ of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sponsored a two-year consensus study, Managed Retreat in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region, to examine and make findings and recommendations regarding the unique challenges associated with managed retreat among vulnerable coastal communities in the region. The Board on Environmental Change and Society in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Education convened a committee of experts to provide in-depth analysis and identify short- and long-term steps for Gulf Coast communities that may need to relocate. This study is part of the GRP’s interest in developing a research agenda for their future programming and relevant fields of study, such as those that address the complexities inherent in relocation as an adaptive strategy to climate change within and beyond the Gulf coast.

The committee convened a series of three public workshops in the Gulf Coast region to gather information for the consensus report. The workshops were held in June and July of 2022. Each workshop focused on policy and practice considerations, research and data needs, and community engagement strategies. One of the workshops’ principal objectives was to elevate the voices of communities and individuals contemplating, resist-

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⁶ The GRP was established in 2013 from criminal settlement funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and is intended to “advance and apply science, engineering, and public health knowledge to reduce risks from offshore oil spills and will enable the communities of the Gulf to better anticipate, mitigate, and recover from future disasters.” For more information on the Gulf Research program see: https://www.nationalacademies.org/gulf/about

ing, undertaking, or facing barriers to relocation (including systemic issues such as structural racism), as well as individuals who have resettled and communities that have received such individuals. Each workshop included community testimonials and panels of local decision makers and experts discussing processes and obstacles communities encounter with respect to the study’s Statement of Task (See Box 1-1).

The consensus committee selected three locations across the Gulf region. Collectively, these locations represent diverse issues associated with managed retreat and diversity in demographics, including population size. The first workshop was held in two parts in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas; the second workshop was held St. Petersburg, Florida. The third workshop was held in two parts in Thibodaux and Houma, Louisiana. This proceedings recounts the third workshop in Thibodaux and Houma, Louisiana.⁷

PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP

On July 26 and July 28, 2022, the study committee convened a two-part workshop in the Bayou Region of Southeastern Louisiana. The first part of the workshop, “Community Viability and Environmental Change in Coastal Louisiana,” was held at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana on July 26. During the workshop the committee heard from Indigenous representatives from The First Peoples’ Conservation Council of Louisiana and other local leaders from region.

The second part of the workshop, “Assisted Resettlement and Receiving Communities in Louisiana,” was held in Houma, Louisiana on July 28. During this part of the workshop, perspectives were shared by community members who are contemplating resettlement, have experienced displacement or relocation, or have experience in communities that have received people displaced or resettled from environmentally high-risk areas. The committee selected community members who could speak to the challenges and needs of strategic climate adaptation. Additionally, other local leaders and experts were chosen to discuss the implications of housing, health, and planning in the context of resettlement and receiving communities. The workshop included a hybrid component so that the committee could hear from residents and experts from other regions of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

To address the study’s Statement of Task, the committee enlisted the assistance of the local non-profit organizations, identified through their experiences in the region: the Lowlander Center for the Thibodaux portion and the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center for the Houma

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⁷ Additional details about the workshops are available at: https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/managed-retreat-in-the-us-gulf-coast-region

portion. Enlisting the help of these organizations enabled the committee to hear from tribal and non-tribal residents of the region.

Furthermore, the committee felt strongly about fully understanding the complex and variable array of perspectives in affected communities. Participants were invited based on planning discussions among committee members and informational calls in which participants and staff members of the study identified areas of expertise and experiences that would be particularly relevant for the workshop and the broader study.

ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS

This proceedings has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The study committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The views contained in the proceedings are those of individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop participants, the study committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The first day of the workshop is summarized in Chapter 2, which contains community perspectives from coastal Louisiana, and Chapter 3, which discusses equity, community viability, and environmental change. The second day of the workshop is summarized in Chapters 4, 5, and 6, with community perspectives on displacement, assisted resettlement, and receiving communities in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 contains discussions on resettling and receiving. Lastly, Chapter 6 describes the implications of housing, community development, and planning in the context of resettlement and receiving communities. The workshop agenda and biographies of participants and moderators are presented in Appendixes A and B, respectively.