City Of Miami Announces New Climate Resilience Project Partnership With The Nature Conservancy

Miami FL

29 January, 2021

12:05 PM

Description

From the City of Miami: January 28, 2021 Miami Mayor Francis Suarez joined Commissioner Ken Russell and leaders from global conservation and climate action nonprofit The Nature Conservancy (TNC) yesterday at Morningside Park to announce a new project partnership that will help bring nature-based solutions to strengthen the park's shoreline against the impacts of climate change. The new partnership includes a grant agreement that provides up to $400,000 for the City and TNC to design the Morningside Park Resilient Shoreline Project. The funding stems from a larger grant provided directly to TNC by the Chubb Charitable Foundation in an effort to expand the use of green infrastructure to protect Miami's coast and its communities. "The City of Miami is proud to announce this project partnership with The Nature Conservancy, made possible by the financial support of the Chubb Charitable Foundation," said Mayor Suarez. "Our hope is that the Morningside Park Resilient Shoreline Project will both safeguard our waterfront and become a prototype for future green and green-grey infrastructure solutions in Miami. It is clearly a step in the right direction as we work – with the input of our community – to safeguard Miami's future for our own children and for their children, too." Once designed and implemented, the Morningside Park Resilient Shoreline Project will incorporate and leverage natural infrastructure that can provide significant risk-reduction benefits. Healthy mangroves, intertidal zones and coral reefs reduce wave energy, and they have the potential to buffer coastal communities like Miami's Morningside neighborhood from storm surges and sea level rise. A recent study funded by The Nature Conservancy concluded that mangroves in Florida protected approximately 625,000 people and prevented $1.5 billion in direct flood damages during Hurricane Irma in 2017. "Morningside Park has provided generations of Miami residents with access to our beloved, but vulnerable, Biscayne Bay," said City of Miami District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell. "I am proud to work with The Nature Conservancy to support new initiatives like the Resilient Shoreline Project that will protect my constituents living around Morningside Park from coastal flooding. By implementing a hybrid of smart engineering and natural defenses -- like marshes, mangroves and coral reefs -- we can fortify the coastline so that future generations can continue to enjoy this vital section of our city's shores." The City's partnership with The Nature Conservancy will begin as a collaboration to design and permit applicable nature-based solutions for Morningside Park that will provide flood risk reductions within the park and/or surrounding neighborhood. Nature-based solutions, including natural, green, and green-gray or hybrid infrastructure, are inspired by nature and offer environmental, economic, and social benefits, while increasing resilience. "Florida is at the global forefront of climate change and its impacts, and Morningside Park is a perfect example of how vulnerable our coastlines are," said Temperince Morgan, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Florida. "The Nature Conservancy is committed to protecting our coasts and coastal communities through scientific research, informing policies that reduce CO2 emissions, and innovative projects like the Morningside Park Resilient Shoreline. Thanks to supporters like the Chubb Charitable Foundation and willing partners like the City of Miami, this project can demonstrate that nature is a powerful ally in mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change." "As a property and casualty insurer, Chubb recognizes that mitigating the growing threat of climate change requires action from government, the private sector and society-at-large. Through Chubb's collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, we can help make a difference not only in this resilience project with the City of Miami, but gain practically tested insights that can be replicated around the world in other coastal cities vulnerable to climate change," said Lori Dunstan, Executive Director, Chubb Charitable Foundation. As the City of Miami and The Nature Conservancy set about the work of designing the Morningside Park project in the months ahead, gathering input from the community will be a key part of the process. A successful design and project will help inform future City of Miami resilience projects that incorporate natural infrastructure, as well as green-gray solutions that will play a quantifiable role in protecting people and businesses in the future. This press release was produced by the City of Miami. The views expressed here are the author's own.