Becker Group News
New pub: Towards seaport resilience
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Becker A, Matson P, Fischer M, Mastrandrea M (2014) Towards seaport resilience for climate change adaptation: Stakeholder perceptions of hurricane impacts in Gulfport (MS) and Providence (RI). Progress in Planning. doi:10.1016/j.progress.2013.11.002 Abstract A growing body of research indicates that climate change is having and will continue to have a range of negative impacts on social–environmental systems. Reducing the vulnerability and increasing the resilience of these systems has thus becomes a focus of research, disaster planning, and policy-making. Seaports, located in environmentally sensitive, high-risk locations, are particularly vulnerable to severe storms and the increased sea levels resulting from such climate changes. Planning and policy making for seaports must therefore consider the human factor, that is the population potentially vulnerable to climate change induced events and also the complex network of stakeholders that depend on their functionality. An increasing body of literature suggests that, for planners to be effective in increasing resiliency of social-environmental systems to climate change-related events and other hazards, they must understand and incorporate the perceptions and concerns of the stakeholders in their assessment and planning processes. This study uses empirical evidence collected through case studies of two particularly exposed ports in the US: Gulfport (Mississippi) and Providence (Rhode Island), in order to examine how port stakeholders such as port operators, municipal planners, port tenants, and coastal managers, perceive storm impacts and the seaport’s vulnerability, and how their planning and policy making address these perceived concerns. Results suggest the following: (1) Port stakeholders of Gulfport (MS) and Providence (RI) identified a wide range of direct damages, indirect costs, and intangible consequences of a hurricane hitting the port; (2) these impacts would result in costs that would be borne by all port stakeholders as well as society as a whole; and (3) in Providence and Gulfport, plans and policies that address storm resilience for the ports did not include the concerns of many stakeholders.
Becker and Englander on Superstorms and Rising Sea
Austin Becker / Becker Group News /
Dr. Becker teamed up with John Englander to contribute an opinion piece to the American Association of Port Authorities.
Download it HERE.
Presentation at Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Austin Becker / Becker Group News /
Each year, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership hosts a day-long public meeting to facilitate ocean policy discussions with representatives from Congress, federal agencies, industry, and the academic research community. This year marked the 5th annual Public Policy Forum and focused on the theme of The Urban Ocean.
Forum participants heard scientists, deans, directors, and presidents of research institutions, and policymakers, discuss the threats, impacts and implications of coastal population.
Click here for a Austin’s presentation delivered at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership Public Policy Forum on the Urban Ocean:
Research featured in Stanford Report
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“Seaports need a plan for weathering climate change, say Stanford researchers.” Stanford Report, (May 16, 2011).
Podcast interview of Austin about “Port responses to sea level rise.”
Austin Becker / Becker Group News /
Podcast interview of Austin about “Port responses to sea level rise.” Generation Anthropocene: A podcast for our new geologic age (Feb. 19, 2013).
Listen HERE.