ABSTRACT
Abstract: The ooding of New Orleans and southeast Louisiana in 2005 initiated considerable attention and debate concerning the vulnerability of coastal cities to the effects of climate change. The current rate of relative sea-level rise along the Louisiana coast is one of the highest in the world, and the political struggles over ood protection and coastal wetland restoration are perhaps harbingers of looming debates in coastal regions worldwide. This chapter will elucidate how oods and hurricanes have served as triggering events that have spurred political initiatives and novel approaches to natural resources management, economic development, and, more recently, practice and policy for adapting to the effects of climate change. Further, the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 presented new obstacles and opportunities for restoring the complex and valuable ecologies that underpin the resilience of this cultural and economic hub of the American South.
