Nature-based Solutions evaluation tools for cooperative, cross-border watershed management

This session will describe tools and planning processes used in the southeastern USA to facilitate watershed management and decision making for cross-border water decisions related to resilience, climate change, and environmental justice. After a series of case study presentations, open discussion will be encouraged for knowledge transfer.

Conflicts around water management often exist because upstream actions cause downstream harm. Therefore, solutions also often require investment in areas and communities different from those receiving the benefits. This session shows how models and model-based tools are being used to foment cross-border water-management cooperation by illustrating the interconnectedness of watershed issues and solutions. We show options for using Nature-Based Solutions to help communities across the southeastern United States reduce flood risk, adapt to climate change, preserve biodiversity, and promote environmental justice. We review cross-border US State water management issues and the approaches, science, evaluation methods, and model-based tools used to solve them in Louisiana, which saw the first US climate refugees, and across the US Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts, where climate change is affecting regional ecology, society, and economy. Finally, we explore the co-development process of working with communities, industries, and government partners to make practical use of complex data to create a common bond around solutions and discuss a broader holistic vision of using science to bridge borders to adapt to climate change globally, especially in data-poor regions of the world.