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By ecoRI News staff
NEWPORT — As experts continue to predict significant sea-level
rise along the New England coastline, oceanfront businesses are vulnerable to a
range of significant impacts. On Dec. 9 and 10, the 13th annual Ronald C. Baird
Sea Grant Science Symposium will host a public lecture and a one-day conference
at Salve Regina University to educate coastal-area business owners and local
decision-makers on how to reduce the impacts of flooding on their businesses
and their communities.
The two-day symposium is sponsored by the University of Rhode
Island Graduate School of Oceanography and the University of Rhode Island
Coastal Resources Center, in collaboration with Rhode Island Sea Grant and the
Pell Center at Salve Regina University.
The keynote speaker, John Englander, an oceanographer, author
and founder of The Rising Seas Group, will review the science behind sea-level
rise, the potential for devastating economic impacts, and the kinds of
“intelligent adaptation” that all businesses and coastal communities should
implement.
“Waterfront businesses in Rhode Island are well aware of the
threats they face from flooding. ‘Staying Afloat’ is an ideal opportunity for
them to be able to talk with experts and get the facts about what to do,” said
Dennis Nixon, director of Rhode Island Sea Grant.
Englander also will give a lecture on the evening before the
conference at Bazarsky Lecture Hall from 6-8. The lecture, “On the Waterfront:
Storms, Tides and Sea Level Rise,” is free and open to the public.
“Rising sea level and extreme weather events resulting from
climatic change are threatening coastal communities and the businesses found
along the waterfronts,” GSO Dean Bruce Corliss said. “The Baird Symposium will
address this critical challenge and consider how businesses and communities can
adapt and develop resilient strategies to this ongoing environmental
challenge.”
For more information, click
here. To register, click here.
