FCoP MD Eastern Shore
The Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience, in partnership with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, convened a Facilitated Community of Practice (FCoP), focused on coastal resilience, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Eastern Shore has been called the nation’s third most vulnerable region to the impacts of sea level rise. The Eastern Shore has already experienced sea-level rise, storm surge, coastal flooding, increased urban temperatures and extreme precipitation/run-off events, degraded water quality, and loss of natural riparian buffers.
The four-month pilot project, completed in June 2016, convened planners, emergency managers, public works personnel, and town/county administrators from Maryland’s mid- and upper Eastern Shore, along with other key state-level partners. Through the FCoP, participants:
- Developed mastery of resilience/adaptation/mitigation concepts
- Identified clear next steps for regional resilience planning/implementation
- Received an introduction to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
- Engaged in peer-to-peer learning and networking
In addition, the FCoP achieved three specific, near-term desired outcomes:
- Established a regional network of practitioners with a focus on pursuing adaptation and resilience strategies.
- Developed a vision among the participants for how the community of practice can be continued beyond the pilot phase.
- Piloted a model for regional engagement of local governments in conjunction with Antioch’s 2016 Local Solutions: Eastern Regional Climate Preparedness conference.
The FCoP led to the successful establishment of an ongoing regional group, the Eastern Shore Climate Adaptation Partnership
