A phone survey was conducted in New Jersey in 2013 four months after the second of two major devastating tropical storms (Sandy in 2012 and Irene in 2011). The objective was to estimate public support for restricting land uses in flood zones, requiring housing to be built to resist storm waters, and otherwise increasing mitigation and resilience. Respondents who supported these mitigation and resilience policies disproportionately were concerned about global climate change, trusted climate scientists and the federal government, and were willing to contribute to a redevelopment program through taxes, bonds, and fees. They also tended to have collectivist and egalitarian worldviews. Half of the respondents supported at least four of the seven risk-reducing policies. How their support translates into public policy remains to be seen. Lack of willingness to personally fund these policies is an obstacle.
KEY WORDSThe concept of indicators has long been applied for describing the trends and indicators dynamics in both the environment and in human health. In recent years, signifienvironment cant effort has been devoted to estimating the negative impacts of the environexposure ment on human health, as well as to developing integrated metrics for the health risk evaluation of the adverse health outcomes attributable to environmental surveillance exposures. The health-based environmental indicators (HBEIs) are measures biomarkers designed to describe the status of human health with direct reference to the environmental conditions. Important potentials and limitations of the most promising approaches for developing HBEIs are examined from both a national and New Jersey prospective. The strengths and applicability of the health-based environmental measures are discussed with respect to the complex nature of the host-environment interactions and the scientific uncertainty about the environmental causation of diseases. It is concluded that the health-based environmental indicators are only supplemental tools for understanding of the relationship between environment and public health and do not provide solutions for the problems that might be encountered. Nevertheless, they can be efficiently used for improved environmental management and policy decisions.
A number of studies have documented coastal forest dieback as a historical and ongoing process across the Northeast US region. To further develop a current understanding of the state of knowledge, review adaptation and response measures available to land managers, and to identify research and management needs, we conducted a literature review, interviewed experts, and convened a workshop bringing together scientists and land managers. A synthesis of the above suggests that the most important proximate mechanisms driving coastal forest dieback in the Northeast US are sea level rise-induced changes in the groundwater table in concert with increased saltwater inundation related to storm surges. What sets our conceptual model apart from prior work is the greater emphasis placed on the role of rising fresh groundwater levels in increasingly stressing the forest vegetation and decreasing regeneration potential. Episodic storm surges often exceed the salinity or saturation tolerances of existing trees leading to a wave of mortality that leaves the site inhospitable to subsequent regeneration. Maintaining functioning coastal forests across the Northeast US will require that the marsh and forest ecosystems be considered as an integrated unit when determining an appropriate adaptation response. With a better understanding of each of the sea level rise-induced mechanisms at work in these ecosystems, managers may be better prepared for the changes ahead and facilitate proactive adaptation strategies. Easements or buyouts are vital to ensure that there is ample space for the marsh and upland systems to migrate landward together. Forward thinking land use planning is needed to promote the “no net loss” of both marsh and coastal forest ecosystems to ensure the continued provision of their vital services to society.
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