Cumulative effects of climate change, inequality, and exposure to hazardous wastes in coastal areas

Keywords: ecosystem services, environmental justice, floods, coastal areas
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 14

Abstract

Coastal communities face increasing threats from coastal storms, flooding, and sea-level rise due to climate change. Meanwhile, environmental injustice, inequality in conjunction with ecosystem degradation further amplify the vulnerability of disadvantaged populations. This research will examine ecosystem degradation in disadvantaged communities in Louisiana and Florida’s coastal regions and identify the areas that require active management to alleviate the cumulative effects of climate change and environmental injustice.

In this research, disadvantaged/underserved communities are defined by US EPA’s environmental justice screening tool, which shows the geographical locations of the census tracts with a higher percentage of minorities, people of color, and the high proximity to pollution sites and hazardous waste facilities. Ecosystem degradation is measured by the loss of vegetation cover, wetland, and the increase of agricultural land by comparing the National Land Cover Dataset between 2010 and 2019. Vegetation and wetland provide a variety of environmental benefits, including stormwater reduction and water-quality improvement. Vegetation is critical in coastal cities where extreme weather patterns increase the risk of flooding. Aside from the vegetation and wetland loss due to ineffective conservation, a human-driven stressor is the land conversion to agricultural land uses. Cultivated crops not only compete for land with natural systems, but its runoff also brings excessive nutrients that affect water systems.

I hypothesize that disadvantaged communities are more likely to experience a greater degree of ecosystem degradation over time. Climate change and exposure to adverse environmental conditions have posed a higher risk in underserved and disadvantaged communities in coastal areas.