Subsidence and Sea-Level Rise in Southeastern Louisiana: Implications for Coastal Management and Restoration

Risk Assessment

Current pressures for balanced land and water management and concerns about recovery from natural disasters and protection of environmental quality demand a new role for scientific information. Interdisciplinary research and information derived from earth, life, and social science data can contribute to both policy analysis and decision making. However, there are often no clear and unequivocal answers to land-use and environmental issues, owing both to the uncertainties inherent in the scientific information and the need to consider economic, political, social, and aesthetic values. Most scientific information is not in a form readily usable by non-scientists. Applications require adapting scientific information to a decision-oriented framework. An objective of this study is to provide the necessary components of an integrated assessment of southeastern Louisiana these are:

1. identify physical processes;

2. develop a map-based linkage of the human-physical environmental interface;

3. develop a conceptual model for decision making that recognizes uncertainty; and

4. develop a management model that incorporates an estimation of the net benefits to society.