A crowd of nearly 300 gathered in Havelock on June 11 and 12 for the North Carolina Coastal Resilience Summit. The North Carolina Coastal Federation and North Carolina Division of Coastal Management hosted the event to solicit ideas and potential strategies for inclusion in the North Carolina Resiliency Plan.

In October 2018, Governor Roy Cooper signed  Executive Order 80 that called for the development of a North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resiliency Plan by March 1, 2020.

At the summit scientists, local and state government officials, engineers, contractors, community members and interested attendees discussed lessons learned and strategies for making our coast more resilient to extreme weather events and climate change.

Social media posts and live quotes from the event can be found on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #ncresilience or #executiveorder80.

The Department of Environmental Quality’s Secretary Michael Regan presented opening remarks at the summit.

“We have prioritized the issues of coastal resiliency and we are here to see results,” said Sec. Regan.

Summit presentations focused on climate change science and how sea level rise and flooding damage coastal communities. In addition, panelists shared their experiences of being directly impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018 and what actions are being taken by the state and local governments to help prepare for future storms and extreme weather events.

“The summit has generated many insightful ideas, strategies and approaches that will be considered as the state develops its first Resiliency Plan in the coming months,” said Ana Zivanovic-Nenadovic, federation senior policy analyst, who helped organize the summit.

To see presentations from the panelists and speakers, click here.

The summit was hosted in coordination with Eastern Carolina Council, Cape Fear Public Utilities Authority, Albemarle Commission, Mid-East Commission, The Nature Conservancy, North Carolina Sea Grant, UNC School of Government and Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, Brooks Pierce and others.

Check out photos from the event (Credit: Logan Prochaska):