Last week, Governor DeSantis signed\u00a0SB302 Coastal Resiliency\u00a0into law,\u00a0elevating\u00a0the use of nature-based\u00a0solutions\u00a0and hybrid approaches\u00a0to improve coastal resiliency\u00a0across the state.\u00a0This marks a huge step\u00a0that few\u00a0states\u00a0if any have taken\u00a0and\u00a0marks Florida as a leader in\u00a0addressing resilience statewide with\u00a0long-term\u00a0solutions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As extreme weather\u00a0has\u00a0increased\u00a0in\u00a0the past several decades, Florida has\u00a0experienced\u00a0large-scale coastal\u00a0community\u00a0disasters\u00a0from hurricanes, tropical storms and severe\u00a0downpours\u00a0totaling over $270 billion in the last ten years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the proven effectiveness of\u00a0nature-based\u00a0solutions like\u00a0living shorelines, mangroves,\u00a0and\u00a0wetlands\u00a0in\u00a0reducing\u00a0flooding and\u00a0coastal\u00a0damage and\u00a0erosion\u00a0from\u00a0major\u00a0storm\u00a0events,\u00a0they remain\u00a0underutilized\u00a0in resiliency development.\u00a0\u00a0That lack\u00a0of\u00a0clarity\u00a0and consistency in\u00a0the\u00a0development, permitting, and implementation\u00a0processes were barriers to implementation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This\u00a0new law\u00a0championed by EDF and partners, which had full, bi-partisan\u00a0support\u00a0among legislators,\u00a0aims to\u00a0address shortcomings and bring nature-based solutions into the mainstream\u00a0by:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Standardizing\u00a0nature-based solutions\u00a0design and implementation\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nature-based solutions projects have\u00a0often seemed like one-off \u201cunicorn\u201d projects \u2013 highly tailored to specific local conditions,\u00a0which can make them a challenge to permit, evaluate and replicate.\u00a0\u00a0Under this\u00a0new\u00a0Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)\u00a0will\u00a0develop design guidelines and standards to improve project consistency, fast track implementation\u00a0and scalability\u00a0of nature-based resilience solutions.\u00a0\u00a0It will also clarify\u00a0when and how\u00a0nature-based\u00a0approaches, and green-gray hybrid approaches,\u00a0should be\u00a0applied, making them\u00a0a more routine part of\u00a0standard\u00a0resilience\u00a0practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Establishing\u00a0statewide\u00a0permitting\u00a0for nature-based solutions<\/p>\n
Permitting has been\u00a0one\u00a0of the biggest\u00a0hurdles\u00a0facing\u00a0nature-based\u00a0projects.\u00a0The\u00a0absence\u00a0of\u00a0clear\u00a0standards, along with no consistent approval process,\u00a0has made permitting slow and unpredictable.\u00a0\u00a0Combined with\u00a0the urgency\u00a0to rebuild after storms, agencies often default to traditional \u201cgray\u201d infrastructure\u2014even in cases where\u00a0nature-based\u00a0solutions\u00a0or green-gray hybrids could be more cost-effective and equally or more effective.\u00a0With this new law,\u00a0the DEP\u00a0will be required\u00a0to\u00a0establish\u00a0a statewide permitting process\u00a0and procedure\u00a0specifically\u00a0for\u00a0nature-based solutions.\u00a0This\u00a0will establish\u00a0predictability\u00a0and help expedite\u00a0the permitting process\u00a0across jurisdictions.\u00a0The law will also change existing permitting processes that allow failed coastal infrastructure to be replaced with nature-based infrastructure following storm events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Improving\u00a0public awareness and support for\u00a0nature-based solutions\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite\u00a0the\u00a0effectiveness\u00a0of nature-based solutions, their benefits\u00a0to coastal resiliency\u00a0are often not widely known by the public,\u00a0which\u00a0is\u00a0necessary to gain\u00a0robust support\u00a0from citizens.\u00a0A key benefit of this\u00a0is the requirement that\u00a0DEP and local governments promote public awareness and education of the benefits and value of these solutions, especially during\u00a0the\u00a0rebuilding period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Making\u00a0nature-based solutions\u00a0easier\u00a0to implement and scalable across Florida, making them more favorable options in\u00a0line\u00a0with traditional measures\u00a0will make Florida communities safer.\u00a0After years of advocacy, we\u00a0at EDF\u00a0are pleased to\u00a0see\u00a0this legislation adopted by the state of Florida and\u00a0look forward to\u00a0helping\u00a0put\u00a0into action.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, Governor DeSantis signed\u00a0SB302 Coastal Resiliency\u00a0into law,\u00a0elevating\u00a0the use of nature-based\u00a0solutions\u00a0and hybrid approaches\u00a0to improve coastal resiliency\u00a0across the state.\u00a0This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,94934,94935],"class_list":{"0":"post-207111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-news","11":"tag-nature-based-solutions","12":"tag-nature-based"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}