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Restoring the Mississippi River Delta in Louisiana Ecological Tradeoffs and Barriers to Action

This study investigates the Louisiana 2012 Coastal Master Plan’s ability to reconcile conflicting economic and ecological demands on coastal resources. The Louisiana Coastal Master Plan was unique in combining flood control and coastal restoration under one authority. However, the objectives of flood control and coastal restoration can be in conflict. The plan was also unique in its approach of restoration from a working coast perspective. However, the objectives of ecological restoration and economic productivity do not always agree. By conducting semi-structured interviews with major coastal stakeholders, this research will explore how the planning process has accommodated the views and values of key stakeholder parties. This research aims to make more transparent the inherent environmental tradeoffs of restoration from a working coast perspective. A working coast is a compromise between economic and environmental stakeholder needs. The approach requires a balance of power to ensure that the projects selected best serve the needs of all parties. The study found that while there is industry buy in, mechanisms for mitigating economic externalities is lacking in the plan, corporate infrastructure benefits while wildlife resources are in decline.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uno.edu/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-3194
Date18 December 2015
CreatorsMaulhardt, Alison
PublisherScholarWorks@UNO
Source SetsUniversity of New Orleans
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceUniversity of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

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