Authors: Ann Nyambega, Abby Fang, Andini Ekaputri, Quinn Campbell, Yu-Fen Huang, YinPhan Tsang, Kirsten L.L. Oleson – University of Hawaiʻi
Title: Browser-Native Radar Visualization: Three Open Web Tools for NEXRAD and MRMS Data Exploration
Presentation Type: Lightning Talk
Abstract: Nature-based solutions (NbS) such as wetland restoration, living shorelines, floodplain reconnection, stream daylighting, and reforestation offer promising adaptive responses to climate change. Yet skepticism persists due to limited systematic evidence of their performance, effectiveness, costs, and non-market benefits relative to conventional engineering approaches. This gap is compounded by institutional bias in policy and funding processes that favor established technologies with standardized performance metrics.
Climate impacts are disproportionately affecting island communities through intensifying rainfall and coastal flooding. However, the evidence gap is especially acute for these systems, as evidence from continental systems may not be transferable to the unique social, ecological, and physical aspects of islands where, for example, biocultural watershed restoration, loʻi kalo revitalization, and coral reef rehabilitation serve simultaneously as flood mitigation infrastructure and as culturally vital practices.
This project aims to address those gaps by co-developing an integrated evaluation toolkit tailored to island NbS and community values. We apply the toolkit to an initial set of existing flood-risk-reducing projects, generating standardized system descriptions and performance evaluations housed in an online case study database. In parallel, we build a community of practice in NbS evaluation in Hawaiʻi and explore the transferability of the approach to other Pacific Island systems. The resulting toolkit and evidence base fill urgent needs for evaluating cost-effectiveness and supporting evidence-based decision-making at the county, state, and federal levels.