Louisiana
Sea Grant, along with the LSU AgCenter and the LSU Systems
Office, recently embarked on a new initiative designed to
improve and expand partnerships between university scientists
and parish government officials. The first meeting in this
initiative, the Presidents’ Forum on Meeting Coastal
Challenges, was held on Jan. 25, 2005, at the Lod Cook Alumni
Center on the LSU Baton Rouge campus. Approximately 120 scientists,
policy makers and local officials met to discuss ways to redouble
and redirect university resources towards more near-term challenges
resulting from Louisiana’s of coastal land loss crisis.
The meeting
featured two panels of speakers. The first panel of five university
scientists provided an update on specific issues related to
coastal land loss, hurricane vulnerability, subsidence, spatial
data and economics. The second panel consisted of 12 members
of the organization Parishes Against Coastal Erosion (PACE),
who made specific recommendations for developing a research
agenda that is more responsive to short-term, socioeconomic
challenges faced by coastal residents and industries. A complete
transcript of these comments, along with copies of the technical
presentations, and other information can be obtained from
the Louisiana Sea Grant site at http://www.laseagrant.org/forum/index.html
For additional
information about this initiative, please contact Rex Caffey
at (225) 578-2266 (rcaffey@agctr.lsu.edu)
or Mike Liffmann at (225) 578-6290 (mikelif@lsu.edu).
