ENACTS

Two young children cooling off in an urban rain garden
Nature-based solutions such as urban rain gardens provide cooling relief to hotter summer temperatures (Image: Adobe Stock)
Equitable Nature-based Climate Solutions (ENACTS)

Nature-based Solutions (NbS), such as tree programs, public parks, and green infrastructure systems, are powerful, yet underutilized tools in bolstering climate resilience in urban areas. Rapid urbanization creates more impervious surfaces, leading to more stormwater runoff, water and air pollution, urban heat islands, and environmental gentrification. This compounds the impact of climate change and disproportionately affects marginalized populations, low-income persons, and people with disabilities. Not only are these populations disproportionately impacted by climate change, but they have been historically excluded from the planning and implementation of NbS mitigation options in their own communities.

Residents and researchers will team up in Providence, Louisville, and Manchester to make more informed and equitable nature-based solution (NbS) decisions (Image Midjourney)
Residents and researchers will team up in Providence, Louisville, and Manchester to make more informed and equitable nature-based solution (NbS) decisions. (Image: Midjourney)

A new $6 million NSF project, Equitable Nature-based Climate Solutions (ENACTS), will focus on three common types of NbS -- tree programs, public parks, and bioretetion – in three medium-sized cities with vulnerable populations who suffer from climate-related flooding, pollution, and heat island problems.

Led by the University of New Hampshire, ENACTS will create a partnership between researchers in Rhode Island, Kentucky, and New Hampshire and residents in Providence, RI, Louisville, KY, and Manchester, NH to design and implement socially equitable NbS for their communities.

Local knowledge from underserved and Indigenous groups, along with expertise in social and natural sciences, engineering, art, and design, will support more equitable NbS decisions. ENACTS will improve our capacity to design and implement socially equitable NbS, leading to increased community resilience against climate change impacts.

 

ENACTS Leadership

  • Weiwei Mo, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Hampshire
  • Abigail Abrash Walton, Chair of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England
  • Johanna Barthmaeier-Payne, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design
  • Soni Pradhanang, Professor of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island
  • Andrea Gaughan, Professor of Geography & Geosciences, University of Louisville
  • Angela Storey, Associate Professor & Director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, University of Louisville

ENACTS is supported by NSF EPSCoR awards #2418376, #2418377, #2418378 & #2418379