Climate change isn’t coming – it’s here.

With 520 miles of New York City waterfront at risk, @OurWaterfront highlights the critical need to make them more resilient and protect communities across the five boroughs.

How NYC can rise to meet the climate-change moment

Monday’s report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was stark: Even if global emissions were sharply reduced today, the world is already guaranteed a future of devastating heatwaves, flooding, and sea-level rise.

IPCC scientists say it’s not too late to escape the most disastrous fate. But policymakers have to act immediately to end the use of fossil fuels and, at the same time, prepare for unavoidable change. Acknowledge the urgent need, prioritize resilient infrastructure projects, expedite permitting, and commit the necessary funding. Now.AdChoices

In the New York metropolitan region, resiliency work has been promising, but has not been enough of a priority; and it is mostly financed by post-Hurricane Sandy disaster relief funding.

That’s not good enough. Here’s what needs to happen without delay.

New York City needs to plan comprehensively and equitably for ambitious projects in all neighborhoods that will be impacted by climate change. Currently, our focus may be on areas that have the biggest tax base (read: the Financial District in Lower Manhattan), but we are at risk of losing some less enfranchised neighborhoods, and the precious livelihoods and economies that they represent. Don’t forget: There are 520 miles of NYC waterfront at risk.

Neighborhood by neighborhood, we need to protect people and property — and it should be a two-way street. Citizens need to get involved. Instead of asking how you can prevent change in your neighborhood, ask what’s the best resilience plan for your community and how can you participate. If you’re interested to learn how retrofit incentives work or how to advocate for public waterfront access, just show up at one of the many public meetings. It’s critical for communities receiving significant investments in flood protection to be open to change and engaged in the process.

The best new ecological design is showing us that a combination of green and gray infrastructure — nature-based systems such as wetlands functioning alongside human-constructed systems such as seawalls — is most effective. The natural approach to preparing for climate change is a silver lining. We have the chance to green our region while enhancing its ability to withstand major disaster.

A stretch of East River waterfront offers a couple of examples of resilient design. At the recently opened Hunters Point South mixed-use development and waterfront park in Queens, tidal marshes absorb storm surge and polluting nutrients, and prevent shoreline erosion; native vegetation reduces stormwater runoff and restores natural habitat; and large boulders called riprap deflect waves and improve water quality.

Down the coast in Brooklyn, the River Ring project planned for the Williamsburg waterfront addresses the East River’s unique conditions with a pioneering master plan that seeks to transform the way New Yorkers interact with the water. The storm-resilient “soft” edge will restore the waterfront habitat with wetlands, a beach, and in-water access will simultaneously protect inland properties from rising waters.

The complicated web of city, state and federal laws and regulations that determine how we can build on the waterfront is mostly unchanged since the 1970s. Regulatory reform goes hand in hand with other efforts to meet the challenge of climate change. By integrating changes into building codes, permitting, zoning, and infrastructure standards, the best designs will be able to be built. Can we enact this kind of major regulatory reform in the next two years? With so many new, innovative resilience projects are being planned, we have to.

While some federal funding for resilience work has made its way to the region — for example, stimulus money enabled the Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency to be funded in the 2022 city budget — the de Blasio administration and its successor must work expeditiously with the New York congressional delegation to ensure that critical federal dollars are available for resilience projects now in design, as well as those not yet planned. President Biden’s infrastructure bill, on its way to becoming law, will help by dedicating dollars to water infrastructure, port retrofits and electrification initiatives.

Yet Washington must deliver more financial resources. Just as dangerous weather is inevitable, the number of new projects employing resilient design unquestionably will increase, and new comprehensive resilience plans and the work of communities, designers and local agencies will bring new projects to life. The metropolitan region will need significant funding for these projects in the next few years.

Monday’s IPCC report could not be more clear. We need to be ambitious and decisive, and we need to work together quickly to mitigate potential climate breakdown and disaster. We know what we must do, and we know how to do it; it’s just a matter of investment and action. Our lives depend on it.

Worrall is president and CEO of the Waterfront Alliance.