Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and natural resources, but also for carbon sequestration (i.e. capturing and storage of carbon from the atmosphere). Enhancing natural carbon sinks (i.e. ecosystem that stores more carbon than it releases) to offset greenhouse gas emissions is a critical step for Louisiana to achieve its net zero goals. Coastal wetlands have the capacity to capture large amounts of carbon and store it deep in the soil; thus, land management of coastal wetlands and terrestrial ecosystem carbon sinks will play a major role in how Louisiana can reach net zero. 

This project will develop a science-based decision support tool to help natural resource decision-makers, planners, and policymakers implement Louisiana’s Climate Action Plan by providing estimates of carbon sequestration in natural lands (terrestrial and aquatic) for multiple scenarios of future land management and climate change.  The state of Louisiana does not currently have their own Louisiana-based estimates of carbon sequestration of all its natural lands (terrestrial and aquatic) needed to implement the state’s Climate Action Plans. This multi-disciplinary project team of scientists, planners, natural resource decision-makers and policy makers will provide this information.  

The developed tool will be released to the public and to Louisiana state agencies designing, implementing, and managing wetland and other restoration projects, to aid in adaptive management to maximize carbon sink potential. The tool will be available to inform future updates of the Climate Action Plan as well as other state plans that calculate and prioritize carbon sequestration. By illustrating the important role of conservation and restoration of natural lands for natural carbon sequestration, these results will help to inform and improve climate resilience and adaptation.