Union of Concerned Scientists
Crisfield-UCS Partnership
The City of Crisfield has partnered with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to inform the City’s
flood mitigation and adaptation plans through localized projections of coastal inundation due to sea
level rise, and individual asset flood risk mapping. This work builds on years of research on sea level rise
by UCS, and on the City’s partnership with The Nature Conservancy and others.
UCS is a member-supported nonprofit that’s fighting for a safer and healthier world. UCS is a national
organization that puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating
for a healthy, safe, and just future. We have scientists and analysts on staff, and work with our Science
Network with over 26,000 members. Most important, we value the expertise of communities, and are
excited to work with both scientists and nonscientists to advocate for change.
For more about UCS visit ucsusa.org/about
Looming Deadlines for Coastal Resilience: Rising Seas, Disruptive Tides, and Risks to Coastal Infrastructure.
The nearly 90 million people who live in US coastal communities depend on a vast array of critical infrastructure—from the schools students attend each day to the power and wastewater treatment plants that keep the lights on and the water clean. Research led by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that climate change-driven sea level rise will put more than 1,500 critical infrastructure assets coastwide at risk of disruptive flooding twice or more per year between now and 2050, with public and affordable housing particularly exposed. This burden is borne inequitably: more than half of the infrastructure at risk by 2050 is in communities at a disadvantage based on historical and ongoing racism, discrimination, and pollution. The amount of infrastructure at risk late this century depends heavily on countries’ choices about future global heat-trapping emissions. Policymakers and public and private decisionmakers must be guided by science and take immediate steps to safeguard critical infrastructure while blazing a path toward true, long-term resilience.
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