The Chesapeake Bay region is an ecologically rich, politically fragmented, and institutionally diverse social-ecological system. The region encompasses all or part of six states and the District of Columbia on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The Chesapeake Bay offered an early, local perspective on the evolution of institutional arrangements for long-term governance of climate change adaptation. Among the many impacts of climate change, global sea-level rise combined with regional land subsidence make the eastern seaboard particularly vulnerable to future sea-level rise and storm surges.
COME HIGH WATER, a special report by Chesapeake Quarterly and Bay Journal, offers an excellent introduction to the climate change impacts and adaptation challenges facing the region.
(image source: By Kmusser [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)