Adaptation Narratives & Data Tools - Summer 2026 Convening Recap

Jul 30

The Summer 2026 Convening of the Southeast Louisiana Adaptation Forum brought together well over 100 people for shared learning, co-creation, and productive networking. Organizations, companies, governments, universities, and foundations were all represented as we all came together to shape our region’s hopeful narrative of adaptation and build the data tools to accelerate adaptation through nature-based solutions.

Recent public discourse and media coverage about the future of New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana have generated renewed, and often imbalanced, conversations about our region's climate future. While it is essential to acknowledge the significant challenges we face, it is equally important to recognize the investments, expertise, innovations, and successes that have positioned Southeast Louisiana as a global leader in climate adaptation and resilience.

The SELAAF Summer Convening provided an opportunity for our professional community to come together and reflect on how we tell the full story of Southeast Louisiana. As we work to amplify our collective impact through strategic coordination and continue expanding our region's capacity to adapt, we need a shared understanding of both our challenges and our strengths. Building and communicating that common narrative is essential to aligning partners, attracting investment, and reinforcing Southeast Louisiana's competitive advantage as a center of adaptation expertise and innovation.

Thank you to everyone who participated and shared your time, expertise, and perspectives. The Organizing Committee has synthesized your notes and identified opportunities to strengthen our collective narrative, helping us communicate a clearer, more compelling, and broadly resonant message about Southeast Louisiana and our future. Review the consolidated feedback and gap analysis to learn what harmonies we have already hit and where opportunities exist to diversify the composition.

View & download the event materials here:

program & handout

Adaptation Narratives Slides

DATA SCIENCE WORKING GROUP SLIDES

Explore the new materials produced by the Data Science working group and contribute here:

DATA CATALOG PROTOTYPE

If you didn’t have a chance to fill out the data science survey in real-time at the meeting, please provide your feedback here for the Data Science Working Group!

This convening and the work of the Data Science Working Group are supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The content is solely the responsibility of the organizers and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Gulf Research Program or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Many thanks to everyone who attended, and special thanks to all who helped organized and contribute to making the event a success, including:

Speakers & Presenters

Alyssa Dausman, The Water Institute
Courtney Stuckwisch Wong, City of New Orleans Office of Economic Development
Dasjon Jordan, Broad Community Connections
Carlos Ramirez, Tulane Hydroinformatics Lab

Organizing Committee Members