An unprecedented move on the Gulf Coast may form the blueprint for a looming, 21st century challenge Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, a small coastal island in the Gulf of Mexico, is currently the site of a far-reaching experiment that may shape how the government, at every level, thinks about one of the looming issues of climate change: resettlement. With flooding threatening many parts of the coast, including massive population centers, the question of how the government manages the relocation of its citizens, as well as landmarks and historic sites, takes on added urgency.

Isle de Jean Charles proposed community master plan

The island, which has lost 98 percent of its landmass to flooding since 1955, became a testing ground for new approaches to resettlement due to the $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition, a government contest that funded 13 test programs across the nation. Louisiana?s $52 million grant will help pay for a voluntary relocation and resettlement plan for those living on the vanishing island, an unprecedented move. The 400 residents directly affected by the rising seas around Isle de Jean Charles are mostly Native American members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe (as well as some members of the United Houma Nation, and unaffiliated Native Americans). While the first priority is to get everyone out of harm?s way?they will potentially be resettled inland at a site in nearby Houma, Louisiana?the relocation mus...