Coastal experts met on Louisiana’s Avery Island to discuss the potential of private investment money to help restore and sustain the Gulf Coast.
The meeting included representatives of federal and state agencies, universities, investment banking institutions and non-profits.
The focus was a new report from America's WETLAND Foundation. That organization is advocating the creation of an ecological marketplace for private investors looking to finance environmental projects.
AWF says that as the State of Louisiana moves forward with its Coastal Master Plan, there is a need to fund and implement coastal projects in the interim.
For example, the AWF is assembling a privately-financed project to shore up the banks of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to stop saltwater intrusion.
The organizers of the Avery Island meeting say private investment in coastal restoration now will help keep the costs of rebuilding the coast down in the future.
Support for WWNO's Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and the Kabacoff Family Foundation.
