The immense concentration of infrastructure that exists in the Meadowlands—warehousing and distribution facilities, commuter and intercity rail, roads and bridges, energy transmission facilities—is vital to the economy and transportation needs of the tri-state region, and indeed the entire Northeast.

But by the end of this century, permanent flooding from sea-level rise will likely displace between 4,000 and 8,000 Meadowlands residents, and cost 51,000 jobs (as defined by today’s district). The lives of another 40,000 people will be disrupted by periodic flooding from increased precipitation and storm surges, while infrastructure will be threatened by more frequent flooding and saltwater intrusion—a particularly vexing problem given the area’s concentration of hazardous-waste sites.

The Meadowlands is one of the Northeast’s largest remaining contiguous tracts of urban open space, one that supports a wide array of wildlife and biodiversity. Although it is a scarred vestige of what it once was, the Meadowlands still provides critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and flood storage, while supporting critical fish and wildlife biodiversity. The Meadowlands has been designated as a regionally significant natural resource by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As the impacts of climate change accelerate, the natural and human communities of the Meadowlands will face even greater risks, putting in jeopardy the natural and human-made systems connected to it.