Evaluating the Impacts of Hazard Adaptation Decision-Making on Coastal Communities and Ecosystems
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
The need for hazard adaptation strategies to protect coastal populations and infrastructure against storms and sea level rise (SLR) has increased with human development along coastlines, even as that development has reduced the natural protective capacity of unmodified coasts. Traditional, “gray” approaches, such as shoreline hardening have historically been used to protect people, property, and infrastructure from storm damage and flooding, with limited understanding of the natural-human consequences or the viability of natural and nature-based (NNB) alternatives. As coastal hazards and exposure to these hazards continue to increase, coastal communities face uncertainties regarding the engineering and economic effectiveness, as well as the co-benefits, of different in-situ adaptation strategies, including gray and NNB approaches, in providing coastal protection and enhancing resilience to the combined effect of SLR and storm events. Addressing these uncertainties requires an interdisciplinary approach implemented in partnership with community stakeholders. Thus, this session will include presentations on evaluating the (1) effectiveness of gray and NNB coastal hazard adaptation approaches to storms and SLR; (2) the socio-ecological factors that influence hazard adaptation decision-making; and (3) efforts to better integrate stakeholders into decision-making to improve resilience of communities to coastal hazards.
