Background/Objectives

Rising seas, larger storms, and expanding coastal development are increasingly putting people and infrastructure in harms way. Traditional approaches to reducing the risk of coastal hazards involve hardening shorelines with levees, seawalls, riprap, and other engineered solutions. These approaches can have negative impacts on coastal environments and be challenging to maintain, especially in a changing climate. To address these challenges, coastal planners, waterfront property owners, government agencies, multi-lateral development banks, and other institutions aiming to sustainably adapt to and mitigate climate change, are increasingly exploring nature-based solutions to coastal risk reduction. These strategies involve protecting and restoring ecosystems, such as wetlands, coral reefs, dunes, and coastal forests, that can help to increase coastal resilience by attenuating waves and trapping sediments. Coastal ecosystems also generate a diversity of co-benefits, such as carbon storage and sequestration, habitat to support fisheries and livelihoods, opportunities for recreation and tourism, a sense of place, and cultural fulfillment. Yet, understanding where and under what circumstances to invest in nature-based solutions can be challenging. In this panel I will share several basic principles for evaluating nature-based strategies for coastal sustainability.

Approach/Activities

Over the past 15 years, I have led teams of interdisciplinary researchers in advancing the science and practice of nature-based solutions in coastal ecosystems around the world. We have worked with a diversity of decision-makers, stakeholders, and communities to understand the coastal management challenges they face. We have developed quantitative models and tools for assessing the role of ecosystems in reducing risk from coastal flooding and erosion. We have applied these tools to inform sustainable development, climate adaptation, marine protected area management, blue carbon investments, and most recently, renewable energy transitions. Based on this research experience and a suite of practical case studies I will share six principles for evaluating nature-based strategies for sustainability in coastal risk reduction and resilience.

Results/Lessons Learned

The six principles for evaluating nature-based solutions include 1) employ appropriate modeling approaches at scales relevant to decisions being made, 2) consider multiple lines of defense that leverage unique characteristics of different ecosystems, 3) assess a suite of co-benefits that are meaningful to different communities, 4) quantify benefits of nature-based solutions in multiple metrics, including monetary and social vulnerability metrics, 5) consider multiple dimensions of equity when exploring potential nature-based solutions and assessing distributional outcomes, and 6) explore finance mechanisms and engage funding institutions from the start of a project. These principles can be used to understand where to direct funds to implement nature-based solutions, design projects that provide complementary benefits, and identify coastal management strategies for ecosystem protection and restoration that will enhance coastal risk reduction and sustainability.