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Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
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11/19/2009-Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Through a study with the EPA, and partnerships with the City of Satellite Beach, The Space Coast Climate Change Initiative (www.spacecoastclimatechange.com), The Indian River Lagoon Program (www.sjrwmd.com) and RW Parkinson (www.rwparkinson.com), the ECFRPC is assisting local governments and the region to analyze and address the potential effects and the appropriate planning issues associated with climate change and sea level rise.
According to the U.S. Government, efforts to prepare for climate change are thwarted by the absence of a vision regarding which lands will be protected (dikes, landfill, etc.) and which lands will yield rising sea.
A study funded by EPA created maps that depict the analysis along the Atlantic Coast regarding which lands are likely to be protected and which lands are likely to be available for the inland migration of coastal wetlands. The maps are by no means "the plan" for any community, but they are--in effect--the baseline projection as to what people will do given existing policies--that is a starting point, from the peer-reviewed literature, for initiating a dialogue about what a given community's response should be.
The study is summarized in the fall issue of the journal Environmental Research Letter. The seal level rise planning maps are at www.plan.risingsea.net while state-specific findings are presented at http://risingsea.net/ERL.
A favorable commentary by EPA's director of sustainable development was also published by the journal.
Although the new article only covers the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts south, similar studies have been conducted along the Gulf coast of Florida and most of the Texas Coast, and the general approach can be easily applied elsewhere.
The abstract and links to news stories follow.
Abstract:
Rising sea level threatens existing coastal wetlands. Overall ecosystems could often survive by migrating inland, if adjacent lands remained vacant. On the basis of 131 state and local land use plans, we estimate that almost 60% of the land below 1 m along the US Atlantic coast is expected to be developed and thus unavailable for the inland migration of wetlands. Less than 10% of the land below 1 m has been set aside for conservation. Environmental regulators routinely grant permits for shore protection structures (which block wetland migration) on the basis of a federal finding that these structures have no cumulative environmental impact. Our results suggest that shore protection does have a cumulative impact. If sea level rise is taken into account, wetland policies that previously seemed to comply with federal law probably violate the Clean Water Act.
Report: N.J. wetlands at high risk
Wave of protection or peril?
New report shows ocean encroaching in southern Worcester
Coastal communities needto do more to protect shorelines from climate change, study says.
Rise in sea level threatnes Atlantic coast
Sea changes.
Link development to sea level rise, study urges.
Rising seas could soak taxpayers, study says.
Study raises new red flag on coastal development.
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