Evaluating Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Options for Coastal Resilience

The fast pace of change in coastal zones, the trillions of dollars of investment in human communities in coastal areas, and the myriad of ecosystem services natural coastal environments provide makes managing climate-related risks along coasts a massive challenge for all of the U.S. coastal states and territories. Answering questions about both the costs and the benefits of alternative adaptation strategies in the near term is critical to taxpayers, decision-makers, and to the biodiversity of the planet. There is significant public and private interest in using ecosystem based adaptation approaches to conserve critical significant ecosystems in coastal watersheds, estuaries and intertidal zones and to protect man-made infrastructure and communities that are at risk within the coastal zone. To date, there have been relatively few efforts to evaluate the lessons learned from on-the-ground experience with implementing ecosystem based adaptation approaches.

In order to explore the potential to scale up application of coastal ecosystem based adaptation approaches, the research team is beginning to synthesize existing case studies and experience in order to identify best practices and remaining knowledge gaps. The research team is: 1) clarifying the research questions that relate to assessment and implementation of these approaches across the wide array of coastal conditions; 2) evaluating the findings of existing published and unpublished reports and interviewing selected individuals with direct experience in ecosystem based adaptation projects; 3) conducting a pilot-scale assessment that integrates on the-ground experience with the perspective of ecologists, engineers, and others who have relevant experience about costs and benefits of alternative approaches; 4) preparing summary findings regarding the state of knowledge of the effectiveness of the approaches in the CASC contexts; and 5) preparing recommendations about research needs.

The primary objective of this project is to develop and test a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of adaptation efforts across spatial and temporal scales in order to escalate progress. This framework will help articulate the current state of knowledge and practice of ecosystem based adaptation and propose a research agenda for future investments. 

This project was jointly funded by the Alaska CASC, National CASC, Northeast CASC, Pacific Islands CASC, South Central CASC, Southeast CASC, and Southwest CASC.

Related Publications

• Document

  Final-Report.pdf
• Document

  Final-Summary.pdf