Economics of Coastal Erosion and Adaptation to Sea Level Rise

Gopalakrishnan, Sathya; Landry, Craig E.; Whitehead, John C.

doi:10.1146/annurev-resource-100815-095416

Cited by 40 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 77 publications

(69 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…(Ginzky & Frost, 2014) A complex aspect of beach nourishment, at least as it manifests in the United States, is that local mitigation actions are deliberate, but their collective consequences are not (Lazarus, McNamara, et al, 2011;Smith et al, 2015). Much like related implications for "termination effects" in climate geoengineering (Royal Society, 2009) were beach nourishment along the U.S. Atlantic Coast to suddenly stop-unmasking true rates of coastal erosion-then the economic effects on the coastal communities that have come to depend on its protection (Gopalakrishnan, Landry, et al, 2016;NRC, 2014) would indeed be deleterious, widespread, long-lasting, and severe. Beach nourishment as a form of geoengineering thus prompts the same question that arises in debates about solar radiation management, regarding how long it can be sustained once underway (Royal Society, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masked Shoreline Erosion at Large Spatial Scales as a Collective Effect of Beach Nourishment

Armstrong

Lazarus

2019

Earth's Future

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sea‐level rise along low‐lying coasts of the world's passive continental margins should, on average, drive net shoreline retreat over large spatial scales (>102 km). A variety of natural physical factors can influence trends of shoreline erosion and accretion, but trends in recent rates of shoreline change along the U.S. Atlantic Coast reflect an especially puzzling increase in accretion, not erosion. A plausible explanation for the apparent disconnect between environmental forcing and shoreline response along the U.S. Atlantic Coast is the application, since the 1960s, of beach nourishment as the predominant form of mitigation against chronic coastal erosion. Using U.S. Geological Survey shoreline records from 1830–2007 spanning more than 2,500 km of the U.S. Atlantic Coast, we calculate a mean rate of shoreline change, prior to 1960, of −55 cm/year (a negative rate denotes erosion). After 1960, the mean rate reverses to approximately +5 cm/year, indicating widespread apparent accretion despite steady (and, in some places, accelerated) sea‐level rise over the same period. Cumulative sediment input from decades of beach‐nourishment projects may have sufficiently altered shoreline position to mask “true” rates of shoreline change. Our analysis suggests that long‐term rates of shoreline change typically used to assess coastal hazard may be systematically underestimated. We also suggest that the overall effect of beach nourishment along of the U.S. Atlantic Coast is extensive enough to constitute a quantitative signature of coastal geoengineering and may serve as a bellwether for nourishment‐dominated shorelines elsewhere in the world.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masked Shoreline Erosion at Large Spatial Scales as a Collective Effect of Beach Nourishment

Armstrong

Lazarus

2019

Earth's Future

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Spatial externalities have been acknowledged before as a potential issue in community-level beach nourishment decisions (Smith et al 2009;Gopalakrishnan et al 2016;Gopalakrishnan et al 2017) and in land-use decisions in noncoastal settings (Irwin and Bockstael 2002;Lewis et al 2011;Lawley and Yang 2015). Here we provide the first empirical evidence of the magnitude of negative spatial spillover damages associated with private erosion-protection options.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We show that there are conditions where a privately beneficial protection option may be a net cost to society when policy implementation is discontinuous across space. Previously, Smith et al (2009) and Gopalakrishnan et al (2016) recognized the need to account for spatial externalities when optimizing beach nourishment frequency, and Gopalakrishnan et al…”

Section: Estimating Option Values and Spillover Damagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Option Values and Spillover Damages for Coastal Protection: Evidence from Oregon’s Planning Goal 18

Dundas¹,

Lewis²

2020

Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Econom

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Estimating nonmarket benefits for erosion protection can help inform better decision making and policies for communities to adapt to climate change. We estimate private values for a coastal protection option in an empirical setting subject to irreversible loss from coastal erosion and a land-use policy that provides identifying variation in the parcel-level option to invest in protection. Using postmatching regressions and accounting for potential spillovers, we find evidence that the value of the erosion protection option is between 13% and 22% of land price for parcels vulnerable to coastal hazards, implying that owners of oceanfront parcels have a subjective annual probability that they will experience an irreversible loss absent the option to protect between 0.7% and 1.3%. We also find that, because of altered shoreline wave dynamics, a parcel with a private protection option generates a spillover effect on protectionineligible neighbors, lowering the value of neighboring land by 8%.

show abstract

“…Thomas et al [58] revealed that variations in external forces may also be accountable for coastline erosion. Tenacious waves and sporadic storms provide substantial vigour to the coastal atmosphere, affecting sediment transport, distressing ecosystems, and damaging infrastructure Gopalakrishnan [59]. However, vegetation (plantation) provides a protective defence for infrastructure, including commercial and residential properties, from high waves.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Blocks: A Quantitative Approach for Evaluating Coastal Vulnerability

Kantamaneni

Aher

et al. 2017

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change and associated factors such as global and regional sea-level rise; the upsurge in high-intensity flooding events; and coastal erosion are pulse and press disturbances that threaten to increase landslides in coastal regions. Under these circumstances; a rigorous framework is required to evaluate coastal vulnerability in order to plan for future climate change scenarios. A vast majority of coastal vulnerability assessments across the globe are evaluated at the macro level (city scale) but not at the micro level (small town scale); particularly in the United Kingdom (UK). In order to fill this vital research gap; the current study established a coastal vulnerability index termed here as the Micro Town Coastal Vulnerability Index (MTCVI) and then applied it to Barton-on-Sea; which is a small coastal town of the Hampshire region; England; UK. MTCVI was evaluated for Barton-on-Sea coastal vulnerability by integrating both novel and existing parameters. Results suggest that the entire shoreline frontage (2 km) exhibits very high coastal vulnerability and is prone to various coastal hazards such as landslides; erosion; and wave intrusion. This suggests that Barton-on-Sea coastal amenities will require a substantial improvement in shoreline protection measures. In this study; GIS (geographic information system) coastal vulnerability and landslide maps were generated; and these maps can be used by the local authorities; district councils; coastal engineers; and planners to improve and design coastal management strategies under the climate change scenarios. Meanwhile; the methodology used in this study could also be applied to any other suitable location in the world depending on the availability of the data.

show abstract

Economics of Coastal Erosion and Adaptation to Sea Level Rise

Cited by 40 publications

References 77 publications

Masked Shoreline Erosion at Large Spatial Scales as a Collective Effect of Beach Nourishment

Masked Shoreline Erosion at Large Spatial Scales as a Collective Effect of Beach Nourishment

Estimating Option Values and Spillover Damages for Coastal Protection: Evidence from Oregon’s Planning Goal 18

Building Blocks: A Quantitative Approach for Evaluating Coastal Vulnerability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About