National coastal management challenges and needs

Abstract

In partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (USGS CMHRP) and the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP), the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) has identified coastal stakeholders’ top coastal management challenges. Informed by two annual surveys, a multiple-choice online poll was conducted in 2019 to evaluate stakeholders’ most pressing problems and needs, including those they felt most ill-equipped to deal with in their day-to-day duties and which tools they most need to address these challenges. The survey also explored where users find technical information and what is missing. From these results, USGS CMHRP, USCRP, ASBPA, and other partners aim to identify research needs that will inform appropriate investments in useful science, tools, and resources to address today’s most pressing coastal challenges. The 15-question survey yielded 134 complete responses with an 80% completion rate from coastal stakeholders such as local community representatives and their industry consultants, state and federal agency representatives, and academics. Respondents from the East, Gulf, West, and Great Lakes coasts, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, were represented. Overall, the prioritized coastal management challenges identified by the survey were: Deteriorating ecosystems leading to reduced (environmental, recreational, economic, storm buffer) functionality, Increasing storminess due to climate change (i.e. more frequent and intense impacts), Coastal flooding, both Sea level rise and associated flooding (e.g. nuisance flooding, king tides), and Combined effects of rainfall and surge on urban flooding (i.e. episodic, short-term), Chronic beach erosion (i.e. high/increasing long-term erosion rates), and Coastal water quality, including harmful algal blooms (e.g. red tide, sargassum). A careful, systematic, and interdisciplinary approach should direct efforts to identify specific research needed to tackle these challenges. A notable shift in priorities from erosion to water-related challenges was recorded from respondents with organizations initially formed for beachfront management. In addition, affiliation-specific and regional responses varied, such as Floridians concern more with harmful algal blooms than any other human and ecosystem health related challenge. The most common need for additional coastal management tools and strategies related to adaptive coastal management to maintain community resilience and continuous storm barriers (dunes, structures), as the top long-term and extreme event needs, respectively. In response to questions about missing information that agencies can provide, respondents frequently mentioned up-to-date data on coastal systems and solutions to challenges as more important than additional tools.

Goods and Services and Equivalent Economic Benefits of Sand Dunes of India

“…Sand dunes are naturally protecting the coast from storm surges due to their vegetated sandy structure and their height [23,4]. As a resilient natural barrier to the hazards such as wind and waves, sand dunes are the least expensive and most efficient natural structures against stormsurge, flood, and erosion to protect the coastal infrastructures [24,25,26]. The stabilized sand dunes protect the recreation and tourism beaches, oceanfront properties, near-shore developed lands, and wildlife habitats.…”

Dune(s): Fiction, history, and science on the Oregon coast

“…In the last decades of the 20th century, coastal science shed new light on the role of dunes and beaches "as part of a linked sediment exchange system" along the nearshore, in connection with the watersheds (e.g. Elko et al, 2016;Zarnetske et al, 2015). It is now known that dunes are multifunctional ecosystems providing essential goods and services: they offer habitat for unique plants and animals, filter pollutants, purify groundwater, offer raw-materials (sand), and support many recreational (and therefore economic and social) uses (Nordstrom, 2008).…”

“…The reason for the present interest in dunes has to do with the challenges of current times. The increasing human pressure on the shorelines and the risk of coastal hazards due to the expected increased storminess, "accentuate the need to find ways to maximize the resource value of dunes" in absorbing storm impact (Elko et al, 2016).…”

“…Just like it was to green them a century before, restoring open sand dunes is considered to be a challenge: a complex, expensive, and long-term task (Oregon Dunes Restoration Collaborative, 2018;Wiedemann and Pickart, 2008). This new strategy, however, raises many doubts since "it still not known how much mobility can be integrated into dunes built for shore protection without sacrificing integrity as a barrier against overwash" (Elko et al, 2016). Vegetation is important to keep dune stability and to have dunes, its sand-trap effect is particularly relevant in beaches where the sand supply rate is low (Zarnetske et al, 2015).…”

Exploring the partial use of the Mo.S.E. system as effective adaptation to rising flood frequency of Venice

“…Structural measures (i.e. hard and soft flood defence works designed for long-term operating; see Maiolo et al, 2020) should be supported by nonstructural measures, comprising laws, policies, regulations, planning instruments, optimal management protocols, risk assessment, and informational systems for coastal ecosystems and resource management (Smith and Lenhart, 1996;Kundzewicz, 2002;Elko and Briggs, 2020;Mel et al, 2020). Although several approaches and models have been proposed to optimize planning and management actions, implementing effective strategies requires complex decision-making processes and an innovative approach to flood defence (Few R. A. Mel: Exploring the partial use of the Mo.S.…”