Adapting to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change: What Coasts Need to Do

As our climate changes and sea levels rise, coastal regions are at risk of erosion. Now, scientists have announced that coastal regions need to tackle the more immediate threats of human-led and non-climatic changes.

In order to assess the safety of coastlines, the scientists reviewed 24 years of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. More specifically, they focused on climate change and sea-level rise impacts in the coastal zone, and examined ways of how to better manage and cope with climate change.

"Over the last two and a half decades, our scientific understanding of climate change and sea-level rise, and how it will affect coastal zones has greatly increased," said Sally Brown, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We now recognize that we need to analyze all parts of our human and natural environments to understand how climate change will affect the world."

The researchers found that long-term adaptation to climate change may reduce its impacts. For example, in the Maldives, adaptation has already occurred; around the densely populated capital city and airport, land claim is a common practice in order to relieve population pressure, and sea level-rise has already been considered into newly claimed land.

That said, there are some regions that will need a bit of health, and the scientists stress the need for more research when it comes to adaptation. Many of the small, remote low-lying islands in the Maldives are actually at risk from climate change and will struggle to adapt.

That said, the new research will help scientists better understand the impacts of climate change and how to reduce its influence with adaptation.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.