In Georgia, local, state, federal government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private citizens are assessing where people and infrastructure within coastal communities are vulnerable to coastal hazards and sea level rise and applying natural solutions such as land protection, shoreline and wetland restoration and flood risk decision support tools.
Western Lake Erie (WLE) is the most biologically productive area in all of the Great Lakes, supports commercially valuable fisheries, provides drinking water for 11 million people, and supplies an abundance of recreational benefits. However, WLE is at risk from impacts brought on by a changing climate. TNC and partners in the area are working together to model and forecast not only areas that are most valuable to restore and preserve, but also areas that will be the most vulnerable to flooding with increasingly erratic lake levels.
Puget Sound is a national treasure, the second largest estuary in the country, a factory for salmon and shellfish, home to 4.5 million people, and the economic engine of one of the nation’s strongest regional economies. These are increasingly vulnerable to rising sea levels, more extreme coastal storms, and more frequent river flooding.
Virginia’s Eastern Shore lies within one of the U.S’s most vulnerable coastal regions. Sea levels are rising at three to four times the global average and storms are intensifying. Here, leading coastal scientists and community partners are using this living laboratory to better understand how nature can make coastal communities here—and everywhere—more resilient in the face of a changing climate.
The Albemarle-Pamlico Sound region is home to more than 2.7 million people. Millions more visit the area because of its wide array of natural resources. Much of the area is low-lying, leaving coastal communities threatened by severe storms, coastal flooding, and rapid shoreline change.