Climate Change Science Program: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 12:37, 17 March 2016

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====Coastal sensitivity to sea level rise (SAP 4.1)====

The [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]] released ''Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region''<ref>[http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-1/default.php CCSP 2009]. Coastal Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise. James G. Titus (convening lead author). Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency. 320 pp</ref> (SAP 4.1) on January 16, 2009. According to the report's abstract, rising sea level can inundate low areas and increase flooding, coastal erosion, wetland loss, and saltwater intrusion into estuaries and freshwater aquifers. Much of the United States consists of coastal environments and landforms such as barrier islands and wetlands that will respond to sea-level rise by changing shape, size, or position. The combined effects of sea-level rise and other climate change factors such as storms may cause rapid and irreversible coastal change. Coastal communities and property owners have responded to [[coastal hazards]] by erecting shore protection structures, elevating land and buildings, or relocating inland. Accelerated sea-level rise would increase the costs and environmental impacts of these responses.

Preparing for sea-level rise can be justified in many cases, because the cost of preparing now is small compared to the cost of reacting later. Examples include wetland protection, flood insurance, long-lived infrastructure, and coastal land-use planning. Nevertheless, preparing for sea-level rise has been the exception rather than the rule. Most coastal institutions were based on the implicit assumption that sea level and shorelines are stable. Efforts to plan for sea-level rise can be thwarted by several institutional biases, including government policies that encourage coastal development, flood insurance maps that do not consider sea-level rise, federal policies that prefer shoreline armoring over soft shore protection, and lack of plans delineating which areas would be protected or not as sea level rises.

A committee set up under the [[Federal Advisory Committee Act]] monitored the progress of SAP 4.1, and questioned several aspects of the final report. The original plan included maps and estimates of wetland loss from a then-ongoing EPA mapping study conducted by James G. Titus,<ref>

{{Cite journal| author=Cornelia Dean | title=Next Victim of Warming: The Beaches | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE6DC1E31F933A15755C0A9609C8B63 | accessdate=15 June 2010 | journal=New York Times | date=June 20, 2006 }}</ref> who was also a lead author of SAP 4.1. Early drafts included the maps and results, but the final draft did not. Experts and environmental organizations objected to the deletions. The federal advisory committee also took issue with the maps' removal from SAP 4.1 and recommended that EPA publish the mapping study.<ref>[http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/CESLAC.pdf Report of the Coastal Elevations and Sea Level Rise Advisory Committee] Report to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, October 2008.</ref> EPA later confirmed that EPA management had alterredaltered the report and suppressed the mapping study, although it declined to explain why.<ref>

{{Cite journal| author=Josh Harkinson and Kate Sheppard | title=Coastal Collapse | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2252063 | accessdateaccess-date=1 June 10101, 2010 | journal=Slate | date=April 27, 2010 }}</ref>

====Thresholds in ecosystems (SAP 4.2)====