climate change and the coast: improving resilience...
TRANSCRIPT
Climate change and the coast:Improving resilience of communities
and ecosystems
Bruce K. Carlisle
Director
Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management
Outline
• Massachusetts Climate Change
Adaptation Committee and
Report
• CZM’s StormSmart Coasts
Program Program
– Education/communication
– Hazard identification
– Planning
– Regulations and standards
–Mitigation
Climate Change AdaptationAdvisory Committee• Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008:
– Reduce GHG emissions (1990 levels)
10-25% by 2020, 80% by 2050
– Analyze strategies for adapting to the
predicted impacts of climate change
• Advisory Committee: members from
many different sectors, interests
• 5 technical subcommittees: 1) coastal
zone & ocean, 2) key infrastructure,
3) human health & welfare, 4) local
economy, 5) natural resources & habitat
• Report issued September 2011
Adaptation report• Key predictions and impacts
• Findings
– Climate change is already
happening and will continue
– Impacts are wide ranging and
affect many sectors of society
Cost of impacts will be high– Cost of impacts will be high
• Strategies: cross-cutting and by
“sector”
• Report intended as a starting point
for discussions, analyses, and
adoption of various adaptation
strategies
Cross-cutting strategies • Current, accurate information improves
decision-making
• Advance risk and vulnerability
assessments
• Build adaptation into current plans and
actionsactions
• Support local communities
• Encourage ecosystem-based adaptation
• Continue to seek expert advice and
stakeholder input
• Ensure agency and regional
coordination
CZO strategies
• Update hazard delineations
• Incorporate projected sea level
rise
• Limit/condition or prohibit
development in vulnerable areas
• Incentives: grants for • Incentives: grants for
communities, technical and
planning assistance
• Advance use of “soft”
engineering approaches and
green infrastructure to promote
healthy beaches and dunes
CZO strategies
• Prioritize placement of sediment
on public beaches over offshore
disposal
• Increase natural resiliency and
reduce anthropogenic stressors
through improvements in water through improvements in water
quality (e.g., NPS, stormwater)
• Target land protection to
account for changing landscape,
natural communities, valuable
ecological resources, and
provide zones for migration
StormSmart Coasts
• Massachusetts coastal communities
continue to face both chronic and
acute storm surge, erosion, and
flooding problems
• The effects of climate change,
including sea-level rise, exacerbates including sea-level rise, exacerbates
and accelerates these problems
• “Home rule”- many critical land use
decisions made at local level
• 2008 - CZM launched StormSmart
Coasts program: assist / support
communities with coastal shoreline
floodplain, and adaptation issues
• Compilation, distillation,
synthesis, and development of
tools, technical information, and
decision support
• Working with partners to provide
targeted, hands-on assistance to
StormSmart Coasts
targeted, hands-on assistance to
communities on pro-active
implementation of SSC tools and
develop transferable models
• Emphasis on coordination,
collaboration, and partnerships at
all levels
Building blocks
• Education/communication- increase
awareness of hazards and risk,
tools/options for planning & action
• Hazard identification - accurate
maps and information to support
assessments, alternatives, decisionsassessments, alternatives, decisions
• Planning - examination and
adoption of strategies to reduce risk
• Regulations and standards - zoning
ordinances, by-laws, building code
• Mitigation - retrofit, relocation,
shore protection, landscaping
Education/communication: website
www.mass.gov/czm/stormsmart
Education/communication: fact sheets
Education/communication:
training
• Workshops and webinars to improve
understanding of applications of
existing maps/information and provide
new tools to map/visualize hazards:
– Understanding and interpreting
FIRMs and storm surge inundation FIRMs and storm surge inundation
modeling and maps
– Documenting coastal damage and
high water level as baseline for
comparison
– Mapping future coastal inundation
with latest sea level rise projections,
elevation data, and other variables
Hazard identification: shoreline change• Maps and statistical analysis of
historic shoreline locations: mid-
1800s to 2008/2009
• Cooperative with USGS - WHSC
• 26,000 transects along the ocean-
facing shore (50m intervals)facing shore (50m intervals)
• New “modern” shoreline and
updated change analysis and
statistics recently finalized
• Data available on MORIS interactive
online mapping
• USGS Open-File Report 2012–1189
Hazard identification: sea level rise
• NOAA - CSC model enables mapping and visualizing projected SLR for entire MA coast
• Modified “bathtub” attempts to account for local tidal variability and hydrological connectivityand hydrological connectivity
• Depictions of MHHW and SLR at 1 foot intervals to 6 feet with confidence levels
• CZM’s online mapping tool –MORIS – use SLR maps with other data (assessor maps, land use, natural resources, etc.)
Hazard identification: flood plains and salt marsh vulnerability• CZM - Buzzards Bay NEP study of
flood zone expansion with SLR
• 100 year floodplain expanded with 1, 2, and 4 foot increases in SLR
• Maps and reports on • Maps and reports on climate.buzzardsbay.org
• New projects to examine vulnerability of salt marshes to SLR
– Modeling using land and tide
elevation data and long term data
from MBL/LTER, others
– Long term transect stations
Hazard identification: forecasting inundation events and extent • NWS working to improve coastal
inundation prediction and forecasting
capabilities: Scituate pilot
• Model uses water level and wave data
and forecasts to predict coastal floodingand forecasts to predict coastal flooding
• Validation : site specific storm data
– Storm Reporter: wave run-up and
structure overtopping "hot spots"
– Reference marker observations: 10
frequent flooding locations
• Combine with CZM products, such as
coastal structures inventory, to assist
repair and improvement decisions
Planning: 3-town study of
impacts from sea level rise
• Marshfield, Scituate, and Duxbury
• Assess risk/vulnerability of public
infrastructure and natural resources
• Inundation maps (Kleinfelder)
• Local community workshops to • Local community workshops to
begin public dialogue around risk,
vulnerability, and options:
– Increase setbacks
– Acquire properties
– Site buildings outside flood zones
– Elevate structures
Planning: Nantucket coastal
management planning
• Local work group tasked with:
– Inventory and describe town-
owned properties and
municipal infrastructure
– developing recommendations – developing recommendations
to Board of Selectmen for
inclusion in Coastal
Management Plan
• CZM providing technical assistance
and workshops
• December 2013 target
Planning: beach and dune
nourishment• Healthy beaches and dunes are critical
for local communities, economies, and
natural resources
• Working to evaluate beach/dune
nourishment as viable adaptation tool
for shore protectionfor shore protection
• Research impacts of sediment
extraction and transport
• Prioritize beneficial re-use
• Investigate sediment source options
• Develop siting and screening criteria
for potential marine sources
Regulations and standards:
Oak Bluffs project
• Goal: improve management of local
floodplain overlay district
• Assistance to Town on zoning by-law
amendment
• Work with several Town boardsWork with several Town boards
• Passed at Town meeting Spring 2010
• By-law:
– In FEMA velocity areas (“V” and “AO”
zones): all building banned
– In FEMA 100 year flood areas (“A”
zones): any alteration of land or
buildings requires special permit and
site plan review
• CZMA “federal consistency”
review and authorization
• Federal actions with reasonably
foreseeable effects on resources
or uses in or affecting MA coastal
Regulations and standards:
CZM enforceable policies
or uses in or affecting MA coastal
zone must be consistent with
enforceable policies
• Recent updates to policies (new
Policy Guide) includes new
language on sea level rise and
erosion rates
Mitigation:
StormSmart Properties• Developing online “clearinghouse” of
information on successful best
management practices for addressing
erosion, storm damage, and other
coastal hazards
• Online site and fact sheet will cover • Online site and fact sheet will cover
range of engineering practices
• Initial focus on innovative, “soft”, and
smarter protection alternatives
• Benefits, potential impacts, installation
and maintenance issues, and
regulatory standards covered for each
option
Mitigation:
Hull - “freeboard” incentive
• Climate scenarios to educate local
officials and community
• Inundation models of 7 critical
facilities with 5 SLR scenarios
• Town established incentive program
to encourage the elevation of to encourage the elevation of
buildings above mapped BFE
• Waiver of building permit fee if
structure is elevated > 2 feet above
highest FEMA base flood elevation
• “Raise your home, lower your
monthly payments” - SSC fact sheet
Mitigation: innovative
relocation strategies
• Project in partnership with Roger
Williams University School of Law
• Exploring potential use and legality of
Transfer of Development Rights as a
coastal adaptation strategycoastal adaptation strategy
• Develop model bylaw to demonstrate
how TDR can be incorporated into
individual town bylaws
– Sending and Receiving districts
– Procedures and review
• StormSmart Coasts website and fact
sheet material to be developed
