Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities - Climate ...

Adaptation and Mitigation 105took eight months to acquire because the materials used to construct the oyster reef didnot conform to the state’s concept of fill material and the permit was elevated to a majorpermit (Gregg et al., 2010).Although some adaptation-planning efforts acknowledge these governance challengesand articulate the actors and actions needed to implement particular policies, morecomprehensive policy frameworks for adaptation implementation are needed to createthe enabling conditions for coastal adaptation. Finally, although available guidance foradaptation planning emphasizes the need for monitoring and evaluation of implementation(Snover et al., 2007), these elements are often missing from adaptation plans inpractice (Preston et al., 2011a).5.2 Coastal Resource Management and Restoration in theContext of Climate ChangeMany issues that coastal managers are dealing with already on a daily basis are likelyto be exacerbated by climate change; therefore, in a certain sense, planning for climatechange will not require a new set of tools or planning strategies but is rather a matter ofrethinking existing coastal management and restoration priorities in light of a new set ofclimate endpoints or scenarios. Of major concern are:• Ecosystems that are already experiencing stress associated with land-use change,hydrologic alteration, and other non-climate perturbations;• Already vulnerable coastal resources that are also highly sensitive to changes inclimate such as temperature increase and precipitation change; and• Natural and cultural resources at risk due to their geography.With an emphasis on the priorities listed above, coastal managers are beginning tospecifically consider climate change in planning and on-the-ground implementation ofcoastal resource management and restoration efforts. In some instances, coastal managersare assessing how climate change will affect the ability of a given restoration projectto achieve existing restoration goals and objectives (NWF, 2011); in other cases, managersare thinking about climate change from a broader perspective with an aim towardsdeveloping and implementing resource management or restoration practices to protectagainst, remedy, or increase ecosystem resilience to the impacts of climate change.Climate Change Considerations for Coastal Resource Management andRestorationSome of the most challenging elements associated with natural, cultural, and economiccoastal resource management in light of climate change are associated with coastal andwatershed influences of storms and extreme events, sediment management, and theimpacts of sea-level rise on tidal wetland ecosystems and cultural resources. Climatechange considerations for such management needs are highlighted below.Managing for STORMS and EXTREME EVENTS. Prudent coastal resource managementand restoration strategies will consider the gradual change expected to occur