UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Abigail Myers, Art by Daisy Kelly

With global sea levels on the rise, there is a general urgency for nations to cut their emissions and collaborate to fix this global crisis. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects the sea level to rise 2-3 meters with the conservative projection of a global temperature rise of 1.5° C above pre-industrial temperatures. Therefore, coastal pressures such as flooding and storm surges pose an immediate problem for many communities. The need for fast-acting solutions to mitigate extensive damage is at the forefront of many community agendas. Coastal cities have already begun to focus on adaptation, mitigation, and resilience strategies. 

Charleston, South Carolina is a prosperous city on the United States’s East Coast and has experienced significant population growth. The city earned a spot on the “The 20 Fastest-Growing U.S. Metro Areas” list in 2023. Despite Charleston facing an imminent sea level rise, there has been a steady population increase, so adaptation strategies have begun to take form with hard and soft engineering techniques. For example, it has proposed a $1.4 billion sea wall project to provide additional safety to the peninsula at risk for serious flooding. Hard engineering strategies such as sea walls are costly for the city and offer only temporary fixes. Thus, moving forward with soft engineering practices, also known as nature-based solutions, is the clear path forward for the Carolina coasts to adopt solutions that will sustain the coastline for years to come. 

Nature-Based methods are used to adapt to the water flow as opposed to diverting or stopping the water flow completely. Across the broader Carolinas, oyster reefs in intertidal zones were found to be a successful natural strategy. Water can flow over the natural bulkhead into the tidal creek, bringing with it sediment and creating a living shoreline which has helped reduce erosion due to sea level rise. The input of sediment into this ecosystem creates a more resilient, self-sustaining adaptation strategy which creates a natural barrier to the rising sea level. Salt marshes across the coast from North Carolina down to Georgia make up a significant portion of the coastal region. They are considered to be living shorelines because they need continuous sediment deposits as well as the ability to grow vegetation in order to be a functioning ecosystem. Marshlands are delicate ecosystems, so when they are blocked by sea walls or bulkheads, sediment is disrupted, and the ecosystem can become distressed. When marshlands are sustained and protected, it provides the community with a natural way to combat coastal erosion caused by waves. Vegetation in these salt marshes are inherently more permeable than common hard engineering solutions because vegetation can soak up additional water in cases of flooding or high tides. 

Creating an overall resilient coastal community is a lengthy, multistep endeavor, which for some coastal towns, comes too late to make the necessary changes. The Carolina coastline has a clear path forward when it comes to coastal resilience. Utilizing nature-based solutions while also working towards preserving its longevity can aid in creating a resilient and sustainable coastline of the communities now and into the future.