How Can Nature Protect People Against Sea-Level Rise?

Abstract

Almost one third of people on Earth live near the coast where they are at risk from floods. Coastal areas are often protected from flooding by human-built flood-protection structures, like dikes and seawalls. Now that Earth’s climate is changing, sea-level rise and storms are becoming more intense and frequent, which increases the risk of flooding. Therefore, we need to develop bigger flood-defense structures to stay safe from flooding. However, this is very expensive. Is there an alternative? It may sound surprising, but nature can help us out. Around the world, ecosystems like mangrove forests, salt marshes, and coral reefs can help to protect our coasts from flooding. They can contribute to greener, more natural, biodiverse coasts, and make living along Earth’s coastlines safer and more sustainable. Using these natural systems is called nature-based flood defense. In this article, we explain how it works.