Coastal Resilience in the Southeast

This briefing transcript features experts from NOAA, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Wetlands Watch, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection discussing coastal resilience strategies in the Southeast United States. The discussion focuses on the implementation of natural infrastructure, such as living shorelines and coral reef protection, the challenges of sea level rise and nuisance flooding in Virginia, and the regulatory and financial barriers to adopting nature-based solutions over traditional hard infrastructure like bulkheads.

• NOAA's Office for Coastal Management provides various tools via the Digital Coast partnership to assist coastal decision-makers, including the Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper for visualizing hazards and the Sea Level Rise Viewer for applying National Climate Assessment scenarios to specific communities.
• The National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF), jointly administered by NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, invests in the restoration of natural infrastructure—such as coastal marshes, wetlands, dunes, and coral reefs—to protect communities and enhance wildlife habitats. In FY20, Congress appropriated 3 million dollars for the fund.
• Living shorelines are presented as cost-effective, resilient alternatives to bulkheads and seawalls, using natural elements like marsh grasses and oyster shells to dissipate wave energy and prevent scouring. In North Carolina, regulatory changes as of April 1, 2019, have streamlined the permitting process for small-scale living shorelines to make them as easy to permit as bulkheads.
• Coastal Virginia, particularly the Hampton Roads region, is experiencing some of the highest rates of sea-level rise on the East Coast, with current rates reaching 5.4 millimeters per year. This has led to increased 'nuisance flooding' (or 'sunny day flooding') that disrupts critical infrastructure, including the only level two trauma center in the region.
• Virginia is implementing several state-level resilience initiatives, including joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to generate approximately 100 million dollars annually for flood preparedness and energy efficiency, and developing a Coastal Master Plan via Executive Order 24.
• Local governments in Virginia are adopting unified planning standards; for example, localities within the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) have agreed to plan for 1.5 feet of sea level rise by 2050, 3 feet by 2080, and 4.5 feet by 2100.
• Florida's coral reefs provide significant economic and protective value, including over 330 million dollars annually in shoreline protection and over 1 billion dollars in flood reduction and infrastructure protection during severe storm events.
• A globally unprecedented outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has spread across the Florida reef and into the Atlantic Caribbean. The disease is highly infectious, waterborne, and affects over 22 reef-building coral species with high mortality rates.
• Significant barriers to coastal resilience include inconsistent cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodologies among federal agencies, which can disadvantage low-to-moderate income communities. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers calculates benefits based on avoided flood losses (property value), which can result in lower benefit-cost ratios for less wealthy neighborhoods.
• Virginia is described as a 'buyer beware' state regarding flood risk, meaning there is currently no legal requirement for sellers to disclose a property's history of flood damage or its location in a flood zone, though legislation to change this is being pursued.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2020). Coastal Resilience in the Southeast. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_031320.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Coastal Resilience in the Southeast. 2020. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_031320.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Coastal Resilience in the Southeast |date=March 2020 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_031320.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2020coastal, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Coastal Resilience in the Southeast}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_031320.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }