Some Aussie beaches are being reshaped and coastal dunes are marching inland. We used data from aerial photography, field surveys, laser mapping and drones to study incredible rates of change.
Wetlands like this need protection because they absorb carbon dioxide and curb floods.
Rodger Shagam/Getty Images
As seas rise, it is clear that traditional coastal defence approaches are unable to keep pace. Nature-based solutions offer considerable potential to protect coasts, people and biodiversity.
The gap between breaking waves in North Carolina indicates a rip current flowing away from shore.
National Weather Service
Rip currents are a leading cause of near-shore drownings, but there are effective ways to survive one. And these phenomena also play important ecological roles that are an emerging research area.
Mangroves and salt marshes pump out methane – but soak up carbon dioxide. Overall, the world’s coasts are a net greenhouse sink – and we must preserve them
A view of Fairbourne from above, showing the Mawddach estuary and the mountains of Eryri in the background.
Wozzie/Shutterstock
Puerto Rico’s tourism industry is booming as nations lift COVID-19 travel restrictions, but development is displacing people who have lived along its coastlines for years.
Coastal redwoods in Felton, California.
Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Offshore oil drilling has a long history in California, but is highly unpopular today. The latest major spill is likely to fuel efforts to wind down oil and gas production statewide.
Scientists have been consistently documenting environmental changes at research sites like this one in the Cascade Mountains for decades.
US Forest Service
The Army Corps of Engineers is planning a sea wall 6 miles long and flood gates. The infrastructure might protect downtown from a hurricane storm surge, but most of the area will still be vulnerable.
Plastic waste is the most visible component of ocean pollution.
Maxim Blinkov/Shutterstock
Healthy seagrasses form underwater meadows teeming with fish and shellfish. A successful large-scale restoration project in Virginia could become a model for reseeding damaged seagrass beds worldwide.
Empatheatre’s latest production is more than a play about three characters who live near the sea. It’s a model for collective consultation on how to save the ocean.
Mangroves along Mexico’s Yucatan coastline.
Michael Beck
Michael Beck, University of California, Santa Cruz and Pelayo Menéndez, University of California, Santa Cruz
A new study estimates that mangroves prevent over $65 billion in damage from coastal storms every year, and says mangrove protection should be funded in the same way as infrastructure like seawalls.
River erosion in Bangladesh, Sept. 12, 2019.
Zakir Hossain Chowdhury / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Bangladesh is on the front lines of climate change, but factors including money, gender and religion make some Bangladeshis much more vulnerable than others. Can it find inclusive ways to cope?