Meta-analysis indicates better climate adaptation and mitigation performance of hybrid engineering-natural coastal defence measures

Traditional approaches to coastal defence often struggle to reduce the risks of accelerated climate change. Incorporating nature-based components into coastal defences may enhance adaptation to climate change with added benefits, but we need to compare their performance against conventional hard mea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2024-04, Vol.15 (1), p.2870-2870, Article 2870
Main Authors: Huynh, Lam Thi Mai, Su, Jie, Wang, Quanli, Stringer, Lindsay C., Switzer, Adam D., Gasparatos, Alexandros
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106/694
704/172/4081
706/2805
Adaptation
Climate adaptation
Climate change
Climate change mitigation
Coastal engineering
Defense
Economics
Humanities and Social Sciences
Meta-analysis
multidisciplinary
Risk management
Risk reduction
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Traditional approaches to coastal defence often struggle to reduce the risks of accelerated climate change. Incorporating nature-based components into coastal defences may enhance adaptation to climate change with added benefits, but we need to compare their performance against conventional hard measures. We conduct a meta-analysis that compares the performances of hard, hybrid, soft and natural measures for coastal defence across different functions of risk reduction, climate change mitigation, and cost-effectiveness. Hybrid and soft measures offer higher risk reduction and climate change mitigation benefits than unvegetated natural systems, while performing on par with natural measures. Soft and hybrid measures are more cost-effective than hard measures, while hybrid measures provide the highest hazard reduction among all measures. All coastal defence measures have a positive economic return over a 20-year period. Mindful of risk context, our results provide strong an evidence-base for integrating and upscaling nature-based components into coastal defences in lower risk areas. This meta-analysis compares the performance of hard, hybrid, soft and natural coastal defence measures. Results show that all measures have a positive economic return over 20 years yet hybrid measures perform best for climate adaptation and mitigation.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-46970-w