Presentation - Adapting to a changing climate in the management of coastal zones meeting - Catherine Gamper and Marta Arbinolo

1. ADAPTING TO A CHANGING CLIMATE
IN THE MANAGEMENT
OF COASTAL ZONES
Catherine Gamper, Marta Arbinolo
Climate, Water and Biodiversity Division
OECD Environment Directorate
TFCCA Thematic Meeting, 5 March 2021

2. Context
• OECD Programme of Work 2019-2020
• Contribute to OECD work on resilience, sustainable oceans, fisheries,
shipping, etc.
• Builds on previous OECD report Responding to Rising Seas: OECD Country
Approaches to Tackling Coastal Risks (2019)
• Two OECD Council Recommendations on coastal management (1976, 1992)
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OECD work on coasts, oceans and climate
adaptation

3. Policy definitions vary in terms of scope and boundaries
• Scope: include large inland lakes (e.g. USA), lakes and rivers (e.g. Turkey)
• Landward boundary (e.g. 100 m in Lithuania; 0.5-1 km in Korea)
• Seaward boundary: extent of territorial seas (e.g. Israel), water depth (e.g. Portugal)
Definition of coastal zones used in the report
• Interface area, beyond the physical line where land and sea meet
• Up to 100 km from the shoreline and up to 50 meters above/below sea level
• Focus on marine coastal zones only
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What are coastal zones?
Source: Ayyam, Palanivel
& Chandrakasan, 2019.

4. The social value of coastal zones
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Coastal zones are densely populated and display high levels of
urban development
• Population density 3 times higher than global average (Nicholls et al., 2007)
• 40% of the world’s population, although 20% of the global land surface (UN, 2017)
• 75% of the largest urban agglomerations are located in coastal zones (Luisetti et al., 2010)

5. The economic value of coastal zones
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85% of tourism income in USA, 70% Vietnam
(Karani & Failler, 2020; Rentschler, 2020)
Maritime freight transport drives 90% of global trade in goods
(OECD 2020; ITF, 2019)
Sand and gravel 100 times more abundant on the coast
(Osterkamp & Morton, 2005)
Marine fisheries generate 8% GDP in low-income countries
(OECD, 2020)
Coastal tourism
Coastal areas support several economic sectors
Shipping
Resource extraction
Fisheries and aquaculture

6. The environmental value of coastal zones
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Coastal zones host ecologically important ecosystems
• 90% of world’s fisheries depend on coasts throughout their life (FAO, 1998)
• Coral reefs support 25% of all marine species (Michel & Pandya, 2010)
Coastal ecosystems provide valuable (climate) services
• Mangroves & coral reefs enhance coastal protection against climate extreme events
• Coastal wetlands regulate groundwater recharge, enhance water quality, etc.
• Coastal ecosystems play a key role in the carbon cycle

7. The impacts of climate change on coastal areas
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Source: https://ocean-climate-alliance.org/profile/coasts-coastal-
populations-climatic-resilience/

8. Sea level rise (SLR)
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• Global mean sea level projected to rise by 40-75 cm by 2100 (compared to 2013 levels)
(Cazenave & Le Cozannet, 2013)
• By 2100, 360 million people threatened by flood events every year (Kulp & Strauss, 2019)
• By 2100, SLR-induced losses and damages could reach 4% of global GDP every year
(OECD, 2019)
Projected increase in sea levels by 2080-2100 (compared to 1980-2000)
Source: Cazenave & Le Cozannet, 2013.

9. Coastal storms
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• The number of extreme hurricanes may grow by 47-87% by 2100 (Stuart et al., 2020)
• Population in cyclone-prone areas increasing twice as fast as global average (SAMHSA, 2017)
Source: World Resource Institute, 2020.
Storm-induced coastal flood risk

10. Ocean warming, ocean acidification & broader
alterations in the hydrological cycle
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Ocean warming and acidification
• Warming may reach up to +3°C by 2100 (compared to 1980-99) (Nicholls et al., 2007)
• Warming and acidification higher in coastal zones (Wong et al., 2014)
• Increased risk of coral bleaching and mortality
Broader alterations in the hydrological cycle
• Altered precipitations affect freshwater input to the coast
• Higher input: UK erosion-induced costs projected to grow by 3-9 times by 2080
(UK Government Office for Science, 2004)
• Lower input projected in Australia, West Africa, small nation islands (Nicholls et al., 2007)

11. 11
Climate change enhances coastal vulnerability to
other environmental challenges (and vice versa)
Alterations of the hydrological cycle
Sea level rise
Coastal storms
Ocean warming and acidification
Alterations of river flows
Urban development
Land use changes
Resource exploitation
CLIMATE CHANGE ANTHROPOGENIC PRESSURES
Source: authors.

12. CLIMATE-RESILIENT
COASTAL ZONE
MANAGEMENT
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13. Integrating climate change in coastal zone
management
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Building climate resilience into coastal zone management and
policies is a complex task
• Information on climate change needs to be shared with, understood and
integrated across different policy areas
• Many policy areas are concerned: coastal planning, urban planning,
climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, sectoral economic
development (tourism, maritime transport, fisheries, etc.)
• Multiple agencies across different ministries and levels of government
• Risk of fragmented objectives (overlooked trade-offs), reinforced by
fragmented funding

14. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)
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ICZM promoted to address the complex, multi-dimensional
aspects of managing the land-ocean interface
Source: Cantasano and Pellicone, 2014.

15. The rise of ICZM internationally
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The 1992 OECD Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone
Management
Source: http://www.oecd.org/legal/legal-instruments.htm
Pillar 1: ICZM to be achieved through definition of policy
objectives for coasts and their resources and strengthening
integration of sectoral policies
Pillar 2: Foster integrated coastal zone planning and
management
Pillar 3: Sustainable fishing
Pillar 4: Sustainable tourism
Pillar 5: Enhance international co-operation of shared or
common coastal areas
d
Pillar 6 : EPOC and other relevant committees to review
progress

16. Climate-resilient coastal zone management
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National ICZM strategies
versus
Coastal risk management plans
Can/should ICZM and climate risk management plans
be integrated?
• France; Portugal
• Germany; Finland;
• England; Northern
Ireland; Wales;
Scotland;
• NL through national
water management
and flood protection
• Belgium and Poland’s national
coastal risk management plans;
• German Länder’s coastal
defence master plans,
• UK’s shoreline management
plans,
• Italy’s and France’s subnational
coastal protection plans

17. • Consider development of functional coastal zone definition on the
basis of policy issues to be addressed
• Assess advantages/disadvantages of integrating ICZM and coastal
risk management policies
• Comprehensive inventory of policy responses to past and expected
changes along coast lines, on the basis of a country survey and the
review of policy frameworks in selected countries
• Inform potential revision of OECD Recommendation with a view to
integrating climate risk management
Future work
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18. Thank you!
Catherine.Gamper@oecd.org
Marta.Arbinolo@oecd.org
https://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/climate-adaptation

19. • Do we have enough evidence on the impacts of climate change
on coastal zones?
• What tools are available to support a better management of
coastal zones, in light of the growing challenge of climate
change?
• Is ICZM a practical way forward to address such challenges?
– How can trade-offs between coastal policy objectives be addressed?
– Who should take action and at what geographical and institutional level?
Questions for discussion
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