United States: Blending Finance Mechanisms for Coastal Resilience and Climate Adaptation

The overarching goal of natural and nature-based approaches is to enhance the resilience of coastal communities to sea-level rise and storms, while maintaining or restoring the multiple benefits of ecosystems for people, now and in the future. Natural approaches to coastal protection include conservation of existing wetlands, coastal forests, dunes, reefs, and other ecosystems that have the ability to attenuate waves, reduce water levels, and trap sediments. Nature-based approaches include restoration of degraded ecosystems and hybrid approaches that combine natural features and traditional structures (e.g., saltmarsh coupled with rock levee). Through buffering shorelines from coastal erosion and flooding, ecosystems have the potential to mitigate the effects of coastal hazards (fig. 14.2), as well as reduce the size and cost of built defenses, such as levees behind marshes.