Coastal Adaptation
ISR research on Coastal Adaptation assesses ways to adapt Hawai‘i's coastlines to sea level rise that preserves sandy beach ecosystems and supports coastal communities.
Adaptive Pathways for Waikīkī
ISR is developing scenarios for adaptation pathways in Waikīkī, with an emphasis on adaptation triggers and subsequent costs through the year 2100 under varying levels of sea level rise. This is ongoing work funded by NOAA's Adaptation Sciences Program.
(Un)Managed Retreat? Perspectives on Biophysical and Social Dynamics of Coastal Retreat on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi (2024)
Hawaiʻi’s coastal managers face significant challenges in the face of sea level rise. Shoreline laws have recently been updated to limit further shoreline hardening, making Hawaiʻi a salient case study to understand the challenges and opportunities around managed retreat. We interviewed private sector, civil society, and government actors involved with coastal governance and anchored our conversations to three distinct communities on O‘ahu.
The Risks of Sea Level Rise: Perceptions and Policy Preferences among Hawaiʻi's Elected Officials (2023)
Hawaiʻi was among the first states to officially recognize the climate crisis and has played a leading role in combating climate change. The State is still developing plans to implement coastal adaptation policies that address the predicted impacts of SLR. This survey explores the views of Hawaiʻi’s elected representatives regarding the risks of SLR and their favored approaches to adaptation.
Managing Retreat for Sandy Beach Areas Under Sea Level Rise (2023)
This study assesses the cost of retreating coastal development at an iconic beach in Hawai‘i that is experiencing severe erosion. Utilizing detailed sea level rise modeling projected to the year 2100, we estimate the public and private costs of three types of retreat (all-at-once, threshold-based, and reactive) and the amount of increased beach area.
Sea Level Rise Risk Interactions with Coastal Property Values: a Case Study of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi (2023)
This study assesses the extent to which current and expected sea level rise is impacting residential property values on O‘ahu. We find that exposed properties have already experienced declines in transaction prices, at 9 to 14%, attributed to expectations of exposure to chronic inundation. The market response of residential properties to O‘ahu has important implications for coastal management strategies, in particular the viability and timing of programs for retreat.
Managing for Diverse Coastal Uses and Values under Sea Level Rise: perspectives from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi (2022)
Effective and equitable coastal decision-making under sea level rise (SLR) requires managing for multiple coastal uses and values. This study explores how coastal decision-makers in Hawaiʻi perceive diverse uses and values of beaches and coastlines to be important and how they see recognition of these uses and values ideally shaping sea level rise response.
Sea Level Rise Learning Trip
The “SLR Learning Trip” was organized between the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Hawaiʻi Philanthropy Forum, with funding from the Harold K.L Castle Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In the fall of 2019, the trip took a delegation of Honolulu City & County and Hawaiʻi State officials to Miami, Charleston, and Boston for a tour organized around the theme of adaptation to chronic flooding.