| Session Details | |
| Section | OS - Ocean Sciences |
| Session Title | Building Resilience - Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, and Challenges. |
| Main Convener | Dr. Serena Lee (Griffith University, Australia) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Oceana Francis (University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States) Prof. Charles Lemckert (University of Canberra, Australia) |
| Session Description | Despite the global nature of climate change, the challenges each location experiences due to changing ocean and atmospheric conditions differ. Higher sea levels may alter shorelines, increase erosion processes, change salinity distribution, alter tides and circulation, increase nuisance flooding, and increase vulnerability to storm surge and extreme wave events. In addition, changes in water temperature will alter wave climate, wind regimes, rainfall patterns, and storm behaviour. Ocean temperature and chemistry changes will affect marine ecosystems. In addition to differences in relative sea level rise, each community’s resilience to climate change impacts is significantly affected by available knowledge, resources, and existing capacity to implement management strategies. Adaptation has already commenced at many locations around the world with varying degrees of success. There is an urgent need to improve planning around climate change impacts, such that mitigation strategies reflect long-term solutions for both the coastal community and the coastal ecosystems upon which food and economic security often depend. In this session we invite contributions addressing: • Description of different processes contributing to regional and/or local sea level rise. • Changes in coastal processes and implications for coastal management • Ecosystem response: how saltmarsh, mangrove, wetland, and barrier island environments are impacted by climate change. • The impact of future ocean conditions on marine ecosystems, including oyster reefs, coral reefs, and fisheries. • Potential adaptation strategies and engineering solutions to improve coastal resilience, from hard solutions to nature-based approaches. • Case studies demonstrating adaptation strategies. • Challenges of implementing adaptation in highly vulnerable, poor, coastal communities. • Successful coastal management projects. • The intersection of coastal management and ecosystem survival under future conditions. • Data gaps, information necessary to improve understanding of climate change impacts and approaches to adaptation. |