The story of sea level rise and its
impacts in the mid-Atlantic
 What
We Should be doing about Sea Level Rise.
ACTION NEEDED:
-
The state should live up to the promises
it made in the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. Virginia has
three years left to assess the impacts of climate change
on the Bay watershed and to implement the wetlands components
of “locally based watershed management plans” in
25% of the land area of Virginia – including those
wetlands threatened by sea level rise.
-
The state should place a high priority on
assessing the impacts of sea level rise. This includes
starting a program for re mapping coastal areas to get
a precise estimation of elevations and subsidence. Then
a program to map and characterize critical shoreline ecosystems
(wetlands, buffers, dunes) at risk from inundation should
be undertaken.
-
Regional planning authorities in Tidewater
Virginia (east of I-95) should begin looking at the issue
of sea level rise in concert with local governments within
those districts. Local governments should begin looking
at the adequacy of their zoning and land use regulations
to protect critical shoreline ecosystems.
-
State and local government agencies should
begin to enlist the help of private landowners and land
trusts in a strategic effort to avoid and/or mitigate impacts
of sea level rise on coastal communities.
Additional Resources:
EPA Web site on Impacts of Global Warming on the Chesapeake
Bay
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ImpactsCoastalZonesChesapeakeBay.html
US Geologic Survey Assessment of Sea Level Rise in Mid-Atlantic
(1999)
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/of99-593/
Consortium for Atlantic Regional Assessment (CARA) sea level
rise page
http://ccrm.vims.edu/cara_web/sea_level_rise.htm
Virginian Pilot Series on Sea Level Rise
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=92554&ran=94656
Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences Seminar on Global Warming
in the Chesapeake Bay
http://www.vims.edu/events/smv_mini_2006.html
University of Maryland Conference on Hurricane Isabel and
Sea Level Rise
http://ian.umces.edu/isabelconference/isabel_summary.php
“Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Tidal Wetlands and Shallow
Water Habitats: A Case Study from the Chesapeake Bay”
http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/stevenson_2.pdf
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