Future-oriented coastal protection: The utility of living shorelines under changing climatic conditions

An accumulation of novel nature-based shoreline management techniques have developed over the past two decades out of the continued need to protect waterfront land combined with an awareness of the relationship between healthy coastal ecosystems and human societies. Shoreline protection strategies such as living shorelines incorporate these nature-based approaches to simultaneously enhance ecosystem functioning while providing shoreline stabilization benefits. The continued role of these approaches into the future, however, will be challenged by a rapidly changing coastal environment. While living shorelines have received global attention and integration into climate policy and governance frameworks, the ability of shoreline systems to withstand future climate extremes remains uncertain. It is critical to consider not only what works in the present, but what will work decades from now. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding the response of natural coastal ecosystems and living shorelines to climate change, including increasing storminess, sea-level rise, altered seawater properties, and shifting biotic interactions. We then consider the future role of living shorelines within the broader framework of existing coastal adaptation strategies and propose a framework of principles towards increasing their sustainability in the context of dynamic and evolving coastal challenges. We argue that extending the relevance and effectiveness of living shorelines in a changing climate depends on an improved understanding of living shoreline function across diverse environments, the incorporation of forward-looking design strategies, a coordinated, holistic planning approach, and the integration of maintenance and adaptive interventions.