The new ‘Guide to Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategies’ resource website was launched in late July 2023 by the Hawai’i Office of Planning and Sustainable Development (OPSD). Designed and built by Oceanit’s Marketing Team in ArcGIS and researched and populated by Oceanit’s Resilient and Sustainable Engineering (RiSE) team, this resource is unprecedented and unique to Hawaii.
Proximity to the ocean makes Hawaii’s communities especially vulnerable to coastal hazards, such as big waves, storm surges, tidal flooding, and coastal erosion. The changing climate brings with it accelerating sea level rise, increasingly frequent and powerful storms, and heightened stress on aging infrastructure and resources. The new website was developed to engage all stakeholders on strategies for Hawaii’s dynamic coastal zones, from policymakers and professional engineers to homeowners and ocean recreation users, to students and educators.
This ‘StoryMap’ website is a comprehensive coastal resource that shares a range of adaptation strategies for addressing climate change and sea level rise, specifically for Hawaii’s unique conditions. The strategies include measures that have been used in Hawaii and other coastal communities for shoreline protection, sea level rise accommodation, and managed retreat measures. Altogether
Oceanit’s RiSE team compiled information on over 40 coastal adaptation strategies for Hawaiʻi’s coastlines to adapt to coastal hazards such as erosion, storm flooding, wave impact forces, and sea level rise flooding. The adaptation strategies feature a range from gray (built structures) to green (nature-based) solutions and include strategies applicable to parcel and regional scale needs. For each strategy, information was provided regarding advantages and disadvantages, relative cost for implementation and maintenance, ideal scale and site conditions, as well as potential permits that may be required and case studies.
RiSE worked with Oceanit’s graphic designers and web developers to design the website, sourced project media for inclusion, and created informational flyer templates to be hosted online and in a downloadable/printable format for the StoryMap resource website.
Coastal adaptation in Hawai’i pivots on the collaboration of federal, state, and local agencies – and the various parts of our local community. Cooperation is crucial to Hawai’i’s collective ability to preserve, protect, develop, and—where possible—restore or enhance the resources of the coastal zone for current and future generations.
The new site builds off an already-existing framework for statewide collaborative management of Hawai’i’s ocean resources, known as theOcean Resources Management Plan (ORMP). You can also learn more by visiting https://planning.hawaii.gov/czm/.
Click here to visit the Hawai’i Coastal Adaptation Strategies website.
Click here to read a background summary on the StoryMap resource.
