Coastal Zone Management Programs
These programs are uniquely positioned to provide the comprehensive, long-term planning and technical assistance support necessary for coastal communities to sustain the multi-year process of risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, planning, funding and financing, project design and engineering, implementation, and monitoring necessary to achieve durable, on-the-ground resilience.
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the United States has made an unprecedented investment in coastal resilience in recent years, making progress toward filling a decades-long underinvestment gap and empowering coastal communities to build partnerships and tackle projects at scales never before possible. However, this funding is only a drop in the ocean of what will be needed to secure a safe, equitable, and prosperous climate future on the coast.
Coastal states and territories will continue to fight for responsible funding and effective partnerships for coastal resilience and climate adaptation.
The coastal zone combines dense development and critical infrastructure in an area prone to flooding and exposed to severe weather. In order to reduce risk along the coast and strengthen the nation’s shoreline, CZM programs provide funding, planning support, technical assistance, and critical interagency coordination for coastal communities to reduce present risk and adapt to future conditions.
Locally focused and regionally integrated coastal resilience work involves coordination across federal and state agencies with jurisdiction over flood risk management, land use management, natural resources, environmental protection, and planning to confront coastal hazards and their increasing frequency.
Between 2011 and 2021, state and territory CZM Programs completed over 2,500 projects to improve resilience to coastal hazards and worked with over 3,000 communities nationwide to help them grow in a balanced way.
A Unique Natural Interface: Densely settled, vulnerable coastal areas are particularly exposed to sea level rise and lake level changes, shoreline erosion, increased storm surge, extreme precipitation, groundwater rise and the various types of flooding, which threaten devastating impacts on coastal populations and economies.
A Legacy of Injustice: Underserved populations are less able to participate in, or have been previously excluded from public engagement processes and are less likely to have their needs considered in hazard mitigation planning processes. These barriers are becoming more severe as climate change disproportionately impacts communities with less capacity to adapt and become resilient.
Coastal Resources Losing Ground: Natural systems such as coastal wetlands, corals, mangroves, offshore reefs, and dune systems that provide vital mitigation of coastal hazard impacts are collapsing under pressures from accelerating coastal development, pollution, habitat and biodiversity loss, and climate change.
Increase funding for Coastal Zone Management Grants and the Coastal Zone Enhancement Grants Program to enhance the capacity of state programs to take action to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to coastal and climate hazards.
Sustain infrastructure and planning investments to meet the nation’s coastal infrastructure adaptation, development, and maintenance needs and provide flexibility for coastal states and communities to access and leverage federal funds,
Improve the delivery of mitigation funds and require that federal hazard mitigation investments design for future conditions, including climate change, sea level rise, and other drivers of shoreline changes, coordination with state programs and partner federal agencies on shoreline change data, monitoring, and projections.
Strengthen partnerships between federal agencies and coastal programs in order to leverage coastal programs experience, expertise, and sustained on-the-ground relationships with coastal communities. These partnerships can facilitate the development of technical guidance, decision-support tools, and siting, engineering, and performance standards for coastal mitigation techniques.
Partner with states and territories to coordinate state and federal permitting to create efficiencies through voluntary and innovative state-led permitting approaches.
Disincentivize unwise development in high-hazard areas through support for effective floodplain management standards, mitigation of repetitive-loss properties, and consistency with state and territory coastal policies.
Coastal erosion is a natural process that, when in balance with historical conditions, sustains important beach, embayment, and estuarine habitats. At the same time, coastal erosion is a significant natural hazard that can endanger public health and safety, environmental and cultural resources, coastal infrastructure and coastal economies; and public access to shorelines and coastal waters.
Because of increasing sea and fluctuating Great Lakes levels, increased coastal storminess due to climate change, and continued shoreline development, coastal erosion presents an even greater threat to coastal communities today than in years past.
Amid increasing national coastal erosion due to climate change, active shoreline management is critical for resilient coastal economies and ecosystems.
CSO is a proponent of dynamic shoreline management, where coastal change is addressed through intensive collaboration between the federal government and the states and territories. Shoreline management includes planning for, and responding to natural hazards that erode and disturb our nation’s coasts.
A slow-moving disaster:
In some communities facing acute coastal erosion crises, the problem is often treated as a long-term challenge rather than as a natural disaster or a discrete event, unlike other coastal hazards.
Imminently threatened structures:
A growing number of buildings in communities across the nation are now exposed to imminent collapse as the coastline erodes. In many cases, erosion control options are not readily available, permittable, or successful within the timeframe needed to avoid structural collapse.
Federal programs are not designed to address erosion:
Federal hazard mitigation, emergency relief, and insurance programs are often not designed with coastal erosion in mind, and few funding opportunities exist for proactive measures.
News and Resources:
CSO Supports Introduction of Preventing Environmental Hazards Act; ASBPA and CSO Beach and Inlet Management Policy; regional sediment management
Ensure Hazard Mitigation Funding programs invest in needed modeling, planning for, and cost-effective mitigation of coastal erosion impacts through more accessible application processes, eligibility for effective mitigation techniques, and consistency with state and local policy priorities.
Implement a National Policy on Regional Sediment Management and Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials through funding and technical assistance for state coastal management programs and local government partners to plan, prioritize, and implement beneficial use projects including regional study of sediment needs.
Account for current and future coastal erosion rates and best available shoreline change modeling in future conditions, including through the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.
Enhance state and local capacity to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to coastal and climate hazards through data, tools, and technical guidance.
Improve coordination across federal investment in erosion control projects through shared data, adaptive management, and avoidance of development in high-hazard areas.
Provide federal funding and technical assistance in support of state mapping and monitoring of shoreline change and coastal resources.
Navigating federal opportunities to institute and fund NBS can be prohibitive to coastal programs with limited resources and capacity.
The novelty of an NBS project can increase project timelines, as the effort requires extensive collaboration between regulatory agencies and the project sponsor, and innovative project design/engineering.
Ensure that federal infrastructure investment includes investment in restoring, protecting, maintaining, and improving natural infrastructure.
Implement a preference for natural and nature-based solutions for federal investments where they are effective and provide the greatest co-benefits in a particular context.
Support state and territory coastal management programs to map and protect sensitive habitat and cultural resource areas, and to work with coastal and Indigenous communities to cooperatively manage sensitive resources.
Collaborate with states to find efficiencies in permitting natural infrastructure projects, including through the use of general permits and joint permit review processes, for projects employing effective, appropriate nature-based solutions.
Provide funding, technical assistance, guidance, and outreach support to incentivize coastal communities to improve resilience through preserving or enhancing natural and beneficial functions of their natural infrastructure
