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This paper examines five representative sites on the California coast to illustrate a cost-effective methodology using tools and data that local decision makers can apply to analyse the economics of sea level rise (SLR) adaptation. We estimate the costs/benefits of selected responses (e.g. no action, nourishment, seawalls) to future flooding and erosion risks exacerbated by SLR. We estimate the economic value of changes to public/private property, recreational and habitat value, and beach related spending/tax revenues. Our findings indicate that the costs of SLR are significant but uneven across communities, and there is no single best strategy for adaptation. For example, Los Angeles's Venice Beach could lose $450 million in tourism revenue by 2100 with a 1.4 m SLR scenario while San Francisco's Ocean Beach would lose $80 million, but the impacts to structures could total nearly $560 million at Ocean Beach compared to $50 million at Venice Beach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managed retreat – the relocation of homes and infrastructure under threat from coastal flooding – is one of the few policy options available for coastal communities facing long-term risks from accelerated sea level rise. At present, little is known about how the Australian public perceives policy options to mitigate sea level rise risks. This paper explores a range of different decision-making criteria used to assess a managed retreat scheme. A metatheoretical social functionalist framework is used to make sense of personal concerns elicited from an online survey asking respondents to consider a managed retreat scheme. The framework proposes that people can act intuitively as scientists, economists, politicians, prosecutors and theologians, when considering a complex topic such as managed retreat policy. The research found that the survey respondents are more likely to consider the topic of managed retreat from multiple functional perspectives than from a single functional perspective. The type of social functionalist frameworks that people used to assess the Conditional Occupancy Rights scheme was found to be influenced by their perceptions of sea level rise risk. The findings have implications for public debates about the long-term risks of sea level rise and for engaging with the community about managed retreat policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine constructions are highly vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise (SLR), leading to increased risk rates of destruction and the potential closure of ports, harbors, and marinas along the coast. We present a cost-adjustment analysis for such constructions along the south-eastern Mediterranean coast, which takes into account the physical characteristics of the constructions, and environmental uncertainty factors. At 0.5 m SLR, the estimated adjustment cost is USD 280 million, and at 1 m SLR, the estimated cost is USD 505 million. These costs are equivalent to 0.091% and 0.165% of the Israeli gross domestic production, respectively. Although high, these adjustment costs are lower than the costs of future damage that will accrue if we fail to act. This implies that the adaptation-policy approach to controlling for the risk of SLR will provide benefits to the economic marine sectors and the public at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]