Coastal regions should take steps now to prepare for storm surges, fires, sea level rise, and other disruptions associated with global climate change and extreme weather events, according to new research by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Resilient Coastal City Regions: Planning for Climate Change in the United States and Australia, edited by Edward J. Blakely, honorary professor at the U.S. Studies Centre, University of Sydney, and former recovery czar in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and Armando Carbonell, senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute and chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form, includes nine case studies and models for adaptation response, with a focus on the impacts of changes in climate on human welfare and the integrity of ecosystems. The focus is on coastal regions in the United States and Australia, but the aim of the volume is to suggest adaptation and mitigation initiatives applicable throughout the world. A recent story in the New York Times surveyed how some 3.7 million Americans along the coastline are threatened by sea level rise. "We are humbly aware that this is only an initial response to a challenge with a magnitude of potential impacts never before experienced in human history, a challenge that will test our ability to work together at every scale," said Carbonell.
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