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Costs of adapting coastal defences to sea-level rise: new estimates and their implications

Costs of adapting coastal defences to sea-level rise: new estimates and their implications
Costs of adapting coastal defences to sea-level rise: new estimates and their implications
The cost of upgrading and raising coastal defences is an important consideration in societal response to sea-level rise. Currently available unit cost estimates have a limited empirical basis. This article presents new information on the unit costs of adapting coastal defences for three specific case studies in low-lying delta regions: The Netherlands, New Orleans, and Vietnam. Typical measures include dikes, flood walls, storm surge barriers, and nourishment. These unit cost estimates are significantly higher than earlier estimates that are still the main source of costs for global vulnerability assessments. Factors affecting these unit costs include local economic factors (material and labour costs), design choices related to the alignment of the system, and the types of measures for implementation of the system in an urban or rural environment. On the basis of an example for a Dutch sea dike, it is shown that the material quantities and associated costs are expected to rise linearly, in the case of depth-limited wave breaking, for the range of sea-level rise rates that are expected in the coming century. However, other factors, such as increasing costs for implementation of wider coastal defences in an urban environment and future changes in material and labour costs, could contribute to a nonlinear increase of the costs. Further collection and analysis of project information for coastal defence projects in other regions is recommended to strengthen the empirical basis of the cost estimates that are used for regional and global assessments.
Climate adaptation, engineering measures, dikes, flood protection, storm surge barriers, sea-level rise, unit costs
0749-0208
1212-1226
Jonkman, S.N.
9a8d2854-4635-4599-b3e5-30d670dd7fd3
Hillen, M.M.
dbf0d5e0-2ca6-479e-b815-537016dad865
Nicholls, R.J.
4ce1e355-cc5d-4702-8124-820932c57076
Kanning, W.
0ddf5a4d-17e7-4394-9e76-1e3329f8d581
van Ledden, M.
f9bc0377-0b91-48c7-92fd-a9f3226edd45
Jonkman, S.N.
9a8d2854-4635-4599-b3e5-30d670dd7fd3
Hillen, M.M.
dbf0d5e0-2ca6-479e-b815-537016dad865
Nicholls, R.J.
4ce1e355-cc5d-4702-8124-820932c57076
Kanning, W.
0ddf5a4d-17e7-4394-9e76-1e3329f8d581
van Ledden, M.
f9bc0377-0b91-48c7-92fd-a9f3226edd45

Jonkman, S.N., Hillen, M.M., Nicholls, R.J., Kanning, W. and van Ledden, M. (2013) Costs of adapting coastal defences to sea-level rise: new estimates and their implications. Journal of Coastal Research, 29 (5), 1212-1226. (doi:10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00230.1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The cost of upgrading and raising coastal defences is an important consideration in societal response to sea-level rise. Currently available unit cost estimates have a limited empirical basis. This article presents new information on the unit costs of adapting coastal defences for three specific case studies in low-lying delta regions: The Netherlands, New Orleans, and Vietnam. Typical measures include dikes, flood walls, storm surge barriers, and nourishment. These unit cost estimates are significantly higher than earlier estimates that are still the main source of costs for global vulnerability assessments. Factors affecting these unit costs include local economic factors (material and labour costs), design choices related to the alignment of the system, and the types of measures for implementation of the system in an urban or rural environment. On the basis of an example for a Dutch sea dike, it is shown that the material quantities and associated costs are expected to rise linearly, in the case of depth-limited wave breaking, for the range of sea-level rise rates that are expected in the coming century. However, other factors, such as increasing costs for implementation of wider coastal defences in an urban environment and future changes in material and labour costs, could contribute to a nonlinear increase of the costs. Further collection and analysis of project information for coastal defence projects in other regions is recommended to strengthen the empirical basis of the cost estimates that are used for regional and global assessments.

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More information

Published date: 19 April 2013
Keywords: Climate adaptation, engineering measures, dikes, flood protection, storm surge barriers, sea-level rise, unit costs
Organisations: Energy & Climate Change Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 353570
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/353570
ISSN: 0749-0208
PURE UUID: 8485dc0b-c9fe-4c24-ba60-9c234338f877
ORCID for R.J. Nicholls: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9715-1109

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 10 Jun 2013 13:36
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:18

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Contributors

Author: S.N. Jonkman
Author: M.M. Hillen
Author: R.J. Nicholls ORCID iD
Author: W. Kanning
Author: M. van Ledden

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