OP-EDS

Mitigation must continue, but adaptation has become urgent as well. California should step up once again.

Reefs and wetlands are critical to defending coastal cities from sea level rise, stronger waves and increased flooding. Give them an economic value.

Hurricanes and tropical storms are estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than US$50 billion yearly in damage from winds and flooding. And as these storms travel across the Atlantic, they also ravage many Caribbean nations...

Last year was the costliest year ever for natural disasters in the United States, with more than $300 billion in damages from hurricanes, severe storms, and wildfires. The impact of these disasters goes well beyond a dollar figure. Americans have lost homes, businesses — and in some instances, loved ones...

A 12-year “hurricane drought” during which no major hurricanes made landfall in the continental United States ended dramatically in 2017. The devastating impacts of Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria across the United States and the Caribbean provide tragic reminders of the catastrophic risks we face on our coasts...

Mangroves are weeds; if you give them half a chance they grow in some of the most inhospitable environments; with their knees in seawater and their trunks in the air. They create forested barriers between the wrath of the seas and our coastal communities providing benefits in coastal defense and fisheries...

An estimated 840 million people around the world live with the risk of coastal flooding. With our changing climate, the danger posed by hurricanes, floods and storms is increasing. These events have a huge economic impact, too. In 2016 alone, insurers paid out $50 billion for natural disasters; there was a further $125 billion in uninsured losses, and many of these losses were from coastal storms...