In the News

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

The center is part of the university’s renewed research focus on climate change, resilience, and coastal sustainability. “I am honored and excited about the opportunity to lead the Center for the University,” said Beck. “The Center will focus our campus efforts on addressing the challenges we face from climate change and in identifying solutions that can benefit people and nature in coastal communities.”

Climate-related coastal disasters increasingly strain state and national budgets and most of these funds support artificial infrastructure that further degrades nature. Professor Mike Beck shows that coastal habitats can be cost effective for building climate resilience. He outlines how with a little disaster jiu-jitsu we can turn a grave threat to nature into an opportunity to save it.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded UCSC and an interdisciplinary team of researchers a $20 million grant to assess climate risks and identify where coral reefs and mangroves can best protect underserved coastal communities. The project is part of the NSF’s Coastlines and People program. Professor Beck will serve as co-director of the new Climate Risks and Equitable Nature-based Solutions Hub with Professor Maya Trotz, the lead PI from the University of South Florida.

This Prop 68 project uses complex computational models for the SF Bay to evaluate current and future flood risk. By modeling increases in sea-levels and storms, the team can assess the consequences of increased flooding to people and property, but also assess how ‘restored’ wetland habitats adjacent to development in low-lying areas can reduce flooding risk. Similar models are used to assess how management choices and other adaptation solutions can mitigate other climate impacts, such as wildfires, drought, and extreme heat.

Federal money to restore coastal areas hit by hurricanes and other disasters doesn’t cover the loss of natural assets like coral reefs. UC Santa Cruz marine scientist Michael Beck says it’s time to change that.

Using a benefit-risk analysis, researchers have found that mangroves and coral reefs can be cost-effective in reducing coastal flooding, a press release from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), said. Using risk and insurance industry techniques, the researchers were able to show that the gains from reduced damage from floods outweighed the costs of restoring the corals and mangroves, leading to a favorable return on investment.

UCSC scientists are part of a DARPA-funded team to develop innovative solutions for coral reef restoration in Florida and the Caribbean to protect coastal infrastructure

There is growing recognition of the role of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, but despite mounting evidence of their technical efficacy, NbS face sizeable challenges and barriers to adoption, one of those being lack of clarity on how to quantify NbS benefits, leading to a failure to account for the true value of the generated benefits. This workshop organized by the InsuResilience Global Partnership contributes to a better understanding of the quantification of NbS in order to estimate the benefits of Nature-based Solutions and price them accordingly.

In this session of the Asian Development Bank Healthy Oceans Forum, Dr. Michael Beck sets the scene by providing an overview of the latest science, trends, and technologies for building coastal resilience to reduce risk to people, property and nature. He highlights the need to integrate nature-based solutions for coastal resilience, and the need for “green” rather than “grey” solutions.

Climate change is forcing the insurance industry to adapt and come up with new products. One experiment is testing out a policy to insure nature against extreme storms, specifically a coral reef in Mexico. Here & Now's Scott Tong learns more about the reef with Dr. Michael Beck.

A new study shows U.S. coral reefs provide $1.8 billion in flood-risk benefits to property owners and people’s livelihoods every year, with top value assigned to the reef stretching offshore of Diamond Head, Waikiki and Kakaako.

Coral reefs provide many services to coastal communities, including critical protection from flood damage. A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the U.S. Geological Survey reveals how valuable coral reefs are in protecting people, structures, and economic activity in the United States from coastal flooding during storms.

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

Coral reefs in the US prevent flooding to 53,833 people, economic damages by $5.3 billion, and additional flooding of 113 km2 (28,000 acres, 43.6mi2) of land for the 100-year storm. If 1m of reefs are lost, 100-year flooding zones increase by 23%, impacting 62% more people, 90% more property and increasing damages by $5.3 billion.

Mike Beck, AXA Chair in Coastal Resilience at UC Santa Cruz presents on "Can Disasters Save Habitats: The Ecology, Engineering and Financing of Natural Coastal Defenses" for a Seminar with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz

Expert Q&A: Dr. Michael Beck. His research is strengthening the economic argument for investment in the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems.

In an unusual experiment, a coral reef in Mexico is now insured against hurricanes. A team of locals known as “the Brigade” rushed to repair the devastated corals, piece by piece.

Marine scientist Michael Beck was awarded the chair to support his work on natural defenses to enhance coastal resilience to flooding, erosion, and sea level rise.

AXA, a global insurance company, has awarded UC Santa Cruz marine science Research Professor Michael Beck more than $1 million in funding to further his lab’s research into how reefs and marshes combat sea-level rise and related natural disasters.