Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning

Coastal cities and their natural environments are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, especially sea-level rise (SLR). Hard coastal defences play a key role in protecting at-risk urban coastal populations from flooding and erosion, but coastal ecosystems also play important roles in the ove...

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Main Authors: Nguyen, Nhung T. H., Friess, Daniel A., Todd, Peter A., Mazor, Tessa, Lovelock, Catherine E., Lowe, Ryan, Gilmour, James, Chou, Loke Ming, Bhatia, Natasha, Jaafar, Zeehan, Tun, Karenne, Siti Maryam Yaakub, Huang, Danwei
Other Authors: Asian School of the Environment
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162645
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1626452023-02-28T16:42:35Z Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning Nguyen, Nhung T. H. Friess, Daniel A. Todd, Peter A. Mazor, Tessa Lovelock, Catherine E. Lowe, Ryan Gilmour, James Chou, Loke Ming Bhatia, Natasha Jaafar, Zeehan Tun, Karenne Siti Maryam Yaakub Huang, Danwei Asian School of the Environment Engineering::Environmental engineering Climate Change Sea-Level Rise Coastal cities and their natural environments are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, especially sea-level rise (SLR). Hard coastal defences play a key role in protecting at-risk urban coastal populations from flooding and erosion, but coastal ecosystems also play important roles in the overall sustainability and resilience of cities and urban centres by contributing to coastal protection. Conserving coastal ecosystems and maximising their resilience will ensure that urban coastal communities can continue to benefit from ecosystem services and improve their adaptive capacity to cope with adverse impacts in the future. Using the hyper-urbanised coast of Singapore as a case study, we modelled the resilience of coastal wetlands to SLR and integrated resilience in conservation planning. We found that the responses of coastal habitats to rising sea level vary across the modelling periods. While there is a slight net gain in the extent of mangrove forests and tidal flats by the end of the century due to potential habitat conversion, the existing habitats will experience a loss in coverage. Highly modified coastlines associated with urbanisation impede the ability of existing wetlands to migrate landward, which is a key mechanism for coastal habitats to cope with rising sea levels. Systematic conservation planning can identify sites that are potentially resilient to SLR and incorporate factors that influence an ecosystem's capability to respond to change. Crucially, the relatively slow rates of SLR and persistence of coastal wetlands during the earlier half of this century present an opportunity to introduce management interventions aimed at enhancing ecosystem resilience. National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This research is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, and the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science under the NRF Australia-Singapore Joint Research Grant Call (NRF2018AU-SG02). 2022-11-02T01:10:30Z 2022-11-02T01:10:30Z 2022 Journal Article Nguyen, N. T. H., Friess, D. A., Todd, P. A., Mazor, T., Lovelock, C. E., Lowe, R., Gilmour, J., Chou, L. M., Bhatia, N., Jaafar, Z., Tun, K., Siti Maryam Yaakub & Huang, D. (2022). Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning. Landscape and Urban Planning, 221, 104374-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104374 0169-2046 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162645 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104374 2-s2.0-85124584556 221 104374 en NRF2018AU-SG02 Landscape and Urban Planning © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Environmental engineering
Climate Change
Sea-Level Rise
spellingShingle Engineering::Environmental engineering
Climate Change
Sea-Level Rise
Nguyen, Nhung T. H.
Friess, Daniel A.
Todd, Peter A.
Mazor, Tessa
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Lowe, Ryan
Gilmour, James
Chou, Loke Ming
Bhatia, Natasha
Jaafar, Zeehan
Tun, Karenne
Siti Maryam Yaakub
Huang, Danwei
Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
description Coastal cities and their natural environments are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, especially sea-level rise (SLR). Hard coastal defences play a key role in protecting at-risk urban coastal populations from flooding and erosion, but coastal ecosystems also play important roles in the overall sustainability and resilience of cities and urban centres by contributing to coastal protection. Conserving coastal ecosystems and maximising their resilience will ensure that urban coastal communities can continue to benefit from ecosystem services and improve their adaptive capacity to cope with adverse impacts in the future. Using the hyper-urbanised coast of Singapore as a case study, we modelled the resilience of coastal wetlands to SLR and integrated resilience in conservation planning. We found that the responses of coastal habitats to rising sea level vary across the modelling periods. While there is a slight net gain in the extent of mangrove forests and tidal flats by the end of the century due to potential habitat conversion, the existing habitats will experience a loss in coverage. Highly modified coastlines associated with urbanisation impede the ability of existing wetlands to migrate landward, which is a key mechanism for coastal habitats to cope with rising sea levels. Systematic conservation planning can identify sites that are potentially resilient to SLR and incorporate factors that influence an ecosystem's capability to respond to change. Crucially, the relatively slow rates of SLR and persistence of coastal wetlands during the earlier half of this century present an opportunity to introduce management interventions aimed at enhancing ecosystem resilience.
author2 Asian School of the Environment
author_facet Asian School of the Environment
Nguyen, Nhung T. H.
Friess, Daniel A.
Todd, Peter A.
Mazor, Tessa
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Lowe, Ryan
Gilmour, James
Chou, Loke Ming
Bhatia, Natasha
Jaafar, Zeehan
Tun, Karenne
Siti Maryam Yaakub
Huang, Danwei
format Article
author Nguyen, Nhung T. H.
Friess, Daniel A.
Todd, Peter A.
Mazor, Tessa
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Lowe, Ryan
Gilmour, James
Chou, Loke Ming
Bhatia, Natasha
Jaafar, Zeehan
Tun, Karenne
Siti Maryam Yaakub
Huang, Danwei
author_sort Nguyen, Nhung T. H.
title Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
title_short Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
title_full Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
title_fullStr Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
title_full_unstemmed Maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
title_sort maximising resilience to sea-level rise in urban coastal ecosystems through systematic conservation planning
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162645
_version_ 1759858264261001216