Coasts

The resilience of ecosystems and communities to climate change impacts

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Coast, beach and land aerial view

From the tropics to the poles, half the world’s population lives on coasts where the impacts of climate change are most intense. Storms are more frequent and severe. Sea-level rise causes prolonged, catastrophic flooding. Melting permafrost causes houses to collapse and roads to slump. National security infrastructure is threatened—and human lives, economies, and livelihoods hang in the balance. ERI focuses on interactions between people, infrastructure, and the changing environment—and on understanding natural processes, risks, and social equity issues. Our teams are working to restore ecosystems, understand and design resilient coasts, and inform policy and decision-making. We partner with rural and urban communities that face increasing risks from climate change to create a more resilient and sustainable future.

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Tangier waterman in a 1953 photo

Documenting Tangier’s Watermen: Student Project Headed for Library of Congress

A project funded through EI's Environmental Futures Fellows program documents the working landscape of watermen and the locations of their crab shanties.
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a fish sample held in researcher's hands

Seagrass Restoration Renews Fish and Biodiversity at Astonishing Rates

Amid fish declines worldwide, in part due to habitat loss, UVA researchers are tracking the continued success of undersea meadow restoration efforts.
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Researchers work in water on the coast

With UVA Discovery, We May Be One Good Solution Closer to Solving Climate Change

Seagrass researchers assemble a rig to extract sediment cores. The sampling project, just off the Eastern Shore on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Delmarva Peninsula, began in the summer...
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photo of a healthy coral reef

Future-Proofing the World’s Coral Reefs

Environmental scientist and EI affiliate Matthew Reidenbach is pursuing promising new ways to restore dying coral reefs and to make them more resilient to a variety of threats.
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Shenandoah Mountains
Climate Ambition Research Symposium
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students around a table eating
Open House: Patrick Hancock and Emma White
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Sustainable Infrastructure for Sustainable Development: The Notion of Blending Gray and Green Infrastructure
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pier on the coast

Bay Migrations Project: Cultural Artifacts of Risk Mitigation

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Co-Producing a Climate Equity Atlas on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

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Impacts of COVID-19 on Delivery of Critical Services