Drowning the National Heritage

Pollution, sedimentation, land-filling, residential and commercial construction, and other by-products of growing human populations are putting severe stresses on wetlands, coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, and other coastal ecosystems. Add to these yet another set of threats associated with global warming, and the prospects for some of the world’s richest and most productive ecosystems grow dim.

• What survival odds do species already in trouble have if their habitat keeps shrinking, squeezed on one side by a growing human presence and on the other by a rising sea?

• What’s left of our natural heritage can’t be saved unless we awaken to the choices and trade-offs required.

Drowning the National Heritage examines the status of coastal biodiversity and the potential impacts of climate change: increased erosion, flooding, and salt-water intrusion into groundwater, rivers, bays, and estuaries as well as receding coastlines and altered coastal current and upwelling patterns.

The authors evaluate various policy responses and recommend specific policy changes to protect the biological wealth of these vital ecosystems:

• Incorporating the protection of coastal ecosystems as a fundamental goal in federal and state policies;

• Eliminating federal and state subsidies that promote coastal development and coastal defense;

• Making wide use of such regulatory measures as coastal zoning and setbacks;

• Putting property owners on notice that sea level will rise and that large area of what is now dry land will eventually have to be abandoned;

• Minimizing human stresses other than sea level rise on coastal ecosystems;

• Identifying appropriate policies for key coastal ecosystems.

The authors also suggest that nongovernmental organization that buy land for conservation purposes should begin experimenting with easement and leasing options that would allow them to protect wetlands and other coastal ecosystems as the sea rises.