Abstract
Shorelines and their ecosystems are endangered by sea-level rise. Nature-based coastal protection is becoming a global strategy to enhance coastal resilience through the cost-effective creation, restoration and sustainable use of coastal wetlands. However, the resilience to sea-level rise of coastal wetlands created under Nature-based Solution has been assessed largely on a regional scale. Here we assess, using a meta-analysis, the difference in accretion, elevation, and sediment deposition rates between natural and restored coastal wetlands across the world. Our results show that restored coastal wetlands can trap more sediment and that the effectiveness of these restoration projects is primarily driven by sediment availability, not by wetland elevation, tidal range, local rates of sea-level rise, and significant wave height. Our results suggest that Nature-based Solutions can mitigate coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise, but are effective only in coastal locations where abundant sediment supply is available.
Highlights
Shorelines and their ecosystems are endangered by sea-level rise
The sample size in the IndoPacific region (China and Sri Lanka) is small, results show the enormous potential in enhancing vertical accretion rate in this region[33,34] (Fig. 1)
Some salt marsh ecosystems are slowly drowning because their mean accretion deficit is greater than 0.5 mm yr−1 (Fig. 2d)
Summary
Shorelines and their ecosystems are endangered by sea-level rise. Nature-based coastal protection is becoming a global strategy to enhance coastal resilience through the costeffective creation, restoration and sustainable use of coastal wetlands. Our results suggest that Nature-based Solutions can mitigate coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise, but are effective only in coastal locations where abundant sediment supply is available. A growing world population has turned coastal wetlands into agricultural fields, urban and industrial developments, and intensive aquaculture This conversion has resulted in a loss of habitat for many fish and birds, as well as loss of important ecosystem services such as erosion mitigation, water purification, carbon storage, and natural flood defense[10,15]. The effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions for SLR mitigation and adaptation has not been globally assessed, owing to the complex feedbacks of multiple environmental processes driven by elevation, vegetation, local relative SLR rate, tidal range, and sediment availability[29]. Recent modeling advances have provided the ability to conduct meta-analyses to fill research gaps at a global scale[13,30]
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