A new study encourages governments to consider sea level rise when deciding what land along the coast should be protected and what areas should be allowed to turn to marsh or beach.
A study published Tuesday in Environmental Research Letters includes a survey of development and vacant land along the Atlantic coast. More than 60 percent of land that could be swallowed by rising water in the next century has been developed, the report says, and less than 10percent has been conserved.
The authors suggest governments use the expansive land-use maps they included to evaluate the environmental consequences of ignoring the encroaching water.
The report comes at a time when state officials, including legislators and the state Division of Coastal Management, are putting a new focus on planning for rising seas. North Carolina is one of the states most vulnerable to sea level rise.
"Even though we know sea level is rising, people are moving into vulnerable areas at a rapid rate," said JimTitus, the study's lead author. "It exposes people to living below sea level. It also stops the wetlands from migrating inland."
Titus is a sea level rise expert at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but he prepared the study independently of the government agency and said he is not speaking for his employer.
Much of the state's coast that can be developed already has been, he said, but decisions are still to be made about how to treat undeveloped land along the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.
"You have an opportunity for planning," he said.
Some state officials share his thinking. The Division of Coastal Resources sent out a survey this year to gauge public perception of sea level rise and whether it requires state action. The Coastal Resources Commission is to get a report on the results this week.
The Legislative Commission on Climate Change is interested in how the state adapts to sea level rise, said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat and a committee co-chairwoman.
Potential property buyers should know whether the land they're considering is susceptible to erosion, storm damage or flooding, she said, and development requirements should be strengthened.
But it's difficult to make policies based on sea level rise, she said, when some people say it's not really happening.
Cameron Moore, a lobbyist for the Business Alliance for a Sound Economy, said projections of sea level rise are unreliable, and he questioned the need for more rules to address it.
"There's so much speculation about sea level rise," he said. "Where there are environmental concerns, there are plenty of criteria involved. It's not just, "Let's put a house on the beach.'"
