Cost and Benefit Analysis of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Coastal Areas at Risk

Cardona, F.S.; Ferreira, J.C., and Lopes, A.M., 2020. Cost and benefit analysis of climate change adaptation strategies in coastal areas at risk. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 764-768. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper addresses a cost analysis and evaluation of the benefits associated with different climate change adaptation strategies in coastal areas, considering high risk scenarios. For that, a cost analysis of adaptation strategies was carried out over a period of 50 years for Furadouro Beach, Ovar Portugal, a low-lying coastal area with high coastal erosion and frequent overtopping. The results show that cumulative costs of adaptation measures in the combination of defense and accommodation strategies are € 276M, € 164M in accommodation, € 112M in defense and € 75M in retreat. These results are an example of the importance of evaluating adaptation strategies in high-risk areas and show the usefulness of the approach taken as a support to decision making for processes that involve urban management and territorial planning of coastal zones vulnerable to the coastal erosion, wave overtopping and coastal flooding.