Name: Static Interactive
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Over the next 30 years, the number of people living in places at risk of flooding from an extreme storm in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region is likely to double from 1 million to 2 million. Sea levels are projected to rise by two feet, putting 10,000 homes permanently under water and greatly expanding the coastal floodplain.

With over 3,700 miles of tidal coastline, much of it densely populated with old and decaying infrastructure, the region’s states and local communities face the daunting challenge of making the physical and regulatory changes necessary to adapt to this new coastline. Restoring wetlands, building sea walls, raising buildings, retrofitting infrastructure and buying out vulnerable homeowners are among the actions that 167 coastal cities, towns, villages and counties will need to consider and find the resources to implement. While there has been substantial progress in planning for climate change, adaptation is slow, sporadic, underfunded and uncoordinated. Attention and resources rise in the wake of storms like Superstorm Sandy, but soon dissipate when the immediate crisis has passed. In many ways, the needs are so great and the timeframes for implementation are so long that it is easier to focus on more immediate needs. While Superstorm Sandy provided an infusion of funding for recovery and adaptation, there remains $28 billion worth of identified needs that has not been funded.

To get ahead of the growing crisis, the region will need to overcome several impediments:

Planning and investments are reactive rather than proactive. There is neither a plan nor a budget for adaptation projects that can prioritize investments and prepare for future contingencies. Instead, current funding sources and policies depend on unreliable federal funding that promotes short-term recovery over long-term investments.
Most of the region’s smaller cities, towns and villages have limited capacity. The vast majority of the region’s municipalities are governed by part-time or volunteer mayors and councils, and even the larger municipalities lack the staff capacity and resources to address and plan for long-term climate changes. Coastal flooding is a regional problem, but most planning happens locally. Each state and municipality has different rules, policies and guidelines, and limited incentives to collaborate.
Coastlines and infrastructure transverse government boundaries, and since water is fluid, management practices in one state or municipality can have an inadvertent impact on others.
State coastal management programs leave several problems unaddressed. The coastal management programs of the three states vary widely in approach, and inconsistent policies can prevent important adaptation strategies from being implemented across state lines. At the same time, adaptation is not a singular focus of any program, nor are issues of regional significance, such as infrastructure.

To give climate adaptation the priority it needs and to be able to implement solutions at different geographic scales, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut should create a Regional Coastal Commission (RCC). The commission would be empowered to maintain a dedicated focus on the region’s climate adaptation needs, help mobilize the region’s resources to address them, coordinate strategies and develop common standards. It would also prioritize funding that can be used for region-wide resilience projects.