Mass. launches effort to protect coast residents

Rising sea levels pose a threat

Massachusetts is kicking off an innovative pilot program to defend the state's 78 coastal communities against rising sea levels and fiercer storms brought on by global warming.

The state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced yesterday that seven communities have been selected to learn how best to adapt to climate change, by doing such things as elevating buildings in flood-prone areas, developing disaster plans for more frequent storms, and prohibiting construction in vulnerable areas.

By getting the nod, Boston, Falmouth, Hull, Oak Bluffs, Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth will be able to tap into state technical expertise to figure out how to slow erosion, for example, or use laws or education strategies to reduce damage from sea level rise and more frequent storms.

The move is part of a growing international effort to accommodate - not just prevent - higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, sea level rise, and longer growing seasons from the release of heat-trapping gases from power plants, factories, and cars. New England winters have warmed more than 4 degrees in the last 30 years, bringing with them a host of changes from shifting distribution patterns of tree pests to economic troubles for ice fishing businesses.

"It's a step forward; I applaud them," said Paul Kirshen, a Tufts University professor and specialist in climate change adaptation. "All the research, including mine, shows it makes a lot more economic, environmental, and social sense to adapt rather than wait a few decades until the full impacts of climate change are felt."

If fairly conservative climate projections hold true for Boston, global warming could raise sea levels enough by the end of the century that Boston Harbor will flood parts of East Boston and the Financial District during a typical winter northeaster. South Boston, Back Bay, and Cambridge could also flood during a Category-2 hurricane, according to simulations produced for the Globe in 2007 by a computer modeling consultant.

"A portion of the downtown areas of Plymouth and Duxbury are mapped as being underwater with the sea level rise," said Mark Sylvia, Plymouth town manager who becomes director of the Green Communities Division of the state's Department of Energy Resources in February. "The stability of our coastline is directly related to the sustainability of our current and future economic, recreational, and environmental resources." Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth will work together on one project.

Adapting to global warming has been discussed for years in low-lying island nations, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. But it was infrequently mentioned in the United States in part because the Bush administration was reluctant to acknowledge manmade climate change, let alone plan for it, climate experts say. They say the incoming Obama administration is likely to accelerate adaptation efforts.

Also, cities and towns that wanted to prepare for climate change were often stymied because it was not entirely clear how much sea level would rise, or how many more fierce hurricanes, for example, New England would experience as worldwide temperatures rose.

As a result, there are only a few instances of adaptation in New England: In 1988, Maine adopted a regulation requiring that anyone building on coastal dunes had to ensure that construction could withstand a 3-foot rise in sea level from global warming. And in Massachusetts, Boston's Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant, completed in 2001, was built on land 2 feet higher than originally planned to avoid flooding by climate change.

"In the past, people said we can't take action now because we are uncertain about the future," said Kirshen.

He said experts are getting better at working uncertainty into climate adaptation efforts, and hopes Massachusetts will remain sensitive to those uncertainties as it moves forward.

The two-year pilot grant program, known as StormSmart Coasts, will help the communities evaluate ways to protect the state's 1,500-mile shoreline. It will focus on sea level rise and increased flooding events in the community.

"This program gives mayors, zoning boards, and emergency response teams the tools they need to plan for - and recover from - the impact of rising sea levels and severe coastal storms," said Ian Bowles, state Energy and Environment secretary.

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.