Guidelines for a Natural Approach to Flood Mitigation

High tide flooding incidents are both growing in frequency and increasingly posing threats to communities. In the U.S., 40 percent of the U.S. population currently lives in coastal counties and are thus vulnerable to hazardous water surges. The recently published, International Guidelines on the Use of Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management, explores innovative nature-based mitigation strategies to address the increasing threat. To mitigate future impacts from flooding, the guidelines advocate protecting vulnerable communities by employing natural features such as marshes, dunes, reefs, islands, or mangroves versus traditional hardened infrastructure. Utilizing a nature-based approach improves community resilience and helps restore coastal habitats, creating other benefits. The effort was sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and international organizations from 10 countries. Read more at NOAA.