Glossary

Key terms and definitions for coastal climate adaptation.

Adaptation Cycle: The five-stage process CoastAdapt uses to guide communities through climate adaptation: understanding risks, prioritizing what matters most, exploring options, implementing action plans, and monitoring progress over time.
Climate Adaptation: Actions taken to prepare for and adjust to the effects of climate change, reducing harm and taking advantage of any opportunities that arise.
Coastal Erosion: The gradual wearing away of land along the coast, caused by waves, currents, storms, and rising sea levels.
Community Engagement: The process of involving community members, especially those most affected, in planning and decision-making around adaptation.
Compounding Hazards: When two or more climate hazards, such as a storm surge and heavy rainfall, occur together or in close succession, making impacts more severe than any single hazard alone.
Critical Infrastructure: Roads, buildings, utilities, and other essential systems a community relies on, which may be at risk from coastal hazards.
Funding Programs: Grants, financial support, or programs (government or otherwise) that help communities pay for adaptation projects.
Isostatic Rebound (Land Uplift): The gradual rising of land that was once weighed down by glaciers, which in some regions (like Hudson Bay) causes relative sea levels to fall even as global sea levels rise.
King Tide: An especially high tide that occurs a few times a year, when the sun, moon, and Earth align in a way that increases tidal pull.
Living Shorelines: A nature-based approach to shoreline protection that uses natural materials like plants, sand, and rock instead of hard structures like seawalls.
Managed Retreat: The planned, coordinated relocation of people, buildings, or infrastructure away from areas at high risk from coastal hazards.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Tracking the progress and effectiveness of adaptation actions over time, and adjusting plans as conditions or information change.
Nature-Based Solutions: Approaches that use or restore natural systems, like wetlands and shorelines, to reduce climate risks while also supporting healthy ecosystems.
Relative Sea-Level Change: The change in sea level as experienced at a specific location, accounting for both global sea-level rise and local land movement (such as isostatic rebound), which can cause different regions to experience rising or falling water levels differently.
Resilience: The ability of a community or ecosystem to withstand, recover from, and adapt to climate impacts while continuing to function.
Sea Level Rise: The long-term increase in ocean water levels, driven primarily by melting ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms.
Storm Surge: A temporary rise in sea level caused by a storm's winds and low pressure pushing water toward the shore, often the main cause of coastal flooding during major storms.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (Indigenous Knowledge): Knowledge, practices, and beliefs developed by Indigenous communities over generations through direct relationship with the land, water, and environment.
Vulnerability: How exposed and sensitive a community, area, or population is to the impacts of climate change, and how limited their ability is to cope or adapt.
Vulnerability Assessment: A process used to identify which people, places, or assets in a community are most at risk from climate impacts.
Wetland Restoration: Repairing or rebuilding wetland ecosystems, which naturally help absorb floodwater and reduce erosion.