Global Risks and Research Priorities for Coastal Subsidence

Subsidence plays a significant role in Louisiana’s continued coastal land loss and marsh deterioration, with some areas measuring in at a rate of 10 millimeters per year of sinking. It’s projected that by 2100, Louisiana’s coastal subsidence will increase the vulnerability of hurricane evacuation routes by 200 percent. To better understand this major driving force in land loss, the report brings together updated information about what is known, and unknown, about subsidence’s many causes in Louisiana and around the world. The overall goal of the work is to push for global research and monitoring to help fill in knowledge gaps to better protect natural resources, infrastructure and coastal populations.

“The risk of rapid coastal subsidence to infrastructure and economies, as well as to the natural environment in coastal lowlands, is global and is most acute in large river deltas, which are home to about 500 million people,” according to the report.