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Executive Summary:

Scientists representing 115 countries, 11 of the worlds leading national academies of science,over 250,000 memers of the !nion of "oncerned Scientists , 1# !$S$ scientific organi%ations,and many others have accepted that climate change is occurring and that some significantimpacts, such as sea level rise, will result$ &n recognition of these warnings, there have eeninternational, national, state, county and city initiatives to identify the potential impacts anddevelop counter measures$ 'he potential counter measures that have een identified may ecategori%ed as:

1$ (itigation)

2$ *daptation) and+$ etreat$

(ost action plans, at all levels of government have concentrated on mitigation, the reduction ofgreen house gases and caron footprints, through the use of alternative energy sources, energyconservation and other sustainale practices$ -hile it is recogni%ed that such activities mayhave a long.term impact, adaptation, and/or retreat to climate change and sea level rise will stille reuired to meet the impacts that have already een generated, and may extend out for thenext two centuries) even if all green house gases were totally eliminated today$

'he avoidance of adaptation and retreat options may e due to the perceived high costsassociated with them$ 'he proposed modification of the flood gates

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Stephen (uley, h3, the 3irector of esearch and 4utreach Extension, School of aturalesources and Environment, !niversity of 6lorida, and Science *dvisor to the "entury"ommission for a Sustainale 6lorida has noted:

In February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)concluded most of the observed increase in globally averagedtemeratures since the mid!20th century is very li"ely (greater than #0

ercent robability) due to the observed increase in anthroogenicgreenhouse gas concentrations$% &he IPCC's reort, the fourth in a seriessince ##0, as the or" of *0 lead and +*0 contributing authors,reresenting nations$ &hese researchers, most of hom ere unaid

and nely recruited to this effort, concluded that the arming of the climateis une-uivocal% and that human activities are behind the unrecedentedseed of change$ &he authors stated that future arming is very unli"ely%to be inconse-uential$ &his echoes the consensus of of the orld'sleading national academies of science, hich stated in 200* that e shouldmitigate the causes of climate change and reare to adat to theconse-uences$ .s /ohn oldren, the resident of the .merican .ssociationfor the .dvancement of 1cience, stated, e have three choices 3mitigation, adatation, and suffering$% hat e do in the near term illdetermine the mi4 of these$

3r$ (uley also noted that the list of endorsing societies and institutions that endorse the wor

of the &"" and the 7oint academies of science includes the following:

8 *cademia 9rasiliera de "incias ;9a%ilventually, some form of retreat might be necessary for e4amle,through las to rohibit building close to the coast$ 6eanhile, Floridacan learn from its neighbouring state ouisiana, hich among otherlocations orldide is ioneering a soft aroach to self!defence byrestoring etlands, beaches and natural floodlains$ 9non as ecologicalengineering, this strategy or"s ith natureBs on flood defences to build

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resilience$ 8ltimately, better ro5ections are needed to determine the li"elye4tent of future sea level rise$ In the absence of such information, the bestotion is neither a strict olicy of defence nor all!out retreat, butincremental adatation$

*lasa, *ri%ona, *ransas, "alifornia, "olorado, "onnecticut, 6lorida, &owa, &llinois, (aine,(aryland, (assachusetts, (ichigan, (innesota, (ontana, orth "arolina, ew Iampshire,ew @ersey, ew (exico, evada, ew Mor, 4regon, ennsylvania, hode &sland, South"arolina, !tah, Nirginia, Nermont, -ashington, -isconsin,

ew research suggests that the possiility of sea level rise of up to two metresy 2100 should e given serious consideration$ 4ne ey study ;feffer, -$ '$,Iarper, @$ '$ K 4Ceel, S$ Science +21, 1+H0O1+H+< examined the ice flow rates

that would e reuired to produce sustantial sea level rise y 2100 andconcluded that a rise of much more than two metres would e PphysicallyuntenaleQ$ *lthough increases of up to two metres could not e excluded, a sealevel rise of less than one metre y 2100 was 7udged more liely on grounds ofphysical plausiility$ roxy evidence from oxygen isotope ratios in ed Seasediment cores ;ohling, E$ @$ et al$ ature ?eosci$ 1 +#OH2 ;200F1D50+ ;200D

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*nna *rmstrong?eophys$ es$ >ett$ +F, >0FF0+ ;2010