In a state with 3,000 miles of shoreline, climate change has the potential to cause disastrous effects.
Roughly 4.25 million people – or 72% of the state’s population – live in Maryland’s coastal areas.
The state’s coastal communities have already experienced the devastating impacts of rising sea levels, severe storms, flooding, and erosion due to climate change.
Between 2010 and 2018, a total of 24 billion-dollar weather disasters affected Maryland, according to NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.
To evaluate how Maryland’s coastal communities are adapting to climate change, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science compiled the first-ever Maryland Coastal Adaptation Report Card.
Maryland is “fairly well-adapted” to the continuing threats of climate change, the report says, receiving a B-minus overall score.
The report, which was released Friday, evaluated adaptation progress in Maryland’s coastal communities across four categories – ecosystem, flooding, planning, and socioeconomic.
In the ecosystem and planning categories, the state received an A and B+, respectively.
But there is room for improvement in the flooding and socioeconomic adaptation categories, with both categories scoring a C.
UMCES partnered with the Adaptation and Resiliency Work Group of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to compile the report.
The report received praise from U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Del. Dana M. Stein (D-Baltimore County), vice chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee in Annapolis.
Maryland Environment’s Secretary Ben Grumbles called the report card “groundbreaking” in a statement.
The report card is “one of the most important steps we can take to track coastal resilience and accelerate climate progress in Maryland, while setting a shining example for the nation and the world,” Grumbles said.
“By thinking globally and measuring locally, we are driven to grow greener and smarter and that means slashing greenhouse gasses and disaster costs in our communities,” he said.
