Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.

GM11.8
Inland migration of coastal wetlands in response to sea level rise
Co-organized as BG6.11/HS11.50
Convener: Mark Schuerch | Co-conveners: Ruth Reef, Thomas Spencer, Stijn Temmerman, Claudia Wolff

Intertidal coastal wetlands, including, but not limited to, tidal marshes and mangrove forests, are at risk of disappearing under the influence of global sea level rise (SLR). Loss of their ecosystem services could significantly impact global carbon budgets, increase coastal erosion and flooding risks and lead to loss of fisheries, particularly along some of the most densely populated coastlines globally (e.g. large estuaries, megadeltas). Nature-based adaptation, consisting of the reservation or creation of space for inland wetland expansion, is widely regarded as a promising strategy to reduce SLR-related coastal risks, while creating/restoring natural habitats that are able to more effectively deliver coastal ecosystem services than highly managed coasts.
Re-introduction of tidal and/or riverine regimes into previously drained or converted wetlands behind coastal dikes, walls and embankments should facilitate sediment deposition, potentially allowing the land surface to build up elevation in balance with SLR. However, the ability of coastal wetlands to vertically keep pace with SLR is limited; for high and extreme SLR rates, most coastal wetlands are expected to be drowned, reverting to unvegetated mudflat or open water. An increasing number of studies suggest that adaptation to such SLR rates is only possible through inland migration, where no human infrastructure inhibits this process.
Studies on the potential for, and the process of, coastal wetland inland migration are still scarce, leaving a significant knowledge gap about the conditions (physical, ecological, social) that encourage / discourage migration and the quality of the restored wetlands in migratory systems. We welcome contributions on global to regional assessments of wetland migratory potential; modelling of wetland migration dynamics; field case studies of migration in practice and the characteristics and functions of wetlands created in this way; and governance and policy contexts for wetland migration; and the provisioning of ecosystem services by restored coastal wetlands. This session aims to enhance our understanding of wetland inland migration allowing for improvement of our ability to quantify the responses of coastal wetlands to future SLR.