Nature-Based Solutions to Enhance Coastal Resilience

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal communities are experiencing the effects of climate change, including more intense storms, flooding, and erosion. Traditionally, the strategy to address coastal risk has been the use of hard coastal protection structures, often based on historical damages from erosion, or in response to a specific disaster event. These hard structures (e.g., seawalls, breakwaters) were designed with little to no consideration of their impact on ecosystems or possible adaptation to climate and global changes.

However, in recent years, an innovative and more sustainable strategy using nature-based solutions (NbS) has begun to emerge. These solutions lie in restoring and/or emulating nature in order to increase human, ecosystes and infrastructure resilience to climate impacts, which often result in environmental, economic, and social co-benefits (including carbon sequestration).

NbS can include both natural and green infrastructures. The natural infrastructures include the creation and restoration of coastal ecosystems (wetlands, biogenic reef structures, seagrass beds, and dune vegetation, among others), while the green infrastructures include a “living shoreline” approach to coastal improvement. Such an infrastructure can be created using plants, reefs, sand, and natural barriers to reduce erosion and flooding.

Nature-based solutions are becoming more prevalent and widely accepted as infrastructure solutions in coastal management. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the progress made in this area, including case-studies, challenges, and solutions.

Dr. Sebastião Teixeira
Dr. Teresa Drago
Dr. Jorge Lobo Arteaga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Nature-based solutions
• Ecosystems
• Green infrastructure
• Building with nature
• Climate change
• Erosion
• Geology
• Management
• Sustainability