The Earth’s climate is changing; ice sheets and glaciers are melting and coastal hazards and sea level are rising in response. With a total population of over 300 million people situated on coasts, including 20 of the planet’s 33 megacities (over 10 million people), low-lying coastal areas represent one of the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change. Many of the largest cities along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. are already experiencing frequent high tide flooding, and these events will increase in frequency, depth, duration and extent as sea levels continue to rise at an accelerating rate throughout the 21st century and beyond. Cities in southeast Asia and islands in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean are also suffering the effects of extreme weather events combined with other factors that increase coastal risk. While short-term extreme events such as hurricanes, El Niños and severe storms come and go and will be more damaging in the short term, sea-level rise is a long-term permanent change of state. However, the effects of sea-level rise are compounded with other hazards, such as increased wave action or a loss of ecosystems. As sea-level rise could lead to the displacement of hundreds of millions of people, this may be one of the greatest challenges that human civilization has ever faced, with associated inundation of major cities, loss of coastal infrastructure, increased saltwater intrusion and damage to coastal aquifers among many other global impacts, as well as geopolitical and legal implications. While there are several short-term responses or adaptation options, we need to begin to think longer term for both public infrastructure and private development. This article provides an overview of the status on adaptation to climate change in coastal zones.

中文翻译：

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海岸对气候变化和海平面上升的适应

地球的气候正在发生变化；冰盖和冰川正在融化，沿海灾害和海平面正在上升。沿海地区的总人口超过 3 亿，其中包括地球上 33 个特大城市中的 20 个（超过 1000 万人），地势低洼的沿海地区是最容易受到气候变化影响的地区之一。美国大西洋沿岸的许多最大城市已经经历了频繁的涨潮洪水，随着整个 21 世纪及以后海平面继续加速上升，这些事件的频率、深度、持续时间和范围都将增加。东南亚的城市以及印度-太平洋和加勒比海的岛屿也受到极端天气事件以及其他增加沿海风险的因素的影响。虽然飓风、厄尔尼诺和强风暴等短期极端事件来来去去，而且在短期内会造成更大的破坏，但海平面上升是一种长期的永久性状态变化。然而，海平面上升的影响与其他危害相结合，例如波浪作用增加或生态系统丧失。由于海平面上升可能导致数亿人流离失所，这可能是人类文明有史以来面临的最大挑战之一，主要城市被淹没、沿海基础设施受损、海水入侵加剧以及对海洋的破坏。沿海含水层以及许多其他全球影响以及地缘政治和法律影响。虽然有几种短期反应或适应选择，我们需要开始为公共基础设施和私人发展考虑更长远的问题。本文概述了沿海地区适应气候变化的现状。