The Commonwealth of Virginia is pleased to present The Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan (Master Plan) – an integral document that charts the course to adapt and protect Virginia’s Coast.
This first Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan is a call to action for the Commonwealth. From growing cities to migrating coastal wetlands, Virginia’s coast faces a new reality. As sea levels rise and severe weather intensifies, climate change is threatening our cherished coastal regions’ economic, cultural, and environmental resources.
Nearly six million people, or 70% of the state’s population, call coastal Virginia home. Our coastal regions contain flourishing economic sectors, important cultural and historical assets, and diverse communities and natural features. But we face a growing threat. Between rising sea levels and changing precipitation patterns, Virginia has already recorded changes to the frequency and intensity of floods that pose increasingly greater risks to our communities.
And while flooding impacts all Virginians, it does not affect all Virginians equally. Many communities lack the resources to combat these increasingly prevalent threats. With so much at stake, we cannot afford a hands-off approach.
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