ORRAA

Haiphong, Vietnam

Illustrative view of coastal flooding
without ecosystems

The Coastal
Risk Index

The Coastal Risk Index is
the platform for assessing
coastal resilience

The Coastal Risk Index – the CRI – harnesses the power of data to enable financial institutions, investors, insurers, and policymakers to better assess coastal risk and improve decision-making in the climate crisis.

Better Data

The CRI provides the foundation for better understanding coastal risks, enabling more informed decisions about building resilience in coastal communities. It goes beyond physical flood risk and economics to include social drivers and incorporate the crucial role of nature.

The CRI is an open-source platform providing a detailed set of global flood maps, using hydrodynamic models, to understand current and future coastal flood risk and the flood reduction benefits of natural habitats. Social vulnerability data highlights where reefs and mangroves are critical to reducing risk for climate vulnerable coastal communities.

14.2 million

The CRI has calculated that 14.2 million more people would be flooded annually without coral reefs and mangroves providing the first line of defence against coastal flooding and storm surges.

Better
Decisions

Better Decisions

The CRI is designed to inform financial institutions, insurers, policymakers, and other decision-makers about climate risks and resilience strategies for coastal areas. This platform enables communities to be more resilient while protecting and restoring nature.

30%

The CRI estimates that of the people around the world currently protected from flooding by these ecosystems, around 30% of them are considered highly socially or economically vulnerable.

Better Decisions

The CRI is designed to inform financial institutions, insurers, policymakers, and other decision-makers about climate risks and resilience strategies for coastal areas. This platform enables communities to be more resilient while protecting and restoring nature.

Better
Outcomes

Better Outcomes

The CRI provides data on the benefits of resilient ecosystems to climate vulnerable coastal communities. This data supports decision-makers in integrating Nature-based Solutions into tools that minimise risk, build resilient communities, and restore ecosystems.

$363 billion

The CRI has found that USD$363billion worth of coastal assets would be at risk of flooding without the protective benefits of coastal ecosystems.

The Future of
Coastal
Flooding

The Coastal Risk Index provides a detailed way to assess coastal flooding in the context of climate change, modelling flood hazard and storm surge in current conditions and in possible future climate scenarios.

The following map shows the CRI’s data on the impact of losing mangrove protection (on the left), as the extent and depth of flooding increases if mangroves are not present (on the right). By quantifying the value of reef and mangrove ecosystems for their flood resilience benefits, the Index can help catalyse their restoration and protection across the world.

coastal flooding with ecosystems

coastal flooding without ecosystems

These visualisations map the future with (left) and without (right) mangroves present to demonstrate the importance of coastal habitats for reducing risks. Taller and darker columns indicate higher flood depths. Swipe using the middle arrows to compare the two scenarios for Naga City, Philippines and Cape Coral, Florida.

Flooding depth 1m

7m

These visualisations map the future with (left) and without (right) mangroves present to demonstrate the importance of coastal habitats for reducing risks. Taller and darker columns indicate higher flood depths. Swipe using the middle arrows to compare the two scenarios for Naga City, Philippines and Cape Coral, Florida.

About
This Platform

Using models and data developed by IHE Delft and University of California Santa Cruz, the CRI demonstrates flooding at 90 metres resolution in different scenarios and intensities. Explore the initial maps to understand where communities are most at risk, now and into the future and where mangroves and coral reefs play a crucial role in reducing economic, social and biodiversity impacts.

Click anywhere to interact.

User Benefits

The CRI is open to all. Users can view flood hazard maps for any coastal area and understand the avoided costs nature provides to both people and assets. Users can also examine areas of high social vulnerability and where investing in coastal Nature-based Solutions plays a role in protecting communities.

Financial institutions, insurers, governments, and banks can leverage the data and insights on this platform for policy and product development.

Insurers

Integrate ecosystems in risk models to develop new products and more accurate pricing while working with clients to manage their risks.
Financial Institutions

Understand how ecosystem health affects investments in the long-term, map future liabilities, and develop innovative finance solutions that incorporate nature.
Governments & Policymakers

Assess exposure of their communities and identify opportunities for significant restoration benefits to target resources and protect people, infrastructure, and society.
Development
Banks

Manage long-term risks to investment portfolios, target development assistance towards Nature-based Solutions, and gain a clearer understanding of economic benefits of coastal habitats.

Features

The CRI is the platform for understanding coastal resilience. Taking these initial maps a step further, the aim is to develop a full data platform that allows users to interact with the underlying data, to dive deeper into insights on coastal flooding and the role of Nature-based Solutions. These concepts showcase the future direction of this interactive platform. What is shown on these screens is not interactive, but illustrative of the features and functionality the full CRI aims to develop. The final platform may differ from what is shown here.

View rankings of countries on issues ranging from assets at risk to climate impacts on coastal populations

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