FAQs

  • Across the Eastern seaboard, experts estimate that 70% of all salt marsh has been lost, primarily due to development. This highly productive and dynamic ecosystem is critical in protecting coastal communities from flooding and erosion and serves as essential habitat for commercially and recreationally important fish species. Though extensive along some portions of the coast, the region’s salt marshes are at risk from coastal development and rising sea level.

  • The end goal of this work is to conserve and restore marsh ecosystems that provide multiple socio-economic benefits to local and regional economies.

    To reach this end goal, this project aims to explore the feasibility of innovative insurance products by connecting insurance agencies with resource management through targeted outreach and stakeholder engagement.

    1. Review and compile pertinent data and published literature for use in developing models assessing the risk reduction benefits of salt marsh ecosystems and associated socio economic benefits;

    2. Complete a Georgia-based pilot analysis by developing models to quantify the socio-economic flood risk benefits of salt marsh ecosystems to people and property under various marsh loss and restoration scenarios that alter the coastal flood response;

    3. Conduct a two-pronged outreach approach: a) Enhance understanding of the benefits and values associated with salt marsh ecosystems and within Georgia coastal communities; and b)engage insurance industry and community partners in discussion of risk finance mechanisms that can support salt marsh conservation and restoration projects.

  • To reach their goal, the project team will quantify the value of the Georgia salt marsh in flood mitigation, the cost of marsh repair and restoration, and show the distribution of benefits along the Georgia coast. This will be done by compiling pertinent data across the southeast and completing the Georgia-based analysis, utilizing state-of-the-art numerical flood inundation and socio-economic models to assess salt marsh's role in flood risk reduction under various scenarios.

    The team will also engage state and regional stakeholders through targeted outreach to communicate marsh ecosystem’s benefits and discuss risk finance mechanisms with the insurance industry and community partners.

  • This project will develop a preliminary risk reduction model for the Georgia coast and will discuss potential opportunities with key stakeholders.

    Outputs would reinforce the development of insurance products for existing salt marshes and other resilience insurance mechanisms to fund the upfront cost of salt marsh restoration.

    Developing dedicated insurance solutions for salt marshes could either 1) encourage investment in salt marsh protection, migration, and restoration or 2) help to pay for specialized teams to restore the total protective value of salt marshes following major storm events.

  • There are a variety of available insurance products that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of salt marshes, with initial payouts made quickly through parametric covers and assessed payouts made through indemnity cover at a later stage. The market for salt marsh insurance products will likely vary based on the category of protected assets. In locations of private assets, salt marsh insurance could target residential or commercial customers. Salt marshes may protect critical public infrastructure in other regions, making a salt marsh insurance policy targeting public entities a feasible alternative.

  • The southeast U.S. supports about two-thirds of all remaining salt marsh found along the Atlantic coast – around 1 million acres. Georgia contains over 350,000 of those acres, making it an excellent pilot area to develop models to quantify the socio-economic flood risk benefits of salt marsh ecosystems to people and property under various climate change, marsh loss, and restoration scenarios.

  • This project will benefit coastal Georgia communities by providing flood risk reduction values for marshes along the coast based upon various climate scenarios.

  • This is a two-year pilot project that began in 2022 and will extend through 2024. However, the project team hopes to scale up this work beyond the length of the pilot project.

  • This project is being led by the University of Georgia and The Nature Conservancy with funding from the Georgia Sea Grant College Program.

    Click HERE to learn more about the team.

  • The stakeholder committee is comprised of representatives from the insurance and reinsurance industries, coastal planners and resource managers, and conservation partners. The group participates in quarterly meetings to advise the project, including storm and flood considerations within the model and economic analyses of coastal properties, and to discuss the feasibility of risk finance mechanisms supporting coastal marsh conservation and restoration projects in the Southeast.