UH study: 40% of Oahu beaches could be gone by 2050

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    Honolulu, HI (KITV ) — New research from the University of Hawaii Manoa is painting a bleak picture when it comes to erosion of Oahu beaches.

It found that at current levels, 40 percent of Oahu’s sandy beaches could be gone by the year 2050.

According to the study, “In an era of rising sea-level, beaches need to migrate landward, otherwise they drown. Beach migration, also known as shoreline retreat, causes coastal erosion of private and public beachfront property. Shoreline hardening, the construction of seawalls or revetments, interrupts natural beach migration—causing waves to erode the sand, accelerating coastal erosion on neighboring properties, and dooming a beach to drown in place as the ocean continues to rise.”

The study says climate change is a factor in contributing to the rapid sea level rise, but they also blame continued use of seawalls.

“It’s important for us to plan for mid-century, which is a lot sooner, to plan for those near term sea-level rise scenarios because that’s when we’re going to see a rapid increase in pressure along our shoreline,” says Kammie Tavares, one of the researches on the study.

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