# New Framework Helps Coastal Communities Prepare for Extreme Sea Level Rise
While it’s no secret that the gradual rise in our global temperatures is melting Arctic ice sheets and raising sea levels, there is still some uncertainty regarding the actual risk level to coastal infrastructure. Consequently, scientists and local policy advisors don’t have all the required data or the confidence they need to make decisions when it comes to protecting their communities.
### What’s happening?
A team of U.K. researchers has developed a framework by which to incorporate “high-end” sea level rise projections – that have traditionally proven the most tough to prepare for – into coastal planning decisions. While it doesn’t directly address our warming climate or our higher waters, a November study published in the Earth’s Future journal aims to help U.K. communities safeguard their vulnerable infrastructure as the problem intensifies in the coming decades.
The recent framework embraces worst-case scenarios that are plausible, if unlikely. It includes steps to consider cost assessments and risk-management options based on these high-end projections, and involves a “decision-gaming” approach for strategists to incrementally plan for sea level rise over time.
“Our flexible approach could be adapted for different climate hazards, sectors or regions,” the study noted.
Even though current official guidelines recommend that community managers work with 1.9 meters of sea level rise as a worst-case prediction for the year 2100,the new framework – designed by the U.K. Met Office and the nation’s Habitat Agency, and backed by up-to-date scientific evidence –