SAN DIEGO (CNS) - More than half of America's sandy beaches will be lost by 2100 due to climate-driven sea level rise, with that number at 70% in California, a nationally recognized environmental group said Tuesday.
The Surfrider Foundation's 2025 State of the Beach Report also highlights how coastal communities are successfully fighting back with nature- based solutions, even as federal climate support dwindles.
"The predictions are grim. ... But this report also reveals reasons for optimism," Emma Haydocy, Surfrider's coasts & climate initiative senior manager, said in a statement. "Through Surfrider's Climate Action Program and regional policy campaigns, coastal communities are leading successful resilience efforts using nature-based solutions that traditional approaches like seawalls and sand renourishment cannot match."
The foundation said erosion of sandy beaches is a normal coastal process, but climate change is intensifying and compounding its impacts, leading to sea levels rising more quickly and more frequent extreme weather events.
At the same time, rampant private development in idyllic coastal areas continues encroaching on eroding beaches and contributing to what is known as "coastal squeeze." Where beaches would naturally migrate inland in response to rising seas, development such as buildings, roads and seawalls block their path, and they gradually narrow, erode or disappear altogether.
"On the West Coast, climate-fueled wildfires rendered Los Angeles area beaches unsafe for months, and in 2024, one of Southern California's marquee surf destinations, San Onofre State Beach, was inaccessible due to the impacts of erosion," the group said.
The report features nine case studies from beaches across the country, including San Clemente and San Onofre State Beach, straddling the Orange County-San Diego County border.
According to Surfrider, the coastline is experiencing the impacts of decades of diminishing sand supply due to developed watersheds and coastal armoring, including the construction of Dana Point Harbor in the 1960s.
In San Clemente, the group says poorly planned development and climate change has exacerbated coastal erosion, storm impacts and infrastructure vulnerability. Landslides during heavy rains in 2021, 2022 and 2024 repeatedly shut down the Pacific Surfliner rail line, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in repair costs. At San Clemente State Beach, both the shoreline and nearby bluffs are rapidly receding, leading to the loss of sandy beach areas that once provided critical habitat and recreation space, as well as a natural buffer for the rail line.
In response, in 2021, Surfrider's South Orange County chapter launched the Save South OC's Beaches from Railroad Armoring campaign, opposing shoreline armoring projects and advocating for long-term, nature-based solutions.
In recent years, high tides and storms have repeatedly damaged the access road and parking lot to San Onofre State Beach, resulting in months-long closures and a loss of more than half of the original 350 parking spaces. In 2017, a large rock revetment was installed under a temporary emergency permit to armor the access road. While protecting a segment of the road, the action has contributed to a significant acceleration of erosion at both ends of the 800-foot rock wall and loss of recreational beach space.
Surfrider is working on advancing long-term, nature-based adaptation planning through the San Onofre Shoreline Resilience Project to address current and future erosion issues at the beach. The effort is in partnership with the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation, California State Parks, Camp Pendleton and the San Onofre Foundation.
The report recommends the following five things residents can do to help:
- Go to the beach, to observe conditions firsthand and document them if necessary
- Join your local Surfrider chapter
- Contact your local representatives
- Attend a city council meeting
- Restore your favorite beach through Surfrider Foundation's Climate Action Program (surfrider.org/programs/climate-action)
Founded in 1984 by a group of Malibu surfers, the Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection of the world's oceans and beaches. The group claims over one million supporters, activists and members, with more than 200 volunteer-led chapters and student clubs in the United States.
The complete 2025 report is available at surfrider.org/hubfs/SOTB-Report-2025.pdf.
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