Environmental Justice of Coastal Hazards: A Systematic Literature Review

Environmental Justice of Coastal Hazards: A Systematic Literature Review | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Environmental Justice of Coastal Hazards: A Systematic Literature Review Amanda Daria Stoltz, Olivia M. Won, Emma K.C. Gee, Katherine L. Seto This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4331822/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Climatic Change → Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As the ocean warms, sea levels rise, and coastlines change, there is a growing interest in environmental justice on the coast. Here we conduct a systematic literature review on environmental justice and coastal hazards around the world. Our analysis reveals a focus on both long-term phenomena such as sea-level rise and extreme acute events like storms or hurricanes. We found that environmental justice literature about coastal hazards has increased in recent years with most papers focused on U.S. coastal areas. A majority of the papers described low-income communities and economic vulnerabilities, however, the solutions presented in the papers primarily focus on increasing researcher awareness of environmental justice and promoting increased engagement with marginalized communities. Additionally, a majority of the papers rely on mapping census data for their analysis rather than more qualitative methods. Overall, 76 percent of the papers reviewed determined that the most vulnerable populations are also the most at risk to coastal hazards, but there was a dearth of information on the historical causes of this phenomenon. Only 37 percent of the papers mention systems of historical or systemic oppression, such as segregation or redlining, that have led to marginalized populations experiencing greater levels of exposure. Finally, we suggest policy implications for addressing environmental injustices and recommendations for climate change and coastal hazards researchers writing about environmental justice. Environmental Justice Coastal Hazards Climate Change Sea-level Rise Hurricane Flooding Shoreline Coastal Management Full Text Additional Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not Applicable Consent for publication: All authors consent to this paper’s publication in Climatic Change. Author Contributions: A.D.S and K.L.S. contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by all authors. The analysis was performed by A.D.S, O.M.W., and E.K.C.G. E.K.C.G. contributed the geographic and citation analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by A.D.S., O.M.W., and E.K.C.G. and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Supplementary Files SupplementaryTables.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Climatic Change → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Jun, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 22 May, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 06 May, 2024 First submitted to journal 03 May, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4331822","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":305651339,"identity":"d8e65e84-996f-4ff2-a4c1-cd34008ca5e6","order_by":0,"name":"Amanda Daria Stoltz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCBCAuYGDgB7MLiNPC2MBgYMAg2QBiG5CixeAAiEOMFv729OcPPhj8sTc+vzrxwwMDBnl+sQP4tUiceWPYOMPAgNnsxtvNEkCHGc6cnUDAmhs5jM08BgZsZjfObgBpSTC4TUCL/I30hyAtPMYzzm7+QZQWgxsJhiAtEgb8vduIs8UQ6JeZMwyMDSRu8G6zSDCQIOwXuePpDz58qJCz5+8/u/nmjwobeX5pAloQQAKsUoJY5SDAf4AU1aNgFIyCUTCSAABWUkOrajkSCAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4656-6125","institution":"UC Santa Cruz: University of California Santa Cruz","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amanda","middleName":"Daria","lastName":"Stoltz","suffix":""},{"id":305651340,"identity":"d7e138d2-d667-4633-8b0b-ac925b4c661b","order_by":1,"name":"Olivia M. 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