Choice of adaptation strategies for sea level rise. Investments close to the sea are more productive but at greater risk from sea-level rise. Rows represent different adaptation strategies and columns left-to-right indicate the progression of time from present to far future. (a) Strategies that ignore sea-level rise invest close to the shoreline and valuable assets are lost to the rising seas. (b) Strategies that consider adaptation only to some future amount of sea-level change produce a restricted zone that can eliminate valuable investment opportunities. (c) Strategies that consider adaptation to ongoing rates of sea-level change allow for an economically optimal outcome. (d) Strategies involving dikes or other types of coastal protection provide a temporary hold to sea-level rise but are eventually forced to adapt to ongoing rates of sea-level rise. Graphic: Shayegh, et al., 2016 / Environmental Research Letters