Leaning forward: Coastal resiliency in the Pacific to accelerate mission readiness

Island coastlines are strategic front lines — and the infrastructure that supports US defense posture, logistics and humanitarian response across the Pacific faces mounting pressure from erosion, sea-level rise and intensifying storms. In a new article published in the Society of American Military Engineer’s magazine, in The Military Engineer, Alyssa Agustin, senior coastal scientist and project manager, examines how coastal science and engineering can directly support operational continuity and mission readiness across Hawaii, Guam and Micronesia.

Alyssa draws on her experience delivering port and coastal resiliency projects across the Pacific to explore the unique complexity of island environments, where construction materials travel thousands of miles, environmental sensitivity is high and operational requirements leave little tolerance for downtime. She outlines how successful projects leverage local resources, early data collection and targeted regulatory engagement to deliver solutions under tight timelines and stringent environmental requirements.

The article examines three approaches to coastal adaptation — protection, accommodation and relocation — and how military and federal projects in the Pacific often apply a combination of all three, selected based on mission criticality, constructability and available timelines. Alyssa also shares lessons from the Molokai Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Resiliency Master Plan, where technical analysis was integrated with community priorities to address flooding risks to critical coastal roads and Native Hawaiian cultural resources.

As sea levels rise and extreme events intensify, Alyssa argues that disciplined execution, sound data and context-appropriate engineering are what keep the mission ready at the water's edge.

Read the full article in The Military Engineer: 

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