Completed projects

New Coastal Hazard Adaptation Planning Guidelines for SA (PDF 7.8 MB) were developed by the program between 2023 and 2024. These guidelines were jointly adopted by the LGA Board and SA Coast Protection Board in December 2024.

The guidelines are also available in LGA’s Climate Change Resources Hub, see coastal management.

The guidelines provide step-by-step guidance on how to prepare a Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan in South Australia.

The guidelines will help create a more standardised approach to coastal hazard adaptation planning. This enables robust and consistent decision-making and resource allocation. They also aim to provide flexibility in application to suit different coastal contexts.

The guidelines have been co-created with coastal practitioners and decision-makers from local and state government. They use best practice and similar frameworks from around Australia and overseas.

You can read about this in our:

• Benchmarking Review (March 2024) (PDF 2.2 MB)
• Stakeholder Engagement Report (March 2024) (PDF 651.6 KB)
• Stakeholder Engagement Report (October 2024) (PDF 936.0 KB)

A series of technical compendiums and templates have also been developed to help and support practitioners deliver specific components of work. These are also available through the LGA’s Climate Change Resources Hub, see coastal management.

This project consolidated our understanding of the coastal datasets to inform data improvement priorities, coastal hazard adaptation standards and local planning.

Edge Environments were appointed to lead the coastal data stocktake. They engaged with users and custodians of coastal data in late 2023. Outcomes from the coastal data stocktake report (PDF 964.0 KB) are already being used to shape the Department for Environment’s coastal data projects.

New wave monitoring buoys and tide gauges have been deployed along key spots on the coast.

These new buoys provide information about wave heights, direction and surface temperature, to help us better understand coastal hazards, especially erosion.

The tide gauges are important in tracking long term changes in sea levels, as well as better understanding the impacts of storm tide events.

The Department for Environment and Water led this project and worked with organisations who have an interest in coastal monitoring infrastructure. This includes Flinders University, SARDI, Flinders Ports, and Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System.

This work was funded through Climate Ready Coasts as well as through a separate grant from the Coast Protection Board.

Find out more by reading the coastal monitoring infrastructure project fact sheet (PDF 1.5 MB).

The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) are leading work to improve coastal hazard datasets to help South Australian councils better plan along our coastlines.

The department currently maintain datasets relating to coastal flooding, sand drift and acid sulfate soils. Until recently, there was a critical data gap relating to coastal erosion and long-term coastal recession.

A statewide coastal erosion hazard assessment for South Australia was completed in 2025 to address this gap. The assessment maps the potential extent of coastal erosion and recession over different planning time horizons.

This dataset is being used to identify priority areas for data acquisition and assist with informing DEW’s current coastal monitoring and evaluation program.

Access to the assessment results is being provided to councils who wish to review the erosion assessment to help them develop their Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan.

Find out more in the statewide coastal erosion hazard assessment fact sheet (PDF 2.0 MB).

The Climate Ready Coasts program brought the nationally regarded Coastal Resilience Short Course to South Australia between 30 March and 1 April 2026.

Over three days, over 30 participants from state and local government built a shared understanding of:

• how coasts work
• what's driving change along South Australian shorelines
• how to translate technical information into practical outcomes.

The successes and learnings from the delivery of this course will inform future professional development opportunities. These will be delivered in future phases of Climate Ready Coasts.