The risk of coastal storm flooding is deteriorating under global warming, especially for the heavily urbanized deltaic cities, like Shanghai. The Nature-Based Flood Defense (NBFD), as an eco-friendly design alternative for hard infrastructure against coastal flooding, is gaining attention. Nevertheless, the vulnerability of saltmarsh due to the biological instability, resulting in the uncertainties on coastal protection, is considered the bottleneck challenge that hinders the broad application of the NBFD concept. We argue that except for direct wave attenuations by the above-ground vegetation during storms, the gradual sediment trapping and consolidating during the non-storm period is a more crucial function of coastal saltmarsh, which mitigates storm waves by forming a broader and higher intertidal morphology. This benefit is an important value of saltmarsh-based coastal protection but is largely neglected in many NBFD studies. Taking Chongming Dongtan Shoal (CDS) as a case study, we demonstrated that over 2/3th wave attenuation during storms is contributed by the saltmarsh morphology, and less than 1/3th is from the saltmarsh vegetation. The relative contribution of the saltmarsh morphology on wave mitigation is even enhanced under the increasing storm grades from 100 yrs. to 5000 yrs. return levels. To promote this idea for broader application, the cost-benefit analysis of three artificial NBFD solutions (e.g., submerged breakwater, timber piles, and sand nourishment) are compared. We identified an optimal measure of the submerged breakwater for CDS, which minimizes the ecological impact and maximizes the cost-benefit. Moreover, the wave-free zone behind the breakwater increases the chance of vegetation establishment, helps suspended sediment trapping, hence fostering a beneficent cycle for saltmarsh restoration. In summary, ignoring the contribution of saltmarsh morphology on wave attenuation largely underestimated the benefits of vegetation-based coastal protection, which should be greatly emphasized to provide a solid basis for developing NBFD.

With climate change and rising sea levels, the coastal zone’s flood risk is deteriorating. Previous researches have shown a gradually degrading capacity of traditional hard engineering structures (e.g., seawall, dikes) on flood mitigation due to problems such as land subsidence and insufficient maintenance. To remedy the defects, the “building with nature concept” for coastal protection with saltmarshes was examined by combining field measurements and numerical simulations. The advantages of saltmarsh over traditional seawall on flood protection was demonstrated from the perspective of both flood area mitigation and economic gain, based on scenario simulations. Results show that tidal wetlands are essential in mitigating significant wave heights (H_s) and current velocities even during storm conditions. The storm wave and current velocity reduction ratio (RR_w and RR_c) by saltmarshes on Chongming Dongtan Shoal (CMDS) during Typhoon 9711 is approximately 11% and 51%, respectively. The wave and current mitigation by Scirpus mariqueter are more efficient than Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis during measurements in 2010, which were approximately 0.3 m and 0.2 m/s, 0.125 m and 0.155 m/s, 0.086 m and 0.128 m/s per kilometer width, respectively. The summer saltmarsh area 54.2 km² on CMDS protects approximately 32 km² land area behind the seawall from being flooded, equivalent to the seawall heightening of approximately 0.42 m on equivalent flood mitigation. The performance of cost-and-benefit analysis shows a relatively higher (by 3%–7%) net present value (NPV) and a higher (by 1.5 times) benefit-cost ratio (BC) of nature-based solution (i.e., saltmarsh restoration) compared with traditional hard engineering solution (i.e., seawall construction). Thus, building seawall with nature, such as a hybrid flood protection measure, should be implemented in the future coastal redesign and maintenance.