The Glenelg Shire Council is situated in South West Victoria with Portland, located on the coast approximately 350 km from Melbourne. The Glenelg Shire Council has recently completed the Glenelg Strategic Futures Plan. This strategy identifies as a high priority the need to undertake a coastal engineering study to gain a thorough understanding of coastal processes in response to climate change along the Portland Coast. Several of the climate change challenges faced by Glenelg Shire are starting to become evident, for example the erosion of coastal land, roads and infrastructure. The potential impacts of these events can and are having serious economic, environmental and social implications.

The objectives of this paper are to undertake engineering assessment of risks and costs of current and future climate change scenarios to land, property and infrastructure as a result of coastal erosion and flooding due to sea-level rise, storm surges and increased flows from the Surrey River. Numerical modelling has been employed to determine the wave climate, sediment transport, erosion and inundation due to extreme storm events. The modelling results have been used to determine the coastal hazards for the current climate and due to sea level rise in the future for 2030, 2070 and 2100. Climate change variables recommended by IPCC, CSIRO, Future Coasts (Victoria) and NCCO have been adopted for the study.

A broad range of adaptation options (structural and non-structural) will be developed which will manage or minimise threats to the coastal assets and infrastructure. These include extensions of existing sea-wall, vegetation of dunes, beach nourishment with groynes, offshore structures, rezoning or placing restrictions on development in certain zones. The recommendations will include costs and benefits in addition to the time and place of implementation of various measures and will be in line with the Glenelg Shire Council Policy Framework.