New Jersey’s Resilient Environment and Landscapes (REAL) rules protect our natural ecosystems and human societies. But confusion and misinformation have spread about the new standards, fueling calls to roll back these commonsense protections.

Will we start building for current and future flooding risks, or cling to old and outdated assumptions that put us in harm’s way and further damage the environment?

The REAL rules were adopted in January and are scheduled to go into effect in July. They update New Jersey’s development standards and align state rules with federal flood insurance guidelines in response to the growing impacts of climate change, including more intense storms and rising sea levels.

Studies show that by 2050, one in three public assets in New Jersey will be located in flood zones. This includes over 6,000 critical sites like schools, hospitals, water systems, fire stations, and parks. Across eight major cities, half of all public infrastructure is projected to fall within flood zones, with as much as 98 percent of Atlantic City’s public assets at risk.

Wetlands, tidal marshes, and riparian corridors need protection, too. The rules bolster protections for these areas, which safeguard systems that filter water, reduce flood impacts, and provide critical habitats supporting fish, birds, and other coastal wildlife.

The REAL rules strengthen stormwater management and promote nature-based projects that make the state more resilient– good news since natural solutions typically last longer and are less expensive than built approaches.

“The rules take our land use regulations, which have for many years assumed conditions weren’t changing, and bring them up to what is actually happening today – and anticipate what we expect to happen by 2100,” says Mike Pisauro, lawyer and policy director at the Watershed Institute. Pisauro, an environmental advocate for over 20 years, was part of the team that advised on the development and adoption of the REAL rules.

The science projects that sea level in New Jersey will rise by at least four feet by the end of the century. Because homes and other buildings constructed today often last for decades, the rules require new construction in flood-prone areas to account for future conditions.