A free public seminar and community discussion on conserving Hawai'i's beaches throughout the 21st century will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Maui Community College, Pilina Building — Student Life.

n addition, a seminar will be held on O'ahu on Thursday, Nov. 20.

This Friday, Hawai'i's leading coastal geologists and shoreline specialists will travel to Maui to hold the third in a series of statewide public seminars.

Beaches are important social, cultural, environmental and economic resources to the state, and in order to protect these resources it is critical to develop plans now that will dictate land use development in the future, event organizers said.

They said sea-level rise is contributing to accelerating coastal erosion rates statewide and will contribute to increased storm surge and flooding and may lead to more frequent and destructive damage to coastal infrastructure.

The seminar will also focus on community resiliency and identify appropriate response strategies.

Presentations include:

• Sea-Level Rise in the 21st Century, by Charles "Chip" Fletcher, Chair, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

• Hawai'i's Coastal Protection Policies and Guidelines, by Dennis Hwang, Affiliate Faculty, University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program.

• Hawai'i's Beach Management Plans: Initiatives and Implementation Challenges, by Dolan Eversole, Extension Faculty, University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program.

• Maui's Beach Management Plan, by Zoe Norcross-Nu'u, Extension Faculty, University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program.

• Hawai'i's Coastal Lands Program: Beach Conservation Efforts for the Future, by Sam Lemmo, Administrator, state of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.