Climate change adaptation options for coastal communities and local governments

Laura Sinay; R W (Bill) Carter

doi:10.3390/cli8010007

Back

Climate change adaptation options for coastal communities and local governments

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Climate change adaptation options for coastal communities and local governments

Laura Sinay and R W (Bill) Carter

Climate, Vol.8(1), 7

2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8010007

Files and links (2)

pdf

PDF - Published Version (Open Access)238.64 kBDownload View

Published VersionPDF - Published Version (Open Access)CC BY V4.0, Open Access

url

https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8010007View

Published Version

Abstract

climate change

adaptation

coastal community

local government

responses

Extreme weather events and failure to adapt to the likely impacts of climate change are two of the most significant threats to humanity. Therefore, many local communities are preparing adaptation plans. While so, much of what was done has not been published in the peer-reviewed literature. This means that consideration of adaptation options for local communities is limited. With the objective of assisting on the development of adaptation plans, here we present 80 adaptation options as suitable for coastal communities and can be applied by local governments. They are a catena of options from defend to co-exist and finally retreat that progresses as impacts become less manageable. Options are organized according to their capacity to protect local properties and infrastructure, natural systems, food production, availability of fresh and drinking water and well-being of the local population, as these are likely to be affected by climate change. To respond to multiple threats, 'soft' options of awareness raising, planning, political articulation and financial incentives, insurance and professional skills enhancement can be encouraged immediately at relatively low cost and are reversible. For specific threats, options emphasize change in management practices as pre-emptive measures. Key audiences for this work are communities and local governments starting to consider priority actions to respond to climate change impacts.

Details

Title: Climate change adaptation options for coastal communities and local governments
Authors: Laura Sinay (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
R W (Bill) Carter (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Climate, Vol.8(1), 7; 15
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2020
DOI: 10.3390/cli8010007
ISSN: 2225-1154
Copyright note: Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450945502621
Output Type: Journal article