Governance innovations in the coastal zone: Towards social-ecological resilience

Carmen E. Elrick-Barr; Dana C. Thomsen; Timothy F. Smith

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103687

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Governance innovations in the coastal zone: Towards social-ecological resilience

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Governance innovations in the coastal zone: Towards social-ecological resilience

Carmen E. Elrick-Barr, Dana C. Thomsen and Timothy F. Smith

Environmental Science & Policy, Vol.153, pp.1-8

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103687

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Abstract

innovation

coastal management

transformation

climate change

social-ecological resilience

vulnerability

Innovation is championed to enable transformation towards social-ecological resilience in coastal communities. Yet, innovation in coastal areas is not well understood with limited research concerning the nature of innovations and determinants of success. Analysis of interviews with 68 coastal and community key informants in Australia’s most rapidly growing coastal communities revealed that despite high levels of individual capacity (e.g., among coastal managers and community service providers) and good-practice policy, most innovations were limited in scale and insufficient for transformative change. All too familiar barriers included limited financial and human capacity, and a culture of ‘failure avoidance’ in government. Nevertheless, a small number of exemplars avoided these constraints by implementing systemic solutions that addressed socio-ecological challenges and built community resilience. Individual and community capacity for such innovation was built prior to crisis events and consisted of experience/knowledge, extensive and diverse social networks, and resource mobilisation skills. The findings provide further evidence of the critical importance of investing in communities before, during, and following crisis—in other words, continually.

Details

Title: Governance innovations in the coastal zone: Towards social-ecological resilience
Authors: Carmen E. Elrick-Barr (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research Cluster
Dana C. Thomsen (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research Cluster
Timothy F. Smith (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research Cluster
Publication details: Environmental Science & Policy, Vol.153, pp.1-8
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103687
ISSN: 1873-6416; 1462-9011
Copyright note: © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: The data that has been used is confidential.
Grants: Coastal Governance: Embracing Vulnerability and Change, FT180100652, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99998998902621
Output Type: Journal article