Perceptions of Risk among Households in Two Australian Coastal Communities

Carmen Elrick-Barr; Timothy F Smith; Dana C Thomsen; Benjamin Preston

doi:10.1111/1745-5871.12106

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Perceptions of Risk among Households in Two Australian Coastal Communities

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Perceptions of Risk among Households in Two Australian Coastal Communities

Carmen Elrick-Barr, Timothy F Smith, Dana C Thomsen and Benjamin Preston

Geographical Research, Vol.53(2), pp.145-159

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12106

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Abstract

climate change

adaptation

vulnerable

environment

hazard

There is limited knowledge of risk perceptions in coastal communities despite their vulnerability to a range of risks including the impacts of climate change. A survey of 400 households in two Australian coastal communities, combined with semi-structured interviews, provides insight into household perceptions of the relative importance of climatic and non-climatic risks and the subsequent risk priorities that may inform household adaptive action. In contrast to previous research, the results demonstrated that geographic location and household characteristics might not affect perceptions of vulnerability to environmental hazards. However, past experience was a significant influence, raising the priority of environmental concerns. Overall, the results highlight the priority concerns of coastal households (from finance, to health and environment) and suggest to increase the profile of climate issues in coastal communities climate change strategies need to better demonstrate links between climate vulnerability and other household concerns. Furthermore, promoting generic capacities in isolation from understanding the context in which households construe climate risks is unlikely to yield the changes required to decrease the vulnerability of coastal communities

Details

Title: Perceptions of Risk among Households in Two Australian Coastal Communities
Authors: Carmen Elrick-Barr (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
Timothy F Smith (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
Dana C Thomsen (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
Benjamin Preston (Author) - Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States
Publication details: Geographical Research, Vol.53(2), pp.145-159
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.1111/1745-5871.12106
ISSN: 1745-5863
Copyright note: Copyright © 2015 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
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: 99449276402621
Output Type: Journal article