Maria Sikström Paper, KUA060, Anticipated Climate
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DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION Anticipated climate change in coastal heritage regions - A case study of northern Bohuslän, part of Swedish Westcoast Abstract This paper intends to provide an overview of how the anticipated effects of climate change are adapted in the municipalities' comprehensive plan. The case study is limited to two coastal municipals; Strömstad and Tanum in northern Bohuslän, Sweden's west coast. Municipalities with limited financial resources can sometimes find it challenging to find protective measures to have a workable basis to the anticipated climate change effect of new constructions and the built cultural environment. Often it depends on the economy must serve for several sustainability assessments that affect a municipality. National Government authorities carry out flood mapping to provide guidelines to support the municipal planning. Through planning and legal regulation, municipalities can work preventively on the effect of the anticipated climate change. From the beginning, it was from the natural resources of the sea that the coastal inhabitants had built their existence. Thus, the shift in coastal communities has also restructured its main economy from the fishing and canning industry, shipping and stonemasonry to primarily the visitors and tourism industry. During the 2000s, densification and exploitation also have changed these areas in Bohuslän, to a transformation in privatization. During the summer season, when the population often triples, it becomes very high stress on social functions and infrastructure. In the same time, Nordic cultural environments are particularly susceptible to climate change and many coastal communities are within an apparent risk zone for rising sea level, flooding and coastal erosion. With that in mind, the question is how the municipals is handling the anticipated climate change and how to consider the cultural heritage values. Keywords: adaptation to climate change – coastal cultural heritage - comprehensive plan – sea- level rise – flooding – coastal community – planning protective measures – northern Bohuslän Course code and name: KUA060, Individual In-depth Course in Conservation 1. 7,5 hec Date: 2020.10.29 Title: Anticipated climate change in coastal heritage regions - A case study of northern Bohuslän, part of Swedish Westcoast Author name: Maria Sikström TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Background and problem ................................................................................................................................. 4 Method .............................................................................................................................................................. 4 Concepts ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Case study - Municipality planning .................................................................................................................. 5 The municipal of Strömstad ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 The municipal of Tanum ................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Result ................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 References ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 2 Introduction In 2007, the commission of inquiry" the Commission on Climate and Vulnerability " cast the final report and accordingly finalized official duties" Sweden facing climate change - threats and opportunities " (SOU 2007:60) to Ministry of the Environment and Energy, set up by the Swedish Government. The commission was about to map out the vulnerability to global climate change in Swedish communities, and anticipated consequences in the regional and local level. In 2009, the County Administrative Board in Sweden had been commissioned by the Swedish Government, to coordinate and conduct adaptation to climate change work at the regional level. (Länsstyrelsen, the County Administrative Board, 2011, s. 13) The first of august 2018, Sweden's Planning and Building Act (2010:900) was revised to improve preparedness in the municipalities for climate change. (Boverket, the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, 2018) Sweden's Planning and Building Act (2010:900) contains rules on how land may be planned and developed, with the aim"… promote a societal development with equal and fair social living conditions and an appropriate and long-term sustainable living environment for the people in today's society and future generations", portal paragraph §1. Each municipal in Sweden shall according to Sweden's Planning and Building Act (2010:900) have a current plan and from the Municipal Council adopted a comprehensive plan which covers the entire municipality's land and water surface. The comprehensive plan describes in general how land and water, the built environment should be used, developed and preserved, designed as a decision basis for the municipality's administration. “In-depth comprehensive plan”, in Swedish “fördjupad översiktsplan”, distributes in more details than the municipal-wide comprehensive plan, how land and water utilized to use for certain geographical parts and in the municipality. The detailed development plan is legally binding and forms the basis for the building permit. The instruments that the municipalities have in legislation to the adaptation to climate change is primarily through the general planning in the comprehensive plan and partly in detail through legislation and detailed development planning. From the first of August 2018, the first amendment of the law Sweden's Planning and Building Act (2010:900), chapter 3, 5§, point 4. Demands are placed on the municipalities to give their"…views on the risk of damage to the built environment as a result of floods, landslides, avalanches and erosion that are climate-related and on how such risks can be reduced or eliminated". The other amendment of the law Sweden's Planning and Building Act (2010:900), chapter 9, 12§, point 3, that if the municipality has decided in the detailed plan, may decide if the site improvement permit required for" soil measures that may impair soil permeability". In the comprehensive plan, the municipality shall demonstrate how the effects of climate change are taken into account and provide an overview of the development of the physical environment— for example, avoiding new development areas where there is a risk of flooding or that the geography of the land constitutes a risk to health and safety. The detailed development plan enables the municipality to specify regulations aimed at increasing preparedness for dealing with the consequences due to climate change. For example, such a measure could be the location of the building in an area or placing the building on a higher ground level. (Boverket, the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning 2009, s. 28-30) Thus, the delimitation of this paper is to provide an overview of how the anticipated effects of climate change are described in the municipalities' comprehensive plan. With that in mind, property owners and municipalities will increasingly have to consider climate-related issues that affect the management of cultural heritage. 3 Background and problem Climate forecasts show that Västra Götaland County in the future is one of the areas that will be most affected by torrential rain, and the coastline will be affected by sea-level rise. Water and especially the sea have a strong attraction, and Bohuslän's coastal area is developing at a high pace. The demand for exclusive accommodation near the sea is enormous in the coastal communities. The most effective solution to mitigate the effects of floodings is to avoid built environments development in risk areas. However, through intense pressure of expropriation, it tends to go in the opposite direction. Over time, ownership has changed, and the tendency for dwelling in the coastal area has turned to seasonal accommodation, to go from year-round living to stay half-yearly instead. Thus, the buildings in central parts of the communities are owned by part-time residents, which strengthens the contrast between the active events of the summer and winter months here. In this way, the service base is hard to maintain for the municipalities, and provisions in legislation constitute today no possibility for the municipals to govern new constructions to ensure purchase to the settled population. Based on municipalities' adaptation to the impact of climate change and investing in attractive year-round living to get municipal