Equitable Local Outcomes in Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise: Final Project Report
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i Equitable Local Outcomes in Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise Final Project Report, June 2014 - i - Project Team Jon Barnett | Ruth Fincher | Anna Hurlimann | Sonia Graham | Colette Mortreux Equitable Local Outcomes in Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise This research project was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant scheme, conducted by the University of Melbourne in collaboration with the East Gippsland Shire Council, the Gippsland Coastal Board, the Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development (now the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure), the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (now the Department of Environment and Primary Industries), and Wellington Shire Council. The research team at the University of Melbourne is: Professor Jon Barnett (Chief Investigator) Professor Ruth Fincher (Chief Investigator) Dr Anna Hurlimann (Chief Investigator) Dr Sonia Graham (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) Ms Colette Mortreux (Research Assistant) In addition to our industry partners, we would like to thank Dr Nick Osbaldiston, who worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on this project in 2010-2011. Thanks also to Chandra Jayasuriya for developing the maps we have used in this report and other publications. We would also like to thank all the people who participated in the many aspects of our research project, we really appreciate your time. Department of Resource Management and Geography The University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia Tel: +61 3 8344 9311 Fax: +61 3 9349 4218 Web: www.unimelb.edu.au Copyright: The University of Melbourne ISBN: 978 0 7340 4928 5 Final Project Report, May 2014 - ii - Executive Summary Background The challenge presented by sea-level rise provides an opportunity to undertake purposeful adaptation decisions. According to the IPCC (2007) adaptation is “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities”. Adaptation (of human systems) can provide an opportunity to change our decision-making processes so that they are more inclusive, transparent, fair and legitimate, with a view to achieving outcomes that are equitable and redress existing inequalities (Adger and Nelson, 2010). The project presented here advanced existing adaptation research by: 1) Collecting information on the likely social outcomes of sea-level rise and a range of adaptation strategies in five coastal communities in Gippsland East, Victoria: Lakes Entrance, Seaspray, Port Albert, McLoughlins Beach and Manns Beach. 2) Developing an approach for identifying social and equity outcomes of adaptation to sea-level rise more generally so that non-research intensive institutions can obtain the local, social information required to inform more equitable adaptation policies. This final report provides an overview of the project in its entirety. A separate Guide for Government outlines six steps we have identified are critical for ensuring equitable local outcomes in adaptation to sea-level rise, it is publically available on the internet. Overview of outcomes The scoping phase of the project developed an understanding of the nature of the environmental risks posed by sea-level rise to the case study localities and the current institutional framework designed to deal with this risk. This phase of the project involved analysing existing scientific research, grey literature, government policies and initiatives as well as key stakeholder interviews and media analysis (see Section 4.1). The key results of the scoping phase (presented in Section 5) revealed that: • Existing studies on sea-level rise in Gippsland East only showed the risks associated with some of the biophysical effects of climate change; specifically, the magnitude and frequency of storm tide heights on the coast • The spatial resolution of existing biophysical studies were too broad for the purposes of town planning (the Coastal Hazard Assessment recently conducted by Water Tech goes some way to addressing this) • Adaptation, as it has transpired in the case study communities, is unlikely to achieve socially sustainable adaptation because it has not: o fostered local contextualisation or ownership to date o involved collective action across various tiers and arms of government o applied adaptation actions fairly across space and time The focused data collection phase obtained information on the things that residents’ value about the places in which they live, their expectations about what the future will look like in their towns, attitudes towards adaptation, and their preferences going forward. This phase involved analysis of community documents, development of a - iii - ‘values at risk’ framework, interviews and surveys of residents, and place-based observations (Section 4.2 provides details on the methods). The key results of the focused data collection phase (presented in Section 6) were: • The concept of ‘lived values’ is useful for identifying the things people value about living in a community and how this varies within and between communities. The research findings led us to identify this concept, and it is defined as follows: Lived values are valuations that individuals make, in isolation or as part of a group, about what is important in their lives and the places they live. • For Lakes Entrance: o The most important lived values were: the beauty of the area; being close to water; the friendly people; and the relaxed lifestyle. o Six lived values that elicited diverging opinions between different groups of residents were: peacefulness; financial security; feeling like a well-respected member of the community; sense of belonging; being close to family; and a unique place for children to grow up. • For Port Albert, Seaspray, McLoughlins Beach and Manns Beach: o The lived values that were important to most of the residents were the: peace and quiet; fishing; beauty; relaxed lifestyle; and being close to water. o The 11 lived values that elicited diverging views among different groups of residents were: feeling safe; a safe place for children; remoteness; peacefulness; slow pace of life; easy to get around; natural environment; being close to water; sense of belonging; everybody knows everybody; and feeling like a well-respected member of the community. • Adaptation policies need to ensure that the lived values that are most commonly shared among residents are maintained or enhanced and that efforts are made to compensate groups whose lived values are more affected than others. The assessing adaptation options phase developed a set of practical adaptation options for addressing sea-level rise in the case study localities and discussed the acceptability of these solutions with the communities. This phase involved an adaptation options workshop with relevant practitioners and community focus groups (see Section 4.3). The key outcomes of the adaptation options workshop (Section 7.3) involved the development of a pathway approach to adaptation, which matches the pace of adaptation to the pace of environmental and social changes. It requires: 1. Identifying the goals of adaptation; 2. Establishing social trigger points when new adaptation phases are needed; and 3. Deciding what activities should take place at each new phase of the process. The planned adaptation activities need to take into account the diversity of lived values that exist and the impacts that sea-level rise and adaptation will have on those values. A local pathway approach to adaptation to sea-level rise has the potential to give people confidence in the future of their towns, create smooth, well-paced transitions and ensure that diverse interests are accommodated. - iv - Table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................III LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... VIII TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................................................... IX 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. THE SEA-LEVEL RISE PROBLEM ......................................................................................................... 2 3. THE STUDY AREAS ........................................................................................................................... 3 4. PROJECT METHODS ......................................................................................................................... 6 4.1 SCOPING PHASE .................................................................................................................................... 8 4.1.1 Steering Committee formation ............................................................................................... 8 4.1.2 Review of the government reports and climate change projections ...................................... 9 4.1.3 Policy analysis ......................................................................................................................... 9 4.1.4 Key actor interviews ...............................................................................................................