Changing Climate, Changing Coasts, Changing Communities: Glocal erosions, risk conceptions and sustainable solutions in Portugal
Changing Climate, Changing Coasts, Changing Communities: Glocal erosions, risk conceptions and sustainable solutions in Portugal
This project aims at exploring the interactions between global climate change and local risk concepts/practices in processes of coastal erosion in Portugal. Such interactions are particularly relevant for Portugal, whose current difficulties with a changing coast will become much more severe in the framework of official scenarios pointing to 18 to 59 cm sea level rise by 2100. The project will take 3 case studies on the Portuguese coast, where previous erosion and flooding are already critical: Vagueira; Costa da Caparica; Quarteira. Although the 3 all have in common economic and tourist-related growth leading to urban pressures over vulnerable coastal areas, they have experienced different mixes of coastal vulnerabilities, presenting a valuable range of options for comparison. An adaptive and community focused approach will be adopted. This is based on the assumption that any shift to a "new" coastline will require trust building between the local people and the coast planners in a process of coproduction of knowledge. The characterization of the selected areas through socio-economic indicators, built environment, public policies and private projects, provide the vital background for this study. The overall aims of this proposed research are: (a) to study local risk perceptions/practices with impacts on coastal erosion, through careful exploration via specially convened focus groups and direct observation of risk practices, combined with a household survey; (b) to integrate scientific and community driven assessments of possible scenarios of coastal change so as to inform future planning processes and community adaptation arrangements directed towards the building of a resilient sustainable coast, considering social justice issues. The combined scenarios will work as a research tool themselves, being presented to and debated with the population (via direct contact, exhibitions and workshops), as a basis for preparing participatory processes mediated by social and natural scientists. The local impact of the project will be monitored through analysis of media coverage and face-to-face surveys on the populations' risk perceptions and practices. The findings of the research will be the subject of scientific debate and is intended to lead to recommendations for general and local policy. The research strategy will allow the research team: (1) to analyse foreseeable impacts of coastal erosion and climate change on local populations; (2) to confront scientific scenarios with the administrative, media and public's interpretations about on-going phenomena of coastal erosion; (3) to analyse the risk practices/evaluations of different social agents involved in the use and management of the coast; (4) to analyse the expected interactions between such practices/evaluations and the impact of climate change; (5) to unpack the tensions between current planning design of coastal areas and local risk concepts/practices and expectations on the impacts of erosion; (6) to give policy recommendations to stakeholders on how to design a resilient sustainable coast. Considering that current scientific evidence geared to dealing with the effects of climate change on the Portuguese coast derives exclusively from natural sciences, the project is theoretically and empirically innovative in several senses: (1) it performs a research dialogue between social and natural scientists, which provides the social sciences with reliable local impact scenarios, offers the natural sciences relevant social data to be integrated as variables in their scenarios, and allows a deeper analysis of the relations between social and natural factors; (2) it departs from the strong hypothesis that there isn't such thing as a general coastal risk, but a plurality of local risk situations, socially determined; (3) it takes the social construction of risk as an integrated process of perception, cognition, experience and practice, which is also a matter of actively reshaping the relationship with the coast that may include useful tools for adaptation to erosion and flooding in a climate change context; (4) it will produce new knowledge about the relational dynamics of relevant Portuguese localities affected by coastal erosion, which may also reappraise future public policies on the management of coastline. The research team has the proper knowledge and expertise to carry out the proposed project. Indeed, the team members from ICS-UL have been the major source of social knowledge production in Portugal on environmental issues, and they also have a large experience in dealing with sustainable development themes and with risk practices and perceptions. The members from FC-UL are well experienced researchers in dealing with climate change and coastal erosion scenarios. Furthermore the project will be advised by renowned international and national researchers, capitalizing knowledge from projects developed in Great-Britain and the Netherlands.
Local dynamics, Risk practices, Climate change, Coastal communities
This project aims at exploring the interactions between global climate change and local risk concepts/practices in processes of coastal erosion in Portugal. Such interactions are particularly relevant for Portugal, whose current difficulties with a changing coast will become much more severe in the framework of official scenarios pointing to 18 to 59 cm sea level rise by 2100. The project will take 3 case studies on the Portuguese coast, where previous erosion and flooding are already critical: Vagueira; Costa da Caparica; Quarteira. Although the 3 all have in common economic and tourist-related growth leading to urban pressures over vulnerable coastal areas, they have experienced different mixes of coastal vulnerabilities, presenting a valuable range of options for comparison. An adaptive and community focused approach will be adopted. This is based on the assumption that any shift to a "new" coastline will require trust building between the local people and the coast planners in a process of coproduction of knowledge. The characterization of the selected areas through socio-economic indicators, built environment, public policies and private projects, provide the vital background for this study. The overall aims of this proposed research are: (a) to study local risk perceptions/practices with impacts on coastal erosion, through careful exploration via specially convened focus groups and direct observation of risk practices, combined with a household survey; (b) to integrate scientific and community driven assessments of possible scenarios of coastal change so as to inform future planning processes and community adaptation arrangements directed towards the building of a resilient sustainable coast, considering social justice issues. The combined scenarios will work as a research tool themselves, being presented to and debated with the population (via direct contact, exhibitions and workshops), as a basis for preparing participatory processes mediated by social and natural scientists. The local impact of the project will be monitored through analysis of media coverage and face-to-face surveys on the populations' risk perceptions and practices. The findings of the research will be the subject of scientific debate and is intended to lead to recommendations for general and local policy. The research strategy will allow the research team: (1) to analyse foreseeable impacts of coastal erosion and climate change on local populations; (2) to confront scientific scenarios with the administrative, media and public's interpretations about on-going phenomena of coastal erosion; (3) to analyse the risk practices/evaluations of different social agents involved in the use and management of the coast; (4) to analyse the expected interactions between such practices/evaluations and the impact of climate change; (5) to unpack the tensions between current planning design of coastal areas and local risk concepts/practices and expectations on the impacts of erosion; (6) to give policy recommendations to stakeholders on how to design a resilient sustainable coast. Considering that current scientific evidence geared to dealing with the effects of climate change on the Portuguese coast derives exclusively from natural sciences, the project is theoretically and empirically innovative in several senses: (1) it performs a research dialogue between social and natural scientists, which provides the social sciences with reliable local impact scenarios, offers the natural sciences relevant social data to be integrated as variables in their scenarios, and allows a deeper analysis of the relations between social and natural factors; (2) it departs from the strong hypothesis that there isn't such thing as a general coastal risk, but a plurality of local risk situations, socially determined; (3) it takes the social construction of risk as an integrated process of perception, cognition, experience and practice, which is also a matter of actively reshaping the relationship with the coast that may include useful tools for adaptation to erosion and flooding in a climate change context; (4) it will produce new knowledge about the relational dynamics of relevant Portuguese localities affected by coastal erosion, which may also reappraise future public policies on the management of coastline. The research team has the proper knowledge and expertise to carry out the proposed project. Indeed, the team members from ICS-UL have been the major source of social knowledge production in Portugal on environmental issues, and they also have a large experience in dealing with sustainable development themes and with risk practices and perceptions. The members from FC-UL are well experienced researchers in dealing with climate change and coastal erosion scenarios. Furthermore the project will be advised by renowned international and national researchers, capitalizing knowledge from projects developed in Great-Britain and the Netherlands.