Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- PART I
- 1 Helping Coastal Communities Prepare for and Respond to Climate Change-Related Risks
- 2 Assessing the Social Landscape, Understanding the Readiness Challenge
- 3 Why Public Engagement is Necessary to Enhance Local Readiness for Climate Adaptation
- 4 NECAP Summary Risk Assessments: Creating Usable Knowledge to Help Communities Manage Climate Change Risks
- 5 Enhancing Readiness to Adapt through Role-Play Simulations
- 6 Reflecting on the New England Climate Adaptation Project—Lessons Learned
- 7 Toward a Theory of Collective Risk Management
- Appendices
- PART II
- About the Authors
- New England Climate Adaptation Project Partners
- Index
1 - Helping Coastal Communities Prepare for and Respond to Climate Change-Related Risks
from PART I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- PART I
- 1 Helping Coastal Communities Prepare for and Respond to Climate Change-Related Risks
- 2 Assessing the Social Landscape, Understanding the Readiness Challenge
- 3 Why Public Engagement is Necessary to Enhance Local Readiness for Climate Adaptation
- 4 NECAP Summary Risk Assessments: Creating Usable Knowledge to Help Communities Manage Climate Change Risks
- 5 Enhancing Readiness to Adapt through Role-Play Simulations
- 6 Reflecting on the New England Climate Adaptation Project—Lessons Learned
- 7 Toward a Theory of Collective Risk Management
- Appendices
- PART II
- About the Authors
- New England Climate Adaptation Project Partners
- Index
Summary
Bay Point is a midsized coastal New England town. Two years ago, a major flood destroyed the town's sewage treatment plant, which was located near the harbor. Estimates suggest that it will cost the town $18 million to rebuild the treatment plant. Since Bay Point does not have this kind of money on hand (and it was self-insuring the plant), the town will have to finance the project through a 30-year bond issue. The resulting revenues will pay for the plant, but the accompanying debt service will increase the town's annual operating budget for the next three decades.
As the town considered various rebuilding options, some officials and residents argued that the plant should be moved to a different site, farther from the harbor. This would require purchasing a new property, which in turn would add about 10 percent to the total cost of rebuilding. Moving the plant inland, moreover, would require reworking the network of underground feeder pipes. This would involve tearing up streets and seriously disrupting summer tourism—a major industry for the town—which would likely result in economic losses. Given all of the costs associated with moving the plant inland, local public officials decide to rebuild at the old location. Their reasoning: a major flood like this only happens once every 100 years, right?
This scenario reflects the circumstances faced by coastal communities throughout New England, the United States and much of the rest of the world. Like Bay Point, few communities are giving serious consideration to the fact that the climate is changing as they make everyday planning decisions. For a coastal New England town, this means the need to prepare for a future with an increasing number of severe storms, increased chances of flooding, serious coastal erosion and—perhaps most ominous for communities directly on the water—ongoing sea level rise. In the case of Bay Point, this means that the “100-year flooding window” that helped determine the outcome of the planning process is, simply, wishful thinking.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Managing Climate Risks in Coastal CommunitiesStrategies for Engagement, Readiness and Adaptation, pp. 3 - 20Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2015