Text

theses

Unprecedented losses from natural disasters in recent years have awakened coastal communities to the increasing risks from climate change. Many are choosing to adapt on their own, yet many others may not know where to begin. To address this gap in knowledge and help disseminate information on adaptation strategies, a mixed-methods study was undertaken to inventory and assess the performance of locally-driven climate adaptation strategies in 34 coastal communities in the Northeast US from Maine to Virginia. Findings revealed that communities are implementing climate change adaptation by using low-cost tools such as comprehensive planning, land use regulations, and building codes far more frequently than using conventional solutions, such as gray infrastructure. Communities are motivated to take action to protect themselves from the hazards of climate change, protect the environment, and respond to constituent demands for action, and less likely to be motivated by elected officials and external incentives such as funding availability or the FEMA Community Rating System (CRS). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified three types of strategies to adapt to sea level rise: accommodation, protection, and retreat. A key finding is that many adaptations, notably most planning activities, do not fit within these three, and hence two new strategies were defined: prevention and procedural. Prevention actions, which preempt development in hazardous locations, such as through land conservation, are important but infrequently utilized. Procedural actions, which generate information or amend processes, plans, and laws, are very commonly adopted. The IPCC is not alone in overlooking these strategies, as data from Superstorm Sandy recovery plans in New York State suggests. However, such strategies are essential because they effect change in a way that makes adaptation standard or routine, result in less community disruption, and require little funding. Innovative action found in every state in the region, and in diverse municipalities with varying demographic and geographic characteristics, demonstrate that it is within communities’ power and interest to adapt to climate change, and they can do so using low-cost tools that support long-term resilience instead of expensive and fallible infrastructure to band-aid vulnerabilities.

ETD_7298

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Judd Schechtman

doi:10.7282/T3VQ34V3

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.