Coastal communities in the Circumpolar North and the need for sustainable climate adaptation approaches

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Bonnett, Nicole
  • Birchall, Jeff S.

• Climate change is one of society’s greatest contemporary challenges. Increasing global
  temperatures leave coastal locations in particular, vulnerable to impacts that include rising sea
  levels and more extreme and variable weather events. Stress can be acute for small coastal
  communities located in the Circumpolar North, where a lack of capacity and awareness along
  with institutional constraints, can exacerbate vulnerability. Given that continued climate change
  is inevitable regardless of the extent of mitigative action, adaptation is a necessity. In northern
  regions, there is evidence that adaptation planning is occurring in response to observed climate
  stressors, with structural (or hard) adaptation approaches prevalent across the sensitive coastline.
  However, structural adaptations are often associated with several drawbacks and may not be
  suitable, particularly in a region that is facing rapid rates of warming, enhanced exposures, and
  significant environmental and socio-economic constraints. To enhance resilience, small northern
  coastal communities should adopt a diversified portfolio of adaptations that incorporate more
  sustainable non-structural and ecosystem-based (or soft) adaptation approaches.

• Date created

  2020-08-15

• Subjects / Keywords

  • climate impacts
  • climate policy
  • climate resilience
  • community planning
  • northern communities

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-p634-yr79

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International