Accounting for the Compounding Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Residents

Abstract

Existing studies on sea-level rise focus on impacts to specific coastal places and the individuals living and working within those places. There is little consideration of the ways individuals are attached to multiple coastal places and the compounding effect this may have on their overall vulnerability to sea-level rise. The aim of this chapter is to consider the compounding impacts of sea-level rise on permanent and seasonal coastal residents who have ties to geographically dispersed people and places. It draws on interviews with 42 permanent and seasonal residents of five low-lying coastal communities in Victoria, Australia. The results showed that individuals had ties to up to 22 places beyond their home or second home. Their ties to these multiple places will be affected by sea-level rise as well as other climate-related risks, such as bushfires, droughts, and floods. New methods are needed that enable future climate change research to consider the compounding risks to individual’s multiple place attachments.KeywordsClimate change adaptationSense of placeMulti-place bondsCompounding disastersCoastal change