Climate Change and Development of Coastal Areas in Social-Ecological Perspective

Abstract

Coastal areas are preferred human habitats and landscapes, densely populated in nearly all countries, but vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise. Adaptation to climate change is discussed in this chapter with examples and studies from European coastal research in the perspectives of adaptive governance and sustainable management of coastal resources. Social-ecological integration of knowledge and strategies, based on analyses of vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability requires learning from difficulties and failures of earlier coastal protection measures. Additional to technical and engineering solutions as building dams, dykes, and flood protection through physical structures, “soft” social practices of adaptation to flood risks become important and the ideas and interests of local populations should be observed. In conclusion, resilience and sustainability of coastal areas require new approaches for resource management. The ideas of integrated coastal zone management, dominant up to now, are not sufficient for dealing with problems of global change that require transformative governance, interdisciplinary knowledge integration, organising the cooperation of actors, and coordinating policies across spatial scales.