TY - JOUR

T1 - Considering socio-political framings when analyzing coastal climate change effects can prevent maldevelopment on small islands

AU - David, C. Gabriel

AU - Hennig, Arne

AU - Ratter, Beate M.W.

AU - Roeber, Volker

AU - Zahid,

AU - Schlurmann, Torsten

N1 - Funding Information: Coastal adaptation in practice. In 2014, government actors of the MEE agreed on taking action against erosion adjacent to Fuvahmulah’s seaport. They signed a grant arrangement for an internationally sponsored infrastructure development fund and initiated the project “Coastal Protection at Gn. Fuvahmulah, Maldives”. This project includes “the development, implementation and maintenance of sustainable coastal protection to prevent erosion and flooding on […] Fuvahmulah. The main objective of this project is to decrease erosion and flooding through a possible […] combination of hard and soft coastal engineering interventions […] to protect the island of Fuvahmulah against flooding due to ongoing coastal erosion and rising sea levels”50. An international consultant supported the MEE together with a local sub-contractor in the site investigation, the feasibility study, the technical design50 and the draft of the legally mandatory Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)51.

PY - 2021/10/7

Y1 - 2021/10/7

N2 - Adapting to climate change and sea level rise is challenging on small islands. False adaptation can lead to adverse impacts on natural and societal dynamics. Therefore, an interdisciplinary perspective on the interaction of natural dynamics, societal demands, and political decisions is crucial. In this sense, this study scrutinizes coastal processes and socio-political dimensions of erosion on the reef island Fuvahmulah, the Maldives. The national government and Fuvahmulah’s population have an opposed perception and attribution of the drivers and processes behind Fuvahmulah’s most pressing coastal issue – coastal erosion. To review these perceptions, natural dynamics are recreated with process-based methods and discussed regarding present and projected marine pressures. Population surveys and interviews with actors in coastal development complement the physical insights into erosion on Fuvahmulah and describe the socio-political dimension of climate change adaptation on small islands. This interdisciplinary approach demonstrates how small-islands’ adaptive capacities are typically impaired and disclose the potential of local knowledge to overcome maldevelopment.

AB - Adapting to climate change and sea level rise is challenging on small islands. False adaptation can lead to adverse impacts on natural and societal dynamics. Therefore, an interdisciplinary perspective on the interaction of natural dynamics, societal demands, and political decisions is crucial. In this sense, this study scrutinizes coastal processes and socio-political dimensions of erosion on the reef island Fuvahmulah, the Maldives. The national government and Fuvahmulah’s population have an opposed perception and attribution of the drivers and processes behind Fuvahmulah’s most pressing coastal issue – coastal erosion. To review these perceptions, natural dynamics are recreated with process-based methods and discussed regarding present and projected marine pressures. Population surveys and interviews with actors in coastal development complement the physical insights into erosion on Fuvahmulah and describe the socio-political dimension of climate change adaptation on small islands. This interdisciplinary approach demonstrates how small-islands’ adaptive capacities are typically impaired and disclose the potential of local knowledge to overcome maldevelopment.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116823828&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-26082-5

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-26082-5

M3 - Article

C2 - 34620859

AN - SCOPUS:85116823828

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

M1 - 5882

ER -