Researchers analyze benefits of considering retreat as a proactive option in the face of climate change
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
MIAMI–In a new analysis on managed retreat–the climate adaptation response of moving people and property out of harm’s way–researchers explore what it would take for managed retreat to be supportive of people and their priorities. A key starting point is considering retreat alongside other responses like coastal armoring and not just as an option of last resort.
In a new paper in the journal Science, University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science researcher Katharine Mach argues that managed retreat should be viewed as a proactive option that can support communities and livelihoods in the face of climate change.
“Managed retreat can be more effective in reducing risk–in ways that are socially equitable and economically efficient–if it is a proactive component of climate-driven transformations,” said Mach, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at UM Rosenstiel School. “It can be used to address climate risks, along with other types of responses like building seawalls or limiting new development in hazard-prone regions.”
In the review paper, Mach and her colleague A.R. Siders from the University of Delaware reviewed the existing literature on the subject to argue that societies will be better prepared for intensifying climate change–such as more frequent and severe storms, flooding and sea-level-rise–if they consider the potential role of strategic and managed retreat.
“Communities, towns, cities and municipalities are making decisions now that affect the future,” said Siders, a core faculty member in UD’s Disaster Research Center and assistant professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and geography and spatial sciences. “If we’re making these decisions now, we should also be considering all the options on the table right now, not just the ones that keep people in place.”
Retreat is already happening in the U.S. and many parts of the world in the face of relatively moderate climate change and has happened throughout human history.
“Early conversations about managed retreat–and where, when, and why its use could be considered acceptable or not–substantially increase the likelihood that future climate retreat will promote societal goals,” said Mach.
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In a related study in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Mach and UM doctoral student Carolien Kraan conducted the first comprehensive overview of equity concerns that have been raised on voluntary property buyouts and provide policy options for addressing these concerns.
For example, they suggest that local governments involve residents in the buyout process from the start and provide homeowners with professional support to guide them through the process to reduce frustration.
“The article provides practitioners and researchers with a synthesis of policy options that are aimed at improving social justice outcomes in voluntary property buyout programs,” said Kraan, a doctoral student at the UM Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.
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The review paper, titled “Reframing strategic, managed retreat for transformative climate adaptation,” was published on June 18 in the journal Science.
The study, titled “Promoting equity in retreat through voluntary property buyout programs,” was published May 11 in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. The authors include Jennifer Niemann from the UM Rosenstiel School, A. R. Siders from the University of Delaware and Miyuki Hino from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Funding for both studies was provided by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.
About the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School
The University of Miami is one of the largest private research institutions in the southeastern United States. The University’s mission is to provide quality education, attract and retain outstanding students, support the faculty and their research, and build an endowment for University initiatives. Founded in the 1940’s, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world’s premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, visit: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu and Twitter @UMiamiRSMAS
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The hysteria is only getting worse: Here is the latest from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/29/johan-rockstrom-interview-breaking-boundaries-attenborough-biden
I love one of the delicious ironies of this debate.
The answers are so often right in front of our faces.
A for instance. Has anyone ever heard of the Dutch battle against the sea?
They have been building land forms successfully for centuries.
Maldives, and others – pay attention!!!
Have you heard about the palm islands in Dubai built by the Dutch?
Where I live, neighbourhood crime levels are actively driven by “real estate developers”. While I have plenty evidence, my only proof was a confrontation with a developer that wanted my land. Thusly I pronounce that, in my personal opinion, I see a larger, international pattern of violence and crime instigated by people who profit by our need to trade and use land.
This entire schpiel of a “study” above, looks to me like a SuperPAC of land developers joining the drive for “rules-based governance”, or to be more precise: government in the hands of the criminal mafias ruling as a kakastocracy of scum. Their ‘solutions’ revolve around population containment and control, with maybe a bit of insurance-driven caution. The land mafia and the insurance mafia joining hands around the udder of the bankster mafia’s bitch, the political mafia.
I used to get so irritated with the old folk back when, they used to see the Commies behind every bit of progress.
Today I know the difference between progress and improvement, but the youngsters don’t want to listen…
I still believe the best response to climate change is to regulate car emission. Laws should be put in place to push car makers to transform themselves. Supercars like nissan gt-r falls onto the crosshairs.
What do climate change and car emissions have to do with each other? What effect would it have? Got any proof!
I executed a managed retreat from the frigid Oregon Coast to Subic Bay, PH. Have only worn shorts and flip flops for 6 years but other than that no great sacrifice!
Come to the Netherlands to learn about walled resist. (And that land subsidence is a far bigger threat than sea level rise.)
All methods of flood protection and alleviation are well known, easily costed and mostly pretty simple to implement.
Except of course to politicians and climate activists.
We alsos have – at leats in Europe – a massive landfill problem We have waste we are not allowed to burn. Or bury.
We could be creating useful land out of salt marsh. You probably wouldn’t build on it because of methane, and subsidence, but it would make perfect sea walls and dykes. (levees). Or airports
Equitable managed retreat ?
East Anglia
or even the cliffs of the English channel, loosing houses every year or two into the sea and thats from the top of the 30 foot high cliff.
San Andreas anyone ?
this is what passes for higher learning these days
pathetic
Managed Retreat => the wussification of the West.
They must have had global warming due to CO2 during the Hellenistic Period. I mean nothing else causes sea rise, right? https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/israel-sea-level-rose-2-m-in-hellenistic-period-could-explain-decline-671173
So these brilliant researchers probably propose using government funds to buy out ocean-front land from their owners and move them farther inland. Did they ever consider the price of ocean-front land these days?
For people who own multi-million-dollar homes near the beach, how many of them will just pack up and move inland, because maybe the sea level might rise by a few inches before they’re dead? These people are probably used to driving to higher ground if a hurricane is approaching, but they do enjoy the nearby ocean most of the time.
Besides, for the “managed retreat planners”, if they do manage to “buy out” a homeowner along the beach, where would the evicted beachcombers re-settle? Most of the intervening land is owned by other people, who won’t want to move, so the “bought out” people would have to move several miles inland, where land values per square foot are probably less than 10% of those near the beach. Would they need 10 times as much land to get their money back?
If “managed retreat” planners needed an example of the futility of their plans, they should consider the man who said he would “stop the seas from rising”, who bought a $14 million ocean-front estate on the island of Martha’s Vineyard after retiring from the presidency. Somehow Barack and Michelle Obama aren’t very worried about sea level rise!
In other words sell before the sea level rise, get ahead of the rush.
Shouldn’t the U of Miami be moving.
And why would selling property be socially equitable?
What part of BELOW sea-level don’t you understand?
I’ve been asking that question for decades, along with asking Hollywood types, “What don’t you understand about EROSION?” as their Malibu homes slide off the cliffs.
While Holland has held the sea back for hundreds of years, most humans have figured out that it isn’t a good idea to LIVE in a flood-plain or below sea-level.
Matthew 7:24-27 NIV The Wise and Foolish Builders
Even children learn common sense building practices.
Any why are so many Pacific islands inhabited and many others abandoned? I’m guessing it doesn’t take more than waking up ONE morning with seawater sloshing around your feet to call a Realtor.
No one has a “right” to live anywhere at MY expense.
All that said and this: We learn from illegal aliens to MOVE AWAY from danger and toward safety and opportunity at any cost to improve the lives of our family.
OK, I’m rambling. Hopefully, some of this is relevant to the discussion.
How about showing the USCRN temperature chart occasionally?
University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science should buy some land, build their ‘managed retreat’ response to climate change into the structural design, cost being no object, then see who chooses to live and work from there, cost being no object.
If you build it they will come… no!
I lived in the Cayman Isands for a while. Up until the 1990’s NOBODY would ever build at the water. It was well understood that building next to the ocean was a stupid idea. Then, inextricably, companies started buying up and developing waterfront property. They built MASSIVE hotels right next to the water on an artificially sanded beach.
Now, the hotel owners are up in arms because, gasp, the beach is eroding.
I would say stupidity is someone else’s problem, except that rich people tend to make these things OUR problems and walk away with the money in their pockets.
And who would the property buyers be? Investors willing to take the risk and develop the land into something of greater value, or taxpayers forced to fund these purchases who then watch their cities sell the land to developers after nothing happens anyway?