A.R. Siders | University of Delaware (original) (raw)

Refereed Journal Articles by A.R. Siders

Ocean and Coastal Management, 2019

Understanding why and where decision-makers choose to use different climate change adaptation str... more Understanding why and where decision-makers choose to use different climate change adaptation strategies remains an important theoretical and practical question for coastal adaptation. This article provides an exploratory statistical analysis of three adaptation measures (shoreline armoring, property acquisitions, and beach nourishment) and their deployment with respect to metrics of risk exposure, socioeconomic markers, and critical infrastructure in North Carolina (U.S.). This exploratory analysis evaluates two propositions. First, adaptation measures are deployed relative to specific metrics of risk. Second, adaptation choice disproportionately correlates with socioeconomic attributes. The findings support both propositions and reveal that shoreline armoring correlates with higher home values, household incomes, and population density and low racial diversity. Property acquisitions are found to correlate with low home values, household incomes, and population density and high racial diversity. Furthermore, adaptation measures are interconnected. Acquisitions are more likely to occur in areas with low levels of armoring. Beach nourishment occurs exclusively in areas with shoreline armoring. The results find no correlation of adaptation deployment with critical infrastructure. This article provides the foundation for future research into how adaptation decisions are made and trade-offs among adaptation actions considered, whether decisions adequately protect critical infrastructure, and how deployment patterns affect social equity.

Science, 2019

Faced with global warming, rising sea levels, and the climate-related extremes they intensify, th... more Faced with global warming, rising sea levels, and the climate-related extremes they intensify, the question is no longer whether some communities will retreat-moving people and assets out of harm's way-but why, where, when, and how they will retreat. To the extent that retreat is already happening, it is typically ad hoc and focused on risk reduction in isolation from broader societal goals. It is also frequently inequitable and often ignores the communities left behind or those receiving people who retreat. Retreat has been seen largely as a last resort, a failure to adapt, or a one-time emergency action; thus, little research has focused on retreat, leaving practitioners with little guidance. Such a narrow conception of retreat has limited decision-makers' perception of the tools available and stilted innovation. We propose a reconceptualization of retreat as a suite of adaptation options that are both strategic and managed. Strategy integrates retreat into long-term development goals and identifies why retreat should occur and, in doing so, influences where and when. Management addresses how retreat is executed. By reconceptualizing retreat as a set of tools used to achieve societal goals, communities and nations gain additional adaptation options and a better chance of choosing the actions most likely to help their communities thrive. We argue for strategy that incorporates socioeconomic development and for management that is innovative, evidence-based, and context-specific. These are not radical alterations to adaptation practice-adaptation planning often starts with identifying the goals people have, and context-specific implementation has long been a central tenet of adaptation-but they have been under-applied to retreat. Retreat is hard to do and even harder to do well, for many reasons: short-term economic gains of coastal development ; subsidized insurance rates and disaster recovery costs; misaligned incentives between residents, local officials, and national governments; imperfect risk perceptions ; place attachment; and preference for the status quo (1-6). A reconceptualization could make strategic, managed retreat an efficient and equitable adaptation option.

One Earth, 2019

Managed retreat—the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and assets out of harm’s way—is a ... more Managed retreat—the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and assets out of harm’s way—is a controversial and often overlooked adaptation tool but also a potentially transformative one. In the United States, managed retreat has occurred primarily through federally funded property acquisition programs that are unlikely to be able to scale to meet the future demands of climate change. There are numerous psychological, institutional, and practical barriers to engaging in managed retreat, so understanding how United States communities have overcome these barriers, even at a small scale, could provide insights for applying retreat in other contexts and at larger scales. This paper articulates why the United States needs managed retreat to be viable at scale, identifies barriers, recommends areas for scholarship and practice to learn from past experience, and argues for a national vision for coastal adaptation, such as a National Seashore, to provide a coordinating and motivating focus for future work.

Science Advances, 2019

Retreat from some areas will become unavoidable under intensifying climate change. Existing deplo... more Retreat from some areas will become unavoidable under intensifying climate change. Existing deployments of managed retreat are at small scale compared to potential future needs, leaving open questions about where, when, and how retreat under climate change will occur. Here, we analyze more than 40,000 voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties in the United States, in which homeowners sell properties to the government and the land is restored to open space. In contrast to model-based evaluation of potential future retreat, local governments in counties with higher population and income are more likely to administer buyouts. The bought-out properties themselves, however, are concentrated in areas of greater social vulnerability within these counties, pointing to the importance of assessing the equity of buyout implementation and outcomes. These patterns demonstrate the challenges associated with locally driven implementation of managed retreat and the potential benefits of experimentation with different approaches to retreat.

WIREs Climate Change, 2019

Published version available: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.573\. Adaptive capacity is an important ... more Published version available: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.573. Adaptive capacity is an important element of long‐term adaptation to climate change and is the focus of a rapidly growing body of research. Interdisciplinary growth has the potential to introduce new methods and insights, but it could also cause fragmentation and hamper methodological development or limit transfer of academic insights to climate change adaptation practice. This article uses qualitative content, bibliometric, and citation network analyses to systematically review the scope, methods, and findings of 276 studies on adaptive capacity of social and social‐ecological systems. The review demonstrates that adaptive capacity research is highly interdisciplinary; covers a wide range of sectors, geographic locations, and scales of analysis; and is highly fragmented. The majority of empirical studies are isolated by lack of comparative work and cross‐field citation. Forty‐six percent of studies reviewed do not cite prior works on adaptive capacity: even those on similar topics in the same geographic location. Methods to assess adaptive capacity have proliferated to include more than 64 indicator‐based indices or frameworks and 37 proxy outcome measures. The article argues that lack of either consensus or debate across the literature raises concerns that scientific progress in the field may be constrained and the ability of adaptive capacity research to inform adaptation practice may be limited. To promote consistency and transparency in future work, 158 determinants of adaptive capacity are defined and illustrated with common assessment indicators and examples. Additional opportunities for progress are noted with suggestions for future research.

Climatic Change, 2018

Full text freely available at rdcu.be/6b9e. Global climate change poses significant risks to coa... more Full text freely available at rdcu.be/6b9e. Global climate change poses significant risks to coastal and riverine communities. Managed retreat, the purposeful movement of people and infrastructure out of vulnerable floodplains, is one possible adaptation strategy. The USA has already engaged in a limited amount of retreat by providing federal funds to purchase and demolish or relocate vulnerable properties. As retreat programs are expected to expand in size and frequency to address the increased risks posed by climate change, a review of how such property acquisition programs have been implemented is timely. Specifically, decisions made by government officials regarding where to acquire properties have significant potential social justice implications, as buyouts could promote or reduce existing social inequities, but it is unclear how such decisions are being made. A review of eight US buyout programs suggests that buyouts, as practiced, lack transparency, which may increase public distrust of the process and reduce participation. Moreover, decisions often involve political motivations and rely on cost-benefit logic that may promote disproportionate retreat in low-income or minority communities, continuing historic patterns of social inequity. However, as low-income communities in the USA also tend to be highly vulnerable to climate-exacerbated hazards, a decision not to relocate may also promote disproportionate harm. The buyout programs reviewed provide examples of how to mitigate these concerns through increased transparency, emphasis on relocation, explicit focus on social inequality, longer-term and larger-scale holistic approaches, and participatory pre-disaster planning. Further research on past programs is needed to evaluate outcomes and processes to improve future adaptation efforts.

Regional Environmental Change, 2017

Full text at tinyurl.com/LondonAdaptation. Global cities are taking a leadership role in climate ... more Full text at tinyurl.com/LondonAdaptation. Global cities are taking a leadership role in climate change adaptation. Increasing numbers of cities are creating climate adaptation plans and strategies, and a wide range of international organizations are developing tools and programs to promote and support further planning, despite the fact that the few studies to date that have evaluated adaptation planning have found it to be ineffective: focused more on broad visions than specific actions. To understand why cities continue to engage in adaptation planning, what benefits planners anticipate, and whether these benefits can be achieved through vision-oriented strategies as well as action-based plans, this study reports on a qualitative case study of the creation and adoption of the 2011 London, United Kingdom, Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. Results from interviews with participants and stakeholders indicate the London Strategy was consciously developed as a vision-setting strategy and was successful in: raising awareness of cross-sectoral risks, coordinating pre-existing adaptation efforts, validating stakeholder engagement, providing political authorization for use of resources and personnel, and creating continuity of purpose across changing political administrations. To accurately capture these benefits in other urban adaptation planning efforts will require a new evaluation approach. Based on the London case, this paper proposes future adaptation strategies be evaluated according to how well they build the adaptive capacity of city institutions to enable ongoing adaptation.

A B S T R A C T Global climate change is raising Arctic temperatures, warming ocean waters, and m... more A B S T R A C T Global climate change is raising Arctic temperatures, warming ocean waters, and melting sea ice at unprecedented rates, creating new opportunities for industry and development and new risks. As industries and local communities become increasingly active in newly accessible Arctic waters, a robust and dynamic regulatory regime is needed to reduce safety and environmental risks and balance competing needs of multiple resource user groups, all while continually adapting to rapidly changing environmental, economic, and social conditions. Such governance is particularly necessary in the narrow Bering Strait, where humans and animals compete for space while transiting between Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and where traditional subsistence uses overlap with emerging industries. Dynamic ocean management, a system of resource management that incorporates real-time data to implement spatially and temporally targeted management responses, offers guidance on the benefits and drawbacks of dynamic regulation and best practices for implementation in the Bering Strait. Examples of successful dynamic management regimes exist and are reviewed and used to illustrate benefits and challenges of dynamic multi-resource management in the Bering Strait region. Dynamic regulation has the potential to improve efficiency in achieving economic and environmental outcomes, although substantial stakeholder engagement may be required to identify precise goals and weigh trade-offs. Significant investment in data collection, analysis, and distribution may also be necessary. However, writing incident-based regulations and management thresholds to create incentives for government and private sector action should enable the Bering Strait region to develop a robust governance system able to adapt to the region's ongoing changes.

Reports by A.R. Siders

i"|"P a g e " " % i"|"P a g e " " % " Contributors% " City"Government"of"Naga" % Hon.%John%Bongat... more i"|"P a g e " " % i"|"P a g e " " % " Contributors% " City"Government"of"Naga" % Hon.%John%Bongat,%Mayor% Hon.%Nelson%Legacion,%Vice%Mayor% Hon.%Jose%Tuason,%Councilor% Mr.%Wilfredo%Prilles,%Jr.,%City%Planning%and%Development%Coordinator% Ms.%Gregoria%Nilda%Abonal,%City%Treasurer% Engr.%Rolando%Campillos,%Urban%Poor%Affairs%Chief% Mr.%Joselito%Del%Rosario,%Public%Safety%Officer% Ms.%Malou%Del%Castillo,%Assistant%Budget%Officer% Mr.%Anselmo%Maño,%Information%Systems%Analyst%III,%Electronic%Data%Processing%Office% Mr.%Lawrence%Nogra,%SMS%Programmer,%iNServe%Program% Mr.%Reuel%Oliver,%Metro%Naga%Public%Employment%Services%Office%Head% Engr.%Leon%Palmiano,%City%Engineer% " Private"Sector"and"Civil"Society"Organizations" Metro%Naga%Chamber%of%Commerce%and%Industry% Philippine%Red%Cross%-%Naga%City%Chapter% Practice"Leaders" % Dr.%Renan%Ma.%T.%Tanhueco,%Risk%Sensitive%Land%Use%Planning%Expert% Atty.%Violeta%SomeraNSeva,%Urban%Disaster%Risk%Management%(Incentives)%Expert% " EMI"Project"Management"Team" % Dr.%Eng.%Fouad%Bendimerad,%Project%Team%Leader% Mr.%Jose%Mari%Daclan,%Project%Manager% Mr.%Michael%Adrian%Padilla,%Assistant%Project%Manager% Ms.%Ayhen%Loisse%Dalena,%Project%Coordinator% Atty.%Anne%Ronelle%Siders,%Research%Fellow% Mr.%Robin%Crozier,%Research%Assistant% % ii"|"P a g e " " Acronyms% % ADB% % Asian%Development%Bank% ASEP% % Association%of%Structural%Engineers%of%the%Philippines% AusAID% % Australian%Agency%for%International%Development% CBD% % Central%Business%District% CBMS% % Community%Based%Monitoring%System% CCA% % Climate%Change%Adaptation% CCS% % Construction%Codes%and%Standards% CCTs% % Conditional%Cash%Transfers% CLUP% % Comprehensive%Land%Use%Plan% CPD%% % City%Planning%and%Development% CPDO% % City%Planning%and%Development%Office% DBM% % Department%of%Budget%and%Management% DILG% % Department%of%the%Interior%and%Local%Government% DPWH% % Department%of%Public%Works%and%Highways% DRIVE% % Disaster%Resiliency%Initiative%for%Vulnerable%Enclave% DRM% % Disaster%Risk%Management% DRR% % Disaster%Risk%Reduction% DRRM% % Disaster%Risk%Reduction%and%Management% DRRMO% % Disaster%Risk%Reduction%and%Management%Office% EDPO% % Electronic%Data%Processing%Office% GIS% % Geographic%Information%System% GIZ% % German%Corporation%for%International%Development% GOLD% % Governance%and%Local%Democracy% HLURB% % Housing%and%Land%Use%Regulatory%Board% HVRA% % Hazard,%Vulnerability%and%Risk%Assessment% iNRRP% % Integrated%Naga%River%Revitalization%Project% IRA% % Internal%Revenue%Allotment% KALASAG% % KAlamidad%at%Sakuna%LAbanan,%SAriling%Galing%ang%Kaligtasan% KIIs% % Key%Informant%Interviews% LDRRMF% % Local%Disaster%Risk%Reduction%and%Management%Fund% LERC% % Least%Economically%Resilient%Communities% LGU% % Local%Government%Unit% LIDAR% % Light%Detection%and%Ranging% LUM% % Land%Use%Management% LUP% % Land%Use%Planning% MBAs% % Mutual%Benefit%Associations% MGB% % Mines%and%Geosciences%Bureau% NAPC% % National%AntiNPoverty%Commission% NCG% % Naga%City%Government% NCDRRMF% % Naga%City%Disaster%Risk%Reduction%and%Management%Fund% NDRRMC% % National%Disaster%Risk%Reduction%and%Management%Council% NEDA% % National%Economic%Development%Authority% NEXUS% % Integrated%Urban%Development%Project% NGO% % NonNGovernment%Organization% 2"|"P a g e " "

The Harvard International Human Rights Clinic documented the health and social effects of mining ... more The Harvard International Human Rights Clinic documented the health and social effects of mining on two First Nations in British Columbia, Canada. Susannah Knox and Lauren Pappone also co-authors.

Book Chapters by A.R. Siders

Other Publications by A.R. Siders

A quick script to create a cross-citation network for a set of texts. Useful to explore citation ... more A quick script to create a cross-citation network for a set of texts. Useful to explore citation and knowledge dissemination patterns. GNU Public License v3.0 (see GitHub repository or DOI for full license information). doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1422870.

Europe Up Close, 2017

Four gray cement blocks, half-sunk in the ground at uneven angles, are the modest home of the Wat... more Four gray cement blocks, half-sunk in the ground at uneven angles, are the modest home of the Watersnood Museum: the remarkable and beautiful memorial of one of the Netherlands' greatest disasters.

Videos by A.R. Siders

Managed Retreat Conference, 2019

Ocean and Coastal Management, 2019

Science, 2019

One Earth, 2019

Science Advances, 2019

WIREs Climate Change, 2019

Climatic Change, 2018

Regional Environmental Change, 2017

Europe Up Close, 2017

Managed Retreat Conference, 2019

Storm Surge Presentation, 2019

Presentation to "Big Data and Water Decision-Making" with the Florida Earth Foundation at Univers... more Presentation to "Big Data and Water Decision-Making" with the Florida Earth Foundation at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Results are a preliminary look at how computational text mining and network analysis can identify patterns in academic research on adaptive capacity.

Poster presented at American Association of Geographers 2015. Computational text mining is used t... more Poster presented at American Association of Geographers 2015. Computational text mining is used to conduct a meta-analysis on the field of adaptive capacity to date. This identifies a list of all determinants of adaptive capacity and develops an initial framework and theory of adaptive capacity that result from creating a mechanism-based network of determinants based on collocation in the texts.

Full Abstract:
Successful climate change adaptation will require social and social-ecological systems that have the capacity to implement adaptation strategies and to flexibly learn from and respond to changing conditions. To date research on adaptive capacity has focused on identifying the determinants, or enabling preconditions, of adaptive capacity and either assembling determinant measures into indices or comparing determinants to outcomes of natural disasters. Such approaches have been necessitated by the lack of an outcome measure for adaptive capacity, but results provide little information about the mechanisms by which determinants act to build resilience. By focusing on the relationships among determinants, rather than between individual determinants and outcome proxies for adaptive capacity, we can improve our understanding of the causal pathways and mechanisms by which determinants interact to build resilience. Taking a network-based approach, this project combines vote-counting meta-analysis with current methods of algorithmic text mining and natural language processing to develop a mechanism model of resilience. A new theory of how capacity is built is proposed; the theory emphasizes the existence of multiple pathways to resilience and identifies critical enabling conditions. Example visualizations of a directed network of determinants and calculations of centrality, criticality, and betweeness suggest new research directions that have policy-relevant implications for adaptation, development, and disaster risk reduction investments.

Managed coastal retreat is a controversial topic but one that may become necessary as climate cha... more Managed coastal retreat is a controversial topic but one that may become necessary as climate change and rising sea levels place increasing numbers of coastal residents at risk. This presentation provides an overview of the post-Hurricane Sandy buyout program in New York - both state and local levels - and provides some lessons learned.

Efforts to align the 2015 negotiations on disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, and c... more Efforts to align the 2015 negotiations on disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, and climate change have been unsuccessful to date. This presentation identifies some challenges in the process and principles that could promote greater coherence in the post-2015 Agenda.

Climate change will have significant consequences for our environment and the way we operate, but... more Climate change will have significant consequences for our environment and the way we operate, but understanding those consequences and how we can plan for them is a challenge. In this talk, I present a method for using computational text analysis to review existing narrative data about climate adaptation and a framework I developed to assess our ability to prepare and respond.

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2019

First release of a set of functions in R that will create a cross-citation network from a set of ... more First release of a set of functions in R that will create a cross-citation network from a set of identified texts. Intended to enable exploration of citation networks and information dissemination.

The Role of International Environmental Law in Disaster Risk Reduction, 2016

Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure

Science, 2019

Why, where, when, and how should communities relocate?

Climate Policy, 2021

Governments, businesses, and civil society organizations have diverse policy tools to incentivize... more Governments, businesses, and civil society organizations have diverse policy tools to incentivize adaptation. Policy tools can shape the type and extent of adaptation, and therefore, function either as barriers or enablers for reducing risk and vulnerability. Using data from a systematic review of academic literature on global adaptation responses to climate change (n = 1549 peer-reviewed articles), we categorize the types of policy tools used to shape climate adaptation. We apply qualitative and quantitative analyses to assess the contexts where particular tools are used, along with equity implications for groups targeted by the tools, and the tools' relationships with transformational adaptation indicators such as the depth, scope, and speed of adaptation. We find diverse types of tools documented across sectors and geographic regions. We also identify a mismatch between the tools that consider equity and those that yield more transformational adaptations. Direct regulations, plans, and capacity building are associated with higher depth and scope of adaptation (thus transformational adaptation), while economic instruments, information provisioning, and networks are not; the latter tools, however, are more likely to target marginalized groups in their design and implementation. We identify multiple research gaps, including a need to assess instrument mixes rather than single tools and to assess adaptations that result from policy implementation. Key policy insights. Information-based approaches, networks, and economic instruments are the most frequently documented adaptation policy tools worldwide.. Direct regulations, plans, and capacity building are associated with higher depth and scope of adaptation, and thus more transformational adaptation.

"This edited volume advances our understanding of climate relocation (or planned retreat), a... more "This edited volume advances our understanding of climate relocation (or planned retreat), an emerging topic in the fields of climate adaptation and hazard risk, and provides a platform for alternative voices and views on the subject. As the effects of climate change become more severe and widespread, there is a growing conversation about when, where and how people will move. Climate relocation is a controversial adaptation strategy, yet the process can also offer opportunity and hope. This collection grapples with the environmental and social justice dimensions from multiple perspectives, with cases drawn from Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, South America, and North America. The contributions throughout present unique perspectives, including community organizations, adaptation practitioners, geographers, lawyers, and landscape architects, reflecting on the potential harms and opportunities of climate-induced relocation. Works of art, photos, and quotes from flood survivors are also included, placed between sections to remind the reader of the human element in the adaptation debate. Blending art – photography, poetry, sculpture – with practical reflections and scholarly analyses, this volume provides new insights on a debate that touches us all: how we will live in the future and where? Challenging readers’ pre-conceptions about planned retreat by juxtaposing different disciplines, lenses and media, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental migration and displacement, and environmental justice and equity.

One Earth, 2021

Summary Growing evidence suggests that climate adaptation responses that do not incorporate equit... more Summary Growing evidence suggests that climate adaptation responses that do not incorporate equity considerations may worsen inequality and increase vulnerability. Using data from a systematic review of peer-reviewed empirical research on adaptation responses to climate change (n = 1,682), we present an assessment of how social equity is considered in adaptation across regions, sectors, and social groups. Roughly 60% of peer-reviewed literature on adaptation responses considers social equity by reporting on which marginalized groups were involved in planning or implementation. Articles on responses in Africa and Asia and those focusing on poverty reduction most frequently considered social equity. Equity was less likely to be considered in adaptation responses in Europe, Australasia, and North America, as well as in literature focused on cities. Income-based inequity was more frequently considered than gender, age, or Indigenous status. Ethnic and racial minorities, migrants, and people with disabilities were rarely considered. Attention to the levels and forms in which equity is integrated into adaptation research and practice is needed to ensure just adaptation.

Planning Theory & Practice, 2020

The relative influence of climate and housing development on current and projected future fire pa... more The relative influence of climate and housing development on current and projected future fire patterns and structure loss across three California landscapes.

WIREs Climate Change, 2019

Regional Environmental Change, 2017

Global cities are taking a leadership role in climate change adaptation. Increasing numbers of ci... more Global cities are taking a leadership role in climate change adaptation. Increasing numbers of cities are creating climate adaptation plans and strategies, and a wide range of international organizations are developing tools and programs to promote and support further planning, despite the fact that the few studies to date that have evaluated adaptation planning have found it to be ineffective: focused more on broad visions than specific actions. To understand why cities continue to engage in adaptation planning, what benefits planners anticipate, and whether these benefits can be achieved through vision-oriented strategies as well as action-based plans, this study reports on a qualitative case study of the creation and adoption of the 2011 London, United Kingdom, Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. Results from interviews with participants and stakeholders indicate the London Strategy was consciously developed as a vision-setting strategy and was successful in: raising awareness of cross-sectoral risks, coordinating pre-existing adaptation efforts, validating stakeholder engagement, providing political authorization for use of resources and personnel, and creating continuity of purpose across changing political administrations. To accurately capture these benefits in other urban adaptation planning efforts will require a new evaluation approach. Based on the London case, this paper proposes future adaptation strategies be evaluated according to how well they build the adaptive capacity of city institutions to enable ongoing adaptation.

Marine Policy, 2016

Global climate change is raising Arctic temperatures, warming ocean waters, and melting sea ice a... more Global climate change is raising Arctic temperatures, warming ocean waters, and melting sea ice at unprecedented rates, creating new opportunities for industry and development and new risks. As industries and local communities become increasingly active in newly accessible Arctic waters, a robust and dynamic regulatory regime is needed to reduce safety and environmental risks and balance competing needs of multiple resource user groups, all while continually adapting to rapidly changing environmental, economic, and social conditions. Such governance is particularly necessary in the narrow Bering Strait, where humans and animals compete for space while transiting between Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and where traditional subsistence uses overlap with emerging industries. Dynamic ocean management, a system of resource management that incorporates real-time data to implement spatially and temporally targeted management responses, offers guidance on the benefits and drawbacks of dynamic regulation and best practices for implementation in the Bering Strait. Examples of successful dynamic management regimes exist and are reviewed and used to illustrate benefits and challenges of dynamic multi-resource management in the Bering Strait region. Dynamic regulation has the potential to improve efficiency in achieving economic and environmental outcomes, although substantial stakeholder engagement may be required to identify precise goals and weigh trade-offs. Significant investment in data collection, analysis, and distribution may also be necessary. However, writing incident-based regulations and management thresholds to create incentives for government and private sector action should enable the Bering Strait region to develop a robust governance system able to adapt to the region's ongoing changes.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013

As the coasts become increasingly populated, more and more people are placed in harm's way. Thus ... more As the coasts become increasingly populated, more and more people are placed in harm's way. Thus far, science has not found effective ways to reduce most hazards. Therefore, citizens must look to strengthening communities. Building safer buildings and strengthening infrastructure are important steps, but it is the manner in which societies are built that largely determines disaster resilience. A vital part of effective disaster planning-whether for mitigation, preparation, response, or recovery-is an understanding of the people and institutions that make up each community, including their strengths and their weaknesses, as a basis for developing policies, programs, and practices to protect them. In the end, it is human decisions related to such matters as land use planning and community priorities that will build stronger, safer, and better communities."

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2021

Managed retreat in response to climate change does not inherently lead to societal transformation... more Managed retreat in response to climate change does not inherently lead to societal transformation. Assessing whether retreat has been transformative requires consideration of what or who is transformed, at what scale, and in what ways. It also requires nuanced consideration of relative spatial and temporal scale, domain of change, and implications for procedural and distributive justice while recognizing historical injustices and opportunities for restorative action. Current practices show managed retreat has not always been transformative in ways that promote justice. Nevertheless, retreat — as both a concept and practice — has potential to change societal perceptions of climate risk, challenge techno-optimistic in situ adaptations, and foreground issues of equity as a primary concern in adaptation.