NSF-NFRF: Retreating from risk (RFR): Decision-supports for the equitable implementation of retreat to build climate resilience

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

Rising sea levels, changing hydrological regimes, and intensifying extreme weather events are exacerbating flood risks for low-lying communities. Reducing flood risks is an urgent challenge for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for as much as 23% of the global population. Protective infrastructure (e.g., dikes, seawalls, dams), otherwise known as “a structural approach,” is currently the dominant risk management strategy, but this approach has significant shortcomings. As climate impacts intensify, communities will require transformative adaptation strategies that reduce risk and address vulnerabilities equitably. In this project, we focus on managed retreat (MR)—relocation of people, property and infrastructure away from the most vulnerable areas—as an adaptation approach that offers both risk reduction benefits and opportunities to advance social justice for disproportionately-impacted groups. Co-created with communities in the U.S., Canada, and Indonesia, this project will produce fundamental and actionable knowledge on how diverse communities can adopt managed retreat as a climate adaptation strategy, to reduce risk and advance social justice for disproportionately-impacted groups. This project will strengthen international partnerships and transform international understanding of managed retreat as an adaptation strategy. This project will train three graduate students with an interdisciplinary, international research experience with deep community engagement. The project’s goal is to co-create new knowledge and actionable outputs to support the development and uptake of equity-informed, community-engaged managed retreat programs as a viable climate adaptation strategy. This project includes six research tasks that will advance fundamental knowledge on the decision support needs for municipalities and Indigenous communities as they consider and/or seek to implement equitable managed retreat programs as an adaptation strategy to build flood resilience. Iteratively refined with community partners, this project will: analyze past managed retreat initiatives to identify best practices, dynamics, challenges, and complexities; compare case studies of managed retreat programs at different implementation stages across Canada, the U.S., and Indonesia to understand managed needs and constraints from residents and decision-makers through roundtables and focus groups; and develop decision criteria and case study summary briefs to show future risks and vulnerabilities. Using practitioner input, the project will co-develop contextually-relevant decision-support tools (e.g., training module, best practices guidebook, conversation toolkits) that will enable community leaders to engage constituents on managed retreat. This award is part of a collaboration jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and funding agencies from Canada via the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition, led by Canada. Each agency funds the scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.