Coastal Flooding

Project Team: JHI and University of Dundee

Aims:

  • To synthesise existing information relating to coastal flooding in Scotland, and
  • Produce a guidance document for local authorities and practitioners.

Background and policy/stakeholder relevance:

A large proportion of our assets in Scotland, relating to land use, biodiversity, infrastructure, housing and industry, including our major cities, are located in coastal regions. Their geographical location, and the added uncertainty posed by climate change present great risk to these coastal assets. As such, an integrated and well informed approach is needed to effectively manage risk.

Approach:

This activity seeks to identify current knowledge gaps and ways of meeting the needs of stakeholders. We will coordinate and discuss with relevant staff in the CC COE to ensure efficient resource use and avoid duplication. Existing (often fragmented) research on climate change, coastal flooding and coastal protection will be synthesized to produce a practitioner guidance booklet for Scotland. The publication will interpret existing research including UKCP09 and other future climate projections to aid local authorities in their development of coastal flood risk management plans, shoreline management plans and wider development management. This is an area of research with considerable dispute between experts. We will work with these experts where possible, to produce a document setting out / summarising the science and uncertainties that will aid the decision making process.

  • Set out clear methods for recording and evaluating the effectiveness of this work in an evaluation brief (June 2011).
  • Cleary define the audience group for this work and establish the needs of end users of the guidance document (July 2011).
  • Review of existing work and understanding (August 2011).
  • Explore the most suitable mechanisms for stakeholder engagement in this context, including the use of emerging digital technologies (September 2011). Produce a brief review ocument to capture findings to date.
  • Joint workshop and summary report with CC COE with key stakeholders to identify current level of understanding, user needs, knowledge gaps and future deliverables (November 2011).
  • Development of web pages where necessary to supplement work to date (November 2011).
  • Delivery of guidance document (February 2012).
  • Report on effectiveness of activities and work overall to inform years 2-5 (March 2012).

HEI partners have expertise on the impacts of climate change and the adaptation required for coastal protection and flooding are complementing JHI contributions to the review on the following topics: climate predictions, sea level rise, and coastal erosion rates including where appropriate, sediment availability and existing defences. HEI partners provide expertise to make recommendations as to how to improve the design, content and usability of the guidance document and contribute to peer reviewed outputs; and policy brief.

Contact:

Sohan Ghimire, JHI