Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Earth's Future
Author ORCID Identifier
D. Hirschfeld https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9664-7594
E. Mateo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3890-2707
J. C. Arnott https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3989-6724
J. A. Vano https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2230-326X
Volume
12
Issue
11
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Publication Date
11-23-2024
Journal Article Version
Version of Record
First Page
1
Last Page
17
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Abstract
Practitioners at the local and regional scale are under increased pressure to reduce risks to people and property posed by the threats of sea‐level rise (SLR) and associated impacts. To achieve this, a dialog between practitioners and scientists is imperative. Current research documents impacts of SLR, evaluates local SLR adaptation activities, identifies barriers to action, and works to assess local adaptive capacity. Despite this work, there has been little qualitative assessment of practitioners' needs when it comes to translating SLR science into local changes. To fill this gap, we used a combination of semi‐structured interviews and surveys. The interviews revealed practitioners’ needs, the tools they use, the challenges they face, and the contexts in which they make decisions. The survey allowed practitioners to rank potential interventions according to the level of impact they believed it would have on coastal adaptation planning. In total our study includes the perspectives of 142 practitioners from 24 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Barbados. Corroborating earlier work, we find that resources broadly and funding specifically is the largest barrier faced by practitioners. We find that practitioners need more localized information and models supported by on the ground monitoring, decision support resources that allow for comparison of different scenarios, and communication tools that will enable them to engage with key audiences. These needs suggest a critical shift toward building trusted relationship between scientists and local practitioners and the need to bolster organizations that can support a bridge between these two contexts.
Recommended Citation
Hirschfeld, D., Archie, K. M., Mateo, E., Arnott, J. C., & Vano, J. A. (2024). Practitioners’ needs for addressing the challenges of sea‐level rise—A qualitative assessment. Earth's Future, 12, e2024EF004717. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF004717