
NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
Recipient: |
|
Initial Amendment Date: | September 5, 2019 |
Latest Amendment Date: | May 11, 2023 |
Award Number: | 1939968 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Manda S. Adams
amadams@nsf.gov (703)292-4708 RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | January 1, 2020 |
End Date: | August 31, 2023 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $299,095.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $299,095.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
History of Investigator: |
|
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2425 CAMPUS RD SINCLAIR RM 1 HONOLULU HI US 96822-2247 (808)956-7800 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
Primary Place of Performance: |
2440 Campus Road, Box 368 Honolulu HI US 96822-2234 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
Parent UEI: |
|
NSF Program(s): | CoPe-Coastlines and People |
Primary Program Source: |
|
Program Reference Code(s): |
|
Program Element Code(s): |
|
Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Sea level rise represents a major threat to coastal ecosystems and communities. Responding requires a clear understanding of the multiple uses and values of coastlines and design of adaptation strategies that best supports these values or accounts for tradeoffs. There are two main adaptation solutions: (a) adapt in place through coastal hardening or elevation; or (b) strategic or managed retreat from the coast, either all at once or gradually over time. Proponents argue that managed retreat is an option that minimizes community exposure to coastal hazards exacerbated by sea level rise. However, while the process may appear orderly, the combination of existing infrastructure, social, economic and cultural ties to place, and land-use practices, make the implementation of such policies difficult. Jurisdictions struggle to find place-appropriate solutions at a scale that meets the problem of global change. Prioritizing public investments for coastal management requires understanding and communicating multiple ecological, socio-cultural, and economic values held by diverse user groups at a highly localized level in terms that can be utilized for policy and planning. This study considers a variety of coastal sites to better understand how their multiple values change with expected sea level rise. The investigators expect their study to result in a framework to support local decision-making for proactive policy and planning for coastlines facing rapid change. Students are involved with all aspects of this study.
Assessing the costs and benefits of adaptation approaches in different contexts requires understanding the diverse uses and values of coastal areas, and how these may change with anticipated sea level rise. This study draws upon the emerging field of integrative valuation to assess the suite of benefits and tradeoffs between values associated with beaches and coastlines. Hawai'i serves as an excellent model system given the high socio-cultural, economic, and ecological values of diverse coastlines in a small geographical area. The investigators use several sites to identify and illustrate multiple ecological, cultural, and economic values. The study has three objectives: (1) Evaluate the ways that sea level rise and adaptation strategies have already influenced coastal ecosystems and communities through historical and archival analysis; (2) Develop indicators representing multiple values of beaches and coastlines using mixed qualitative and quantitative analysis, and assess how these are likely to change under sea level rise both with adaptation in place and managed retreat; and (3) Develop an innovative tradeoff framework that assists local decision-makers to proactively address these challenges in their coastal communities.
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This CoPe Eager project brought together a team of interdisciplinary researchers to address pressing social science and policy research questions around sea level rise (SLR) impacts, response, and adaptation in Hawaii. We published three journal articles covering the perspectives of coastal managers on SLR adaptation, including managed retreat and the influence of SLR projections on property values across Oahu. Beyond the directly funded research, this project helped the PIs and the Institute of Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) at UH Manoa launch a research program around SLR adaptation. In addition to the five student researchers mentored and with contributions to this project, ISR has approximately $800,000 in current and pending funding for additional SLR research that has already supported an additional six student researchers across social science disciplines (Planning, Geography and Economics). As a result of this CoPe project, our team also solidified relationships and collaboration among our research team and government, private, and civil society coastal managers necessary to ensure that our research program is embedded in pressing real-word decision needs.
Study findings are as follows:
Bremer, L., Coffman, M., Summers, A., Kelley, Lisa, and Kinney, W. (2022). Managing for Diverse Coastal Uses and Values Under Sea Level Rise: Perspectives from Oahu, Hawaii. Ocean & Coastal Management, 225, 106151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106151.
Summary: We interviewed 42 private sector, civil society, and government actors involved with coastal governance and anchored our conversations to three distinct communities on Oahu (Figure 1) to explore how coastal decision-makers in Hawaii perceive diverse uses and values of beaches and coastlines in the context of SLR. We found broad agreement in the perception that current coastal management decisions prioritize private and monetary (particularly real estate) values over diverse social and ecological values (Figure 2), often to the detriment of beaches and coastal communities. Though participants generally agreed on the need for new policy and management approaches that promote protection of relational and other non-monetary values of beaches to diverse communities, interviewees held markedly different perceptions over whether, and the extent to which, sustaining beaches under SLR necessitates tradeoffs in maintaining private property claims.
Coffman, M., Bremer, L., Summers, A., Newfield, C., and Kelley, L. (In press). (Un)managed retreat? Perspectives on biophysical and social dynamics of coastal retreat on Oahu, Hawaii. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, accepted October 19, 2023.
Summary: Shoreline laws in Hawaii have recently been updated to limit further shoreline hardening, making Hawaii a salient case study to understand the challenges and opportunities around managed retreat. We leverage the same set of 42 interviews as in Bremer et al. (2022). Factors that affected participant perspectives on the viability of retreat per site hinged on: 1) physical/natural barriers and opportunities; 2) perceptions of the public value of a beach; 3) the importance of existing infrastructure; and 4) the political influence of coastal homeowners. Participant views on who should inform the coastal planning process moving forward varied by site. In addition to residents, there was largely agreement that communities should include those with affinity and long-standing relationships with place.
Tarui, N., Urbanski, S., Lam, Q.L., Coffman, M., and Newfield, C. (2023). Sea Level Rise Risk Interactions with Coastal Property Values: A Case Study of Oahu, Hawaii. Climatic Change, 176, 130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03602-4.
Summary: Using residential real estate transaction data for the island of Oahu through 2019 and parcel-specific measures of SLR impacts up to one meter of inundation, the study finds that properties exposed to current and future SLR have already experienced declines in transaction prices. This is attributed to expectations of exposure to chronic inundation (as opposed to seasonal flooding), and primarily to multi-family dwellings. There has been increasing saliency of SLR, with increasingly negative estimates on the impact to residential real estate transactions since approximately the year 2000 (Figure 3).
Publications are open access and have been shared with study participants, coastal managers and adaptation professionals in Hawaii. We have presented our findings at conferences, seminars, and stakeholder meetings. We thank the NSF CoPe EAGER program for support of this research.
Last Modified: 12/29/2023
Modified by: Makena Coffman
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.