Decision makers’ barriers to climate and extreme weather adaptation: a study of North Atlantic high- and medium-use seaports

Mclean, Elizabeth L.; Becker, Austin

doi:10.1007/s11625-019-00741-5

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Of the 18 respondents representing five ports, 84% reported having an awareness and involvement in climate change planning. These findings reinforce other studies that likewise suggest port operators are beginning to face the challenges that climate change will pose for coastal infrastructure (McLean and Becker 2019;Ng et al 2018Ng et al , 2016. And, like other studies, Ng et al find that more regulations, stronger policies, and better education can all go a long way toward helping such organizations prepare.…”

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confidence: 79%

Climate change impacts to ports and maritime supply chains

Becker

2020

Maritime Policy & Management

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Climate change poses significant threats to global security and trade. This special issue identifies key challenges faced by ports and supply chains from climate change over the next century, with perspectives from researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers who have expertise in ports, supply chains, and natural hazards. Many ports regularly experience natural hazard events and about a third of the world's ports lie in the path of tropical storms (Becker et al. 2012). Climate change will likely amplify the impacts of future coastal hazards for many of the world's 3,700 maritime ports (Verschuur, Koks, and Hall 2020) and their supply chains that enable global and local commerce. Indeed, ports fulfill a wide variety of critical functions for the local, regional, and global economy (Hall 2007; Baird 2004; Goss 1990). They provide jobs, facilitate trade, and serve as links between the hinterlands (back region) and the forelands (seaward region) of their markets. Most coastal cities grew around a port hub and global trade routes then evolved into a network that now connects port cities across the world. This 'inter-connectedness' means that even a short-term loss of port capacity (e.g., due to a natural disaster) can cause local and global ripple effects in logistics and trade-dependent industries (Becker et al. 2018; Lim-Camacho et al. 2017; Levermann 2014), such as imported food, energy, and assembled products. Projected climate changes include an increase in the frequency and intensity of 'extreme' atmospheric events-shocks such as storms, heavy precipitation, and heat waves (USGCRP 2017; NCA 2014); as well as longer-term changes to climatic variables resulting in 'slow onset' changes like sea level rise, wave climatology, and sea-surface salinity (leading to higher rates of corrosion). In the last 15 years, attention to these issues has increased in both the academic and practitioner spheres. However, as recently as the late 2000's, most ports primarily considered climate change to be a call to reduce their emissions and go green. To provide a resource for best practices, the World Port Climate Initiative formed to help ports quantify their carbon footprint and implement various emissions-reduction strategies. In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency developed new programs to help ports offset some of the costs for these new clean investments. These efforts may help reduce the rate of global warming, but as awareness of the implications of climate change has grown and the science has evolved, ports and supply chains have begun to recognize the dire situation they will face in the coming decades. A number of maritime industry groups have thus added 'climate adaption' to their agenda. Guidance documents have emerged, with lessons learned and best practices highlighted. The World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC), for example, recently released the Resilience of the Maritime and Inland Waterborne Transport System, to 'provide a summary of the state of knowledge concerning the shor...

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confidence: 79%

Climate change impacts to ports and maritime supply chains

Becker

2020

Maritime Policy & Management

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“…Different from previous work that looks at society's adaptive capacity to SLR (Hinkel, 2011;Huang, 2012;Chhetri et al, 2014) or stakeholders' perceptions of seaport's resilience strategies (Becker and Caldwell, 2015), this study investigated how decision makers perceive the strategies that can help them overcome the barriers that they themselves identified as preventing resilience building (Mclean and Becker, 2020). In this study, seaport adaptation addresses incremental climatic change from sea level rise (SLR), as well as increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we distinguish a "limit" from and a "barrier, " in that a barrier can be overcome, while a limit is seen as an unsurmountable obstacle (Hulme et al, 2007;Moser and Ekstrom, 2010;Dow et al, 2013). Earlier studies suggest many barriers challenge seaport infrastructure managers when it comes to resilience building (Becker and Caldwell, 2015;Kretsch, 2016;Ng et al, 2018;Mclean and Becker, 2020). In 2020, Mclean and Becker identified seven key barriers to planning for resilience building, these include:…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The semi-structured interviews captured barriers to climate and extreme weather adaptation (Mclean and Becker, 2020) 2 Interview protocol and procedures were approved by the Institute of Review Board at the University of Rhode Island (IRB Approved 894694-8). Interviewees were informed of the purpose of the study and that they give a written or oral consent to being interviewed and being recorded (for transcription purposes only).…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Respondents were prompted to identify the barriers to resilience investments (Mclean and Becker, 2020) and the strategies to overcome these barriers. Both were coded using a grounded theory analysis approach (Charmaz, 2006;Glaser and Strauss, 2017) that allows for views and concepts to emerge and be grouped into unique themes or categories.…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Advancing Seaport Resilience to Natural Hazards Due to Climate Change: Strategies to Overcome Decision Making Barriers

Mclean¹,

Becker²

2021

Front. Sustain.

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Climate change and extreme weather events put in peril the critical coastal infrastructure that is vital to economies, livelihoods, and sustainability. However, for a variety of reasons, decision makers often do not implement potential adaptation strategies to plan and adjust to climate and extreme weather events. To respond to the question of how seaport decision makers perceive strategies to overcome the barriers to adaptation we used semi-structured interviews of 30 seaport directors/managers, environmental specialists, and safety managers from 15 medium- and high-use ports of the U.S. North Atlantic. This paper contributes four broad strategies identified by seaport decision makers as necessary to help them advance on this challenge: funding, better planning or guidance, research and education, and advocacy/lobbying. We coded these strategies parallel to our partner paper that identified seven key barriers faced by the same set of decision makers. Results can help direct resources in ways targeted to the needs of seaport decision makers. The proposed framework contributes to theories of resilience building and barriers to decision making. Being strategic about change facilitates effective adaptation, decreasing risk, and enables continuity of safe, and sustainable, operations of U.S. seaports in the face of climate and extreme weather events.

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Climate change and seaports: hazards, impacts and policies and legislation for adaptation

Asariotis,

Monioudi,

Mohos Naray

et al. 2024

Anthropocene Coasts

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Seaports are critical for global trade and development but are at risk of climate change-driven damages, operational disruptions and delays with extensive related economic losses. The aim of the present contribution is to (a) provide an overview of the main impacts of climate variability and change (CV&C) on ports; (b) present recent research on trends and projections involving the main climatic factors/hazards affecting global ports; (c) provide an analytical overview of emerging international and regional policies and legislation relevant to port risk assessment and resilience-building under climate change; and (d) consider issues and areas for further action. As shown by projections under different climatic scenarios and timelines, many global ports will increasingly be exposed to significantly growing hazards under increasing CV&C, including extreme sea levels (ESLs), waves, and extreme heat events. Depending on scenario (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) by 2050, 55% to 59% of the 3630 global ports considered could face ESLs in excess of 2 m above the baseline mean sea levels (mean of the 1980–2014 period); by 2100, between 71% and 83% of ports could face ESLs of this magnitude. Ports in most tropical/sub-tropical settings will face the baseline (mean of the 1976 – 2005 period) 1-in-100 year extreme heat every 1 – 5 years, whereas with 3 oC global warming, most global ports (except some in higher latitudes) could experience the baseline 1-in-100 years extreme heat event every 1 – 2 years. A range of policy and legal instruments to support climate change adaptation, resilience-building and disaster risk reduction have been agreed internationally as well as at regional levels. At the EU level, relevant legal obligations and related normative technical guidance aimed at ensuring the climate proofing of new infrastructure are already in place as a matter of supra-national law for 27 EU Member States. These could significantly enhance levels of climate-resilience and preparedness for ports within the EU, as well as for EU funded port projects in other countries, and may serve as useful examples of good practices for other countries. However, further action is needed to advance and accelerate the implementation of effective adaptation measures for ports across regions.

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Decision makers’ barriers to climate and extreme weather adaptation: a study of North Atlantic high- and medium-use seaports

Cited by 10 publications

References 36 publications

Climate change impacts to ports and maritime supply chains

Climate change impacts to ports and maritime supply chains

Advancing Seaport Resilience to Natural Hazards Due to Climate Change: Strategies to Overcome Decision Making Barriers

Climate change and seaports: hazards, impacts and policies and legislation for adaptation

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