Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change on the South Australian coast: a coastal community perspective

Title of the research:
Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change on the South Australian coast: a coastal
community perspective.

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Introduction
According to the IPCC report, climate change is a change in regional or global climate
patterns from a change in mid to late 20th century, which is attributed to increase in levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide due to the use of fossil fuels (Woodward et al., 2014, pp.1185-1189).
Climate change is seen to be affecting the coastal populations by posing significant challenges
from a combination of the climate uncertainty and climate variability (Bellard et al., 2013,
pp.365-377). Furthermore, it also affects diverse range of coastal stakeholders, temporal
dynamics of the coastal areas, and spatial dynamics of the coastal systems (Palutikof et al., 2018,
pp.1-17). The coastal areas of Australia are exposed to the different forms of extreme conditions
like high storm intensity, storm tracks, inundation and erosion due to sea level rise as it is
important to mention that the coastal areas accommodates about 80 percent of the population
(Dedekorkut-Howes and Bosman, 2015, pp.70-84). The coastline population of the South
Austria is high and is due to the fact that 47 percent of the coastline area consist of sea beaches
that are sandy and backed by the soft sediment plains (Dedekorkut-Howes and Bosman, 2015,
pp.70-84). This results in a high potential of flooding due to the rise in the sea level, foredune
destabilisation and from the recession of the shoreline. In South Australia, a population of
31,000-48,000 lives in the coastal region who are vulnerable to climate change impacts. It has
been estimated that 30 percent of the people reside in the 2 km of the shoreline, 50 percent of the
people live within the 7 km of the shoreline (Button and Harvey, 2015, pp.38-56). There are
5,700-7,100km of rail and road networks in the coastal region, which could be damaged due to
climate change impacts. There are 1,300 -2,600 light and commercial buildings at risk. All these
assets that indicate peoples’ lives are valued add up to 47 billion Australian dollars (Souter and
Williams 2015, pp.3-8).

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Importance of adapting to climate change
The climate change adaptation helps organisations, communities, individuals, and the
natural systems deal with consequences of climate change that cannot be avoided. It entails
taking practical actions to reduce climate vulnerability and to protect communities and
strengthen the resilience of the economy. Concisely, adaptation can involve a gradual
transformation with multiple small steps for a long time of a rapid change for a major
transformation depending on the adaptive capacity. Moreover, adaptation is considered a shared
responsibility that cuts across all the government levels, households, and business sue to the
complementary roles they play. Businesses and individuals are mandated to make adaptation
decisions that are inclined to reduction of climate risks to their assets and livelihoods whereas the
Australian government provides the information and guidance on the best practises to enable the
community and business to manage risks of climate change.
Problem statement
The topic chosen for the research is vital because recent findings suggest that the climate
system is changing at a faster rate and it has been projected that the in future the impacts of the
climate change will be severe. Due to the high emission scenario, the sea level is likely to rise up
and likely to increase by a metre by the end of the century. The graph of emission scenarios and
associated sea level is shown below.

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Figure 1: Sea-level rise and allowance graphs in Sea-level Rise and You. Here, the user has
selected Gold Coast as the council of interest, and very high (RCP8.5) and low (RCP4.5)
greenhouse gas concentration scenarios.
(Source: https://coastadapt.com.au/tools/coastadapt-datasets#future-datasets)
There will be changes in the magnitude and frequency in the extreme sea level events like
the storm surges and this with the rising sea level will lead to a devastating inundation. It has
also been noted that the rise in the sea level will not stabilise until the year 2100 even if the
greenhouse gas emissions were to fall. There are evidences that suggest that the damaging and
severe tropical cyclones can occur more often and it could move further south through the west
and the east coasts in South Australia (Schreck III, Molinari, and Aiyyer, 2012, pp.774-788). The